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

The latest value for Age dependency ratio (% of working-age population) in Ghana was 67.42 as of 2020. Over the past 60 years, the value for this indicator has fluctuated between 98.73 in 1978 and 67.42 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 86.81
1961 87.53
1962 87.62
1963 87.41
1964 87.34
1965 87.57
1966 89.38
1967 91.27
1968 93.12
1969 94.71
1970 95.92
1971 96.98
1972 97.63
1973 97.89
1974 97.80
1975 97.40
1976 98.22
1977 98.64
1978 98.73
1979 98.57
1980 98.28
1981 97.15
1982 95.94
1983 94.69
1984 93.43
1985 92.20
1986 91.59
1987 90.92
1988 90.22
1989 89.48
1990 88.73
1991 88.36
1992 87.81
1993 87.15
1994 86.45
1995 85.73
1996 85.32
1997 84.92
1998 84.44
1999 83.78
2000 82.92
2001 82.14
2002 81.10
2003 79.91
2004 78.71
2005 77.59
2006 76.54
2007 75.56
2008 74.63
2009 73.71
2010 72.78
2011 72.29
2012 71.77
2013 71.23
2014 70.66
2015 70.06
2016 69.65
2017 69.12
2018 68.53
2019 67.96
2020 67.42

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