United Kingdom - Age dependency ratio (% of working-age population)

The latest value for Age dependency ratio (% of working-age population) in United Kingdom was 57.06 as of 2020. Over the past 60 years, the value for this indicator has fluctuated between 60.49 in 1973 and 51.27 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 53.66
1961 54.22
1962 54.43
1963 54.48
1964 54.64
1965 55.04
1966 55.97
1967 56.88
1968 57.78
1969 58.59
1970 59.23
1971 59.81
1972 60.25
1973 60.49
1974 60.45
1975 60.12
1976 59.73
1977 59.12
1978 58.28
1979 57.28
1980 56.18
1981 55.29
1982 54.34
1983 53.45
1984 52.71
1985 52.18
1986 52.23
1987 52.36
1988 52.58
1989 52.87
1990 53.17
1991 53.53
1992 53.91
1993 54.27
1994 54.55
1995 54.68
1996 54.70
1997 54.57
1998 54.33
1999 54.02
2000 53.67
2001 53.31
2002 52.87
2003 52.39
2004 51.94
2005 51.55
2006 51.37
2007 51.27
2008 51.27
2009 51.40
2010 51.67
2011 52.34
2012 53.04
2013 53.76
2014 54.46
2015 55.11
2016 55.64
2017 56.07
2018 56.43
2019 56.75
2020 57.06

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