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

The latest value for Age dependency ratio (% of working-age population) in World was 54.55 as of 2020. Over the past 60 years, the value for this indicator has fluctuated between 77.07 in 1967 and 53.98 in 2015.

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 73.70
1961 74.43
1962 75.24
1963 76.00
1964 76.45
1965 76.53
1966 77.03
1967 77.07
1968 76.82
1969 76.49
1970 76.18
1971 76.16
1972 76.05
1973 75.83
1974 75.46
1975 74.91
1976 74.49
1977 73.88
1978 73.12
1979 72.26
1980 71.34
1981 70.52
1982 69.71
1983 68.92
1984 68.14
1985 67.40
1986 67.08
1987 66.72
1988 66.34
1989 65.94
1990 65.51
1991 65.36
1992 65.02
1993 64.54
1994 64.01
1995 63.46
1996 62.81
1997 62.25
1998 61.69
1999 61.01
2000 60.19
2001 59.59
2002 58.82
2003 57.99
2004 57.19
2005 56.49
2006 55.98
2007 55.53
2008 55.15
2009 54.81
2010 54.52
2011 54.36
2012 54.21
2013 54.08
2014 54.00
2015 53.98
2016 54.07
2017 54.20
2018 54.34
2019 54.46
2020 54.55

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