New Zealand - Age dependency ratio (% of working-age population)

The latest value for Age dependency ratio (% of working-age population) in New Zealand was 55.76 as of 2020. Over the past 60 years, the value for this indicator has fluctuated between 71.28 in 1961 and 50.27 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 71.01
1961 71.28
1962 70.91
1963 70.17
1964 69.37
1965 68.66
1966 68.42
1967 68.24
1968 68.03
1969 67.69
1970 67.23
1971 66.55
1972 65.87
1973 65.12
1974 64.19
1975 63.03
1976 62.61
1977 61.82
1978 60.75
1979 59.63
1980 58.64
1981 57.32
1982 56.29
1983 55.44
1984 54.61
1985 53.77
1986 53.36
1987 52.96
1988 52.59
1989 52.36
1990 52.33
1991 52.38
1992 52.49
1993 52.64
1994 52.76
1995 52.82
1996 53.01
1997 53.11
1998 53.08
1999 52.94
2000 52.75
2001 52.27
2002 51.84
2003 51.44
2004 51.03
2005 50.62
2006 50.45
2007 50.33
2008 50.27
2009 50.32
2010 50.49
2011 51.03
2012 51.51
2013 51.97
2014 52.45
2015 52.95
2016 53.40
2017 53.95
2018 54.57
2019 55.18
2020 55.76

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