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

The latest value for Age dependency ratio (% of working-age population) in Malaysia was 44.16 as of 2020. Over the past 60 years, the value for this indicator has fluctuated between 98.26 in 1964 and 44.12 in 2019.

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 95.74
1961 96.62
1962 97.53
1963 98.19
1964 98.26
1965 97.62
1966 97.11
1967 95.69
1968 93.81
1969 92.06
1970 90.70
1971 88.69
1972 87.35
1973 86.32
1974 85.13
1975 83.61
1976 82.20
1977 80.48
1978 78.64
1979 76.99
1980 75.69
1981 74.73
1982 74.01
1983 73.48
1984 72.99
1985 72.48
1986 71.93
1987 71.24
1988 70.42
1989 69.56
1990 68.72
1991 67.96
1992 67.25
1993 66.55
1994 65.81
1995 64.99
1996 63.99
1997 62.95
1998 61.84
1999 60.66
2000 59.42
2001 58.61
2002 57.51
2003 56.19
2004 54.81
2005 53.53
2006 52.82
2007 52.05
2008 51.17
2009 50.14
2010 49.03
2011 47.96
2012 47.08
2013 46.33
2014 45.66
2015 45.06
2016 44.76
2017 44.46
2018 44.23
2019 44.12
2020 44.16

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