Jamaica - Age dependency ratio (% of working-age population)

The latest value for Age dependency ratio (% of working-age population) in Jamaica was 48.01 as of 2020. Over the past 60 years, the value for this indicator has fluctuated between 107.38 in 1970 and 48.01 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 84.48
1961 86.75
1962 88.85
1963 90.64
1964 92.20
1965 93.82
1966 96.42
1967 99.42
1968 102.51
1969 105.27
1970 107.38
1971 107.32
1972 106.60
1973 105.23
1974 103.32
1975 101.03
1976 97.11
1977 93.66
1978 90.80
1979 88.56
1980 86.83
1981 85.02
1982 83.39
1983 81.82
1984 80.14
1985 78.29
1986 77.10
1987 75.73
1988 74.38
1989 73.35
1990 72.73
1991 71.70
1992 70.99
1993 70.46
1994 69.88
1995 69.17
1996 68.60
1997 68.05
1998 67.52
1999 67.04
2000 66.56
2001 65.68
2002 64.66
2003 63.57
2004 62.48
2005 61.43
2006 60.00
2007 58.64
2008 57.26
2009 55.85
2010 54.45
2011 53.25
2012 52.13
2013 51.13
2014 50.25
2015 49.50
2016 49.04
2017 48.61
2018 48.25
2019 48.05
2020 48.01

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