Arab World - Age dependency ratio (% of working-age population)

The latest value for Age dependency ratio (% of working-age population) in Arab World was 61.02 as of 2020. Over the past 60 years, the value for this indicator has fluctuated between 94.59 in 1972 and 61.02 in 2020.

Definition: Age dependency ratio is the ratio of dependents--people younger than 15 or older than 64--to the working-age population--those ages 15-64. Data are shown as the proportion of dependents per 100 working-age population.

Source: World Bank staff estimates based on age distributions of United Nations Population Division's World Population Prospects: 2019 Revision.

See also:

Year Value
1960 88.06
1961 89.49
1962 90.78
1963 91.90
1964 92.73
1965 93.20
1966 94.09
1967 94.49
1968 94.54
1969 94.43
1970 94.23
1971 94.52
1972 94.59
1973 94.48
1974 94.25
1975 93.94
1976 93.80
1977 93.56
1978 93.22
1979 92.79
1980 92.26
1981 91.97
1982 91.54
1983 91.00
1984 90.38
1985 89.72
1986 89.44
1987 89.03
1988 88.52
1989 87.91
1990 87.33
1991 86.51
1992 85.83
1993 84.70
1994 83.43
1995 81.82
1996 80.54
1997 79.20
1998 77.82
1999 76.42
2000 75.02
2001 73.61
2002 72.18
2003 70.77
2004 69.40
2005 68.10
2006 66.90
2007 65.78
2008 64.78
2009 63.91
2010 63.20
2011 62.57
2012 62.09
2013 61.73
2014 61.45
2015 61.20
2016 61.28
2017 61.25
2018 61.16
2019 61.08
2020 61.02

Development Relevance: Patterns of development in a country are partly determined by the age composition of its population. Different age groups have different impacts on both the environment and on infrastructure needs. Therefore the age structure of a population is useful for analyzing resource use and formulating future policy and planning goals with regards infrastructure and development.

Limitations and Exceptions: Because the five-year age group is the cohort unit and five-year period data are used in the United Nations Population Division's World Population Prospects, interpolations to obtain annual data or single age structure may not reflect actual events or age composition. For more information, see the original source.

Statistical Concept and Methodology: Dependency ratios capture variations in the proportions of children, elderly people, and working-age people in the population that imply the dependency burden that the working-age population bears in relation to children and the elderly. But dependency ratios show only the age composition of a population, not economic dependency. Some children and elderly people are part of the labor force, and many working-age people are not. Age structure in the World Bank's population estimates is based on the age structure in United Nations Population Division's World Population Prospects. For more information, see the original source.

Aggregation method: Weighted average

Periodicity: Annual

General Comments: Relevance to gender indicator: this indicator implies the dependency burden that the working-age population bears in relation to children and the elderly. Many times single or widowed women who are the sole caregiver of a household have a high dependency

Classification

Topic: Health Indicators

Sub-Topic: Population