OECD members - Age dependency ratio (% of working-age population)

The latest value for Age dependency ratio (% of working-age population) in OECD members was 54.50 as of 2020. Over the past 60 years, the value for this indicator has fluctuated between 63.76 in 1962 and 50.24 in 2008.

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 63.26
1961 63.64
1962 63.76
1963 63.69
1964 63.54
1965 63.39
1966 63.40
1967 63.34
1968 63.22
1969 63.04
1970 62.80
1971 62.50
1972 62.17
1973 61.80
1974 61.35
1975 60.80
1976 60.47
1977 60.01
1978 59.44
1979 58.79
1980 58.07
1981 57.30
1982 56.50
1983 55.71
1984 55.00
1985 54.36
1986 54.02
1987 53.70
1988 53.41
1989 53.15
1990 52.93
1991 52.82
1992 52.73
1993 52.65
1994 52.53
1995 52.35
1996 52.23
1997 52.02
1998 51.77
1999 51.51
2000 51.29
2001 51.05
2002 50.86
2003 50.71
2004 50.55
2005 50.37
2006 50.35
2007 50.29
2008 50.24
2009 50.27
2010 50.42
2011 50.71
2012 51.06
2013 51.47
2014 51.92
2015 52.37
2016 52.79
2017 53.22
2018 53.65
2019 54.07
2020 54.50

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