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

The latest value for Age dependency ratio (% of working-age population) in Low income was 82.84 as of 2020. Over the past 60 years, the value for this indicator has fluctuated between 94.70 in 1988 and 82.84 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 84.47
1961 85.42
1962 85.85
1963 85.98
1964 86.08
1965 86.25
1966 87.09
1967 87.94
1968 88.73
1969 89.27
1970 89.48
1971 90.52
1972 91.08
1973 91.31
1974 91.41
1975 91.46
1976 91.96
1977 92.33
1978 92.60
1979 92.73
1980 92.72
1981 93.32
1982 93.71
1983 93.90
1984 93.92
1985 93.81
1986 94.36
1987 94.63
1988 94.70
1989 94.66
1990 94.55
1991 94.69
1992 94.69
1993 94.57
1994 94.34
1995 93.97
1996 94.31
1997 94.42
1998 94.37
1999 94.19
2000 93.94
2001 93.98
2002 93.84
2003 93.58
2004 93.23
2005 92.80
2006 92.71
2007 92.49
2008 92.13
2009 91.65
2010 91.05
2011 90.54
2012 89.88
2013 89.10
2014 88.24
2015 87.33
2016 86.57
2017 85.73
2018 84.82
2019 83.85
2020 82.84

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