Sri Lanka - Age dependency ratio (% of working-age population)

The latest value for Age dependency ratio (% of working-age population) in Sri Lanka was 53.65 as of 2020. Over the past 60 years, the value for this indicator has fluctuated between 87.10 in 1960 and 47.98 in 2005.

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 87.10
1961 87.08
1962 86.25
1963 84.98
1964 83.73
1965 82.72
1966 81.79
1967 81.16
1968 80.60
1969 79.75
1970 78.46
1971 77.51
1972 76.08
1973 74.39
1974 72.80
1975 71.48
1976 70.34
1977 69.53
1978 68.91
1979 68.22
1980 67.38
1981 66.97
1982 66.33
1983 65.57
1984 64.84
1985 64.19
1986 63.47
1987 62.72
1988 61.93
1989 61.09
1990 60.19
1991 59.15
1992 58.22
1993 57.31
1994 56.30
1995 55.16
1996 54.08
1997 52.82
1998 51.48
1999 50.23
2000 49.19
2001 48.61
2002 48.26
2003 48.10
2004 48.02
2005 47.98
2006 48.18
2007 48.30
2008 48.40
2009 48.56
2010 48.83
2011 49.33
2012 49.98
2013 50.68
2014 51.34
2015 51.89
2016 52.35
2017 52.74
2018 53.07
2019 53.36
2020 53.65

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