North America - Age dependency ratio (% of working-age population)

The latest value for Age dependency ratio (% of working-age population) in North America was 53.58 as of 2020. Over the past 60 years, the value for this indicator has fluctuated between 67.10 in 1962 and 48.97 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 66.55
1961 67.05
1962 67.10
1963 66.80
1964 66.33
1965 65.76
1966 65.15
1967 64.43
1968 63.62
1969 62.70
1970 61.68
1971 60.38
1972 59.12
1973 57.89
1974 56.63
1975 55.36
1976 54.60
1977 53.75
1978 52.91
1979 52.17
1980 51.60
1981 51.14
1982 50.79
1983 50.57
1984 50.46
1985 50.43
1986 50.65
1987 50.90
1988 51.17
1989 51.44
1990 51.69
1991 52.07
1992 52.38
1993 52.58
1994 52.65
1995 52.56
1996 52.52
1997 52.28
1998 51.91
1999 51.50
2000 51.10
2001 50.65
2002 50.29
2003 49.96
2004 49.59
2005 49.17
2006 49.16
2007 49.07
2008 48.97
2009 48.98
2010 49.13
2011 49.35
2012 49.62
2013 49.95
2014 50.35
2015 50.80
2016 51.26
2017 51.80
2018 52.38
2019 52.98
2020 53.58

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