High income - Age dependency ratio (% of working-age population)

The latest value for Age dependency ratio (% of working-age population) in High income was 54.27 as of 2020. Over the past 60 years, the value for this indicator has fluctuated between 61.12 in 1961 and 48.56 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 60.86
1961 61.12
1962 61.10
1963 60.87
1964 60.58
1965 60.31
1966 60.21
1967 60.04
1968 59.83
1969 59.57
1970 59.27
1971 58.86
1972 58.46
1973 58.02
1974 57.51
1975 56.91
1976 56.53
1977 56.03
1978 55.41
1979 54.74
1980 54.04
1981 53.31
1982 52.58
1983 51.89
1984 51.28
1985 50.75
1986 50.55
1987 50.36
1988 50.20
1989 50.08
1990 50.00
1991 50.02
1992 50.07
1993 50.13
1994 50.12
1995 50.02
1996 49.98
1997 49.83
1998 49.63
1999 49.45
2000 49.30
2001 49.11
2002 48.98
2003 48.88
2004 48.76
2005 48.63
2006 48.62
2007 48.58
2008 48.56
2009 48.64
2010 48.86
2011 49.24
2012 49.68
2013 50.18
2014 50.73
2015 51.31
2016 51.87
2017 52.46
2018 53.06
2019 53.66
2020 54.27

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