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

The latest value for Age dependency ratio (% of working-age population) in Lesotho was 59.20 as of 2020. Over the past 60 years, the value for this indicator has fluctuated between 101.06 in 1983 and 59.20 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 96.95
1961 97.72
1962 98.18
1963 98.39
1964 98.48
1965 98.50
1966 98.70
1967 98.82
1968 98.87
1969 98.84
1970 98.76
1971 99.27
1972 99.66
1973 99.95
1974 100.20
1975 100.42
1976 100.67
1977 100.75
1978 100.69
1979 100.52
1980 100.23
1981 100.65
1982 100.94
1983 101.06
1984 100.93
1985 100.53
1986 100.62
1987 100.43
1988 99.95
1989 99.21
1990 98.19
1991 96.22
1992 94.16
1993 92.02
1994 89.79
1995 87.49
1996 85.89
1997 84.22
1998 82.51
1999 80.74
2000 78.86
2001 77.34
2002 75.86
2003 74.34
2004 72.76
2005 71.18
2006 70.20
2007 69.01
2008 67.75
2009 66.55
2010 65.48
2011 64.93
2012 64.38
2013 63.71
2014 62.85
2015 61.82
2016 61.46
2017 60.91
2018 60.30
2019 59.73
2020 59.20

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