Pacific island small states - Age dependency ratio (% of working-age population)

The latest value for Age dependency ratio (% of working-age population) in Pacific island small states was 65.72 as of 2020. Over the past 60 years, the value for this indicator has fluctuated between 98.91 in 1963 and 65.17 in 2010.

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 98.16
1961 98.54
1962 98.80
1963 98.91
1964 98.74
1965 98.17
1966 97.71
1967 96.85
1968 95.60
1969 94.08
1970 92.41
1971 91.61
1972 90.82
1973 89.97
1974 89.06
1975 88.07
1976 87.24
1977 86.36
1978 85.45
1979 84.60
1980 83.85
1981 83.48
1982 83.13
1983 82.85
1984 82.61
1985 82.31
1986 81.88
1987 81.39
1988 80.81
1989 80.19
1990 79.58
1991 78.98
1992 78.41
1993 77.77
1994 76.96
1995 76.00
1996 75.51
1997 74.82
1998 74.04
1999 73.32
2000 72.67
2001 71.29
2002 70.14
2003 69.14
2004 68.19
2005 67.27
2006 66.77
2007 66.30
2008 65.86
2009 65.48
2010 65.17
2011 65.24
2012 65.29
2013 65.44
2014 65.76
2015 66.17
2016 66.18
2017 66.23
2018 66.21
2019 66.04
2020 65.72

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