OECD members - Population ages 65 and above (% of total population)

Population ages 65 and above (% of total population) in OECD members was 17.40 as of 2020. Its highest value over the past 60 years was 17.40 in 2020, while its lowest value was 8.28 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 8.28
1961 8.37
1962 8.46
1963 8.55
1964 8.64
1965 8.73
1966 8.86
1967 8.99
1968 9.11
1969 9.23
1970 9.35
1971 9.49
1972 9.62
1973 9.75
1974 9.87
1975 9.99
1976 10.14
1977 10.30
1978 10.44
1979 10.56
1980 10.62
1981 10.66
1982 10.65
1983 10.62
1984 10.61
1985 10.65
1986 10.75
1987 10.89
1988 11.05
1989 11.22
1990 11.37
1991 11.53
1992 11.67
1993 11.81
1994 11.94
1995 12.06
1996 12.20
1997 12.33
1998 12.46
1999 12.59
2000 12.72
2001 12.87
2002 13.02
2003 13.16
2004 13.31
2005 13.46
2006 13.62
2007 13.77
2008 13.93
2009 14.12
2010 14.36
2011 14.61
2012 14.90
2013 15.22
2014 15.55
2015 15.88
2016 16.19
2017 16.48
2018 16.78
2019 17.08
2020 17.40

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