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

The latest value for Age dependency ratio (% of working-age population) in Korea was 39.54 as of 2020. Over the past 60 years, the value for this indicator has fluctuated between 89.43 in 1962 and 36.21 in 2014.

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 87.28
1961 88.91
1962 89.43
1963 89.18
1964 88.69
1965 88.21
1966 87.27
1967 86.53
1968 85.75
1969 84.57
1970 82.86
1971 81.08
1972 79.04
1973 76.80
1974 74.49
1975 72.15
1976 70.05
1977 67.71
1978 65.32
1979 63.14
1980 61.25
1981 59.18
1982 57.54
1983 56.11
1984 54.55
1985 52.73
1986 51.31
1987 49.42
1988 47.36
1989 45.56
1990 44.24
1991 42.82
1992 42.12
1993 41.82
1994 41.47
1995 40.86
1996 40.77
1997 40.18
1998 39.37
1999 38.76
2000 38.51
2001 38.17
2002 38.17
2003 38.36
2004 38.44
2005 38.29
2006 38.03
2007 37.69
2008 37.28
2009 36.89
2010 36.60
2011 36.46
2012 36.33
2013 36.23
2014 36.21
2015 36.32
2016 36.68
2017 37.13
2018 37.73
2019 38.52
2020 39.54

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