European Union - Age dependency ratio (% of working-age population)

The latest value for Age dependency ratio (% of working-age population) in European Union was 56.00 as of 2020. Over the past 60 years, the value for this indicator has fluctuated between 57.17 in 1971 and 48.38 in 2001.

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 55.45
1961 55.86
1962 56.05
1963 56.10
1964 56.13
1965 56.20
1966 56.41
1967 56.63
1968 56.83
1969 56.98
1970 57.05
1971 57.17
1972 57.13
1973 57.00
1974 56.80
1975 56.58
1976 56.45
1977 56.33
1978 56.11
1979 55.65
1980 54.88
1981 54.08
1982 52.99
1983 51.80
1984 50.77
1985 50.00
1986 49.60
1987 49.42
1988 49.37
1989 49.31
1990 49.18
1991 49.20
1992 49.14
1993 49.03
1994 48.89
1995 48.76
1996 48.69
1997 48.62
1998 48.54
1999 48.46
2000 48.40
2001 48.38
2002 48.39
2003 48.42
2004 48.44
2005 48.45
2006 48.64
2007 48.79
2008 48.96
2009 49.19
2010 49.52
2011 50.08
2012 50.67
2013 51.31
2014 52.00
2015 52.70
2016 53.33
2017 54.00
2018 54.69
2019 55.36
2020 56.00

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