European Union - Population ages 65 and above (% of total population)

Population ages 65 and above (% of total population) in European Union was 20.78 as of 2020. Its highest value over the past 60 years was 20.78 in 2020, while its lowest value was 9.53 in 1960.

Definition: Population ages 65 and above as a percentage of the total population. Population is based on the de facto definition of population, which counts all residents regardless of legal status or citizenship.

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

See also:

Year Value
1960 9.53
1961 9.69
1962 9.84
1963 10.00
1964 10.17
1965 10.34
1966 10.55
1967 10.76
1968 10.96
1969 11.16
1970 11.37
1971 11.59
1972 11.80
1973 11.99
1974 12.17
1975 12.34
1976 12.56
1977 12.77
1978 12.96
1979 13.06
1980 13.06
1981 13.02
1982 12.87
1983 12.69
1984 12.55
1985 12.51
1986 12.62
1987 12.81
1988 13.04
1989 13.28
1990 13.50
1991 13.75
1992 13.98
1993 14.19
1994 14.39
1995 14.58
1996 14.83
1997 15.05
1998 15.26
1999 15.48
2000 15.70
2001 15.94
2002 16.18
2003 16.41
2004 16.62
2005 16.80
2006 16.98
2007 17.14
2008 17.28
2009 17.44
2010 17.66
2011 17.91
2012 18.21
2013 18.55
2014 18.90
2015 19.24
2016 19.56
2017 19.87
2018 20.16
2019 20.46
2020 20.78

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. This indicator is used for calculating age dependency ratio (percent of working-age population). The age dependency ratio is the ratio of the sum of the population aged 0-14 and the population aged 65 and above to the population aged 15-64. In many developing countries, the once rapidly growing population group of the under-15 population is shrinking. As a result, high fertility rates, together with declining mortality rates, are now reflected in the larger share of the 65 and older population.

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: 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. Total population is based on the de facto population including all residents regardless of legal status or citizenship. The values shown are midyear estimates. For more information see metadata for total population (SP.POP.TOTL).

Aggregation method: Weighted average

Periodicity: Annual

Classification

Topic: Health Indicators

Sub-Topic: Population