North America - Population ages 65 and above (% of total population)

Population ages 65 and above (% of total population) in North America was 16.78 as of 2020. Its highest value over the past 60 years was 16.78 in 2020, while its lowest value was 8.99 in 1960.

Definition: Population ages 65 and above as a percentage of the total population. Population is based on the de facto definition of population, which counts all residents regardless of legal status or citizenship.

Source: World Bank staff estimates based on age/sex distributions of United Nations Population Division's World Population Prospects: 2019 Revision.

See also:

Year Value
1960 8.99
1961 9.06
1962 9.12
1963 9.17
1964 9.24
1965 9.30
1966 9.41
1967 9.52
1968 9.63
1969 9.75
1970 9.86
1971 10.00
1972 10.13
1973 10.26
1974 10.39
1975 10.52
1976 10.68
1977 10.84
1978 11.01
1979 11.18
1980 11.35
1981 11.48
1982 11.60
1983 11.71
1984 11.83
1985 11.95
1986 12.07
1987 12.19
1988 12.30
1989 12.40
1990 12.49
1991 12.55
1992 12.58
1993 12.60
1994 12.61
1995 12.59
1996 12.56
1997 12.51
1998 12.46
1999 12.40
2000 12.36
2001 12.35
2002 12.34
2003 12.34
2004 12.35
2005 12.39
2006 12.47
2007 12.57
2008 12.70
2009 12.87
2010 13.10
2011 13.37
2012 13.69
2013 14.03
2014 14.40
2015 14.78
2016 15.18
2017 15.56
2018 15.95
2019 16.36
2020 16.78

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. This indicator is used for calculating age dependency ratio (percent of working-age population). The age dependency ratio is the ratio of the sum of the population aged 0-14 and the population aged 65 and above to the population aged 15-64. In many developing countries, the once rapidly growing population group of the under-15 population is shrinking. As a result, high fertility rates, together with declining mortality rates, are now reflected in the larger share of the 65 and older population.

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: 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. Total population is based on the de facto population including all residents regardless of legal status or citizenship. The values shown are midyear estimates. For more information see metadata for total population (SP.POP.TOTL).

Aggregation method: Weighted average

Periodicity: Annual

Classification

Topic: Health Indicators

Sub-Topic: Population