South Asia - Age dependency ratio (% of working-age population)

The latest value for Age dependency ratio (% of working-age population) in South Asia was 51.17 as of 2020. Over the past 60 years, the value for this indicator has fluctuated between 82.06 in 1967 and 51.17 in 2020.

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 77.57
1961 78.56
1962 79.61
1963 80.58
1964 81.22
1965 81.44
1966 81.98
1967 82.06
1968 81.80
1969 81.39
1970 80.94
1971 80.90
1972 80.75
1973 80.47
1974 80.08
1975 79.57
1976 79.51
1977 79.23
1978 78.81
1979 78.33
1980 77.83
1981 77.74
1982 77.58
1983 77.34
1984 76.99
1985 76.53
1986 76.49
1987 76.22
1988 75.80
1989 75.27
1990 74.69
1991 74.33
1992 73.87
1993 73.30
1994 72.61
1995 71.78
1996 71.11
1997 70.32
1998 69.42
1999 68.46
2000 67.46
2001 66.69
2002 65.83
2003 64.93
2004 63.99
2005 63.04
2006 62.28
2007 61.50
2008 60.69
2009 59.84
2010 58.92
2011 58.10
2012 57.18
2013 56.21
2014 55.29
2015 54.44
2016 53.65
2017 52.98
2018 52.38
2019 51.79
2020 51.17

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