The Gambia - Age dependency ratio (% of working-age population)

The latest value for Age dependency ratio (% of working-age population) in The Gambia was 86.85 as of 2020. Over the past 60 years, the value for this indicator has fluctuated between 98.56 in 2000 and 78.11 in 1965.

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 80.63
1961 80.81
1962 80.40
1963 79.65
1964 78.83
1965 78.11
1966 78.68
1967 79.10
1968 79.44
1969 79.62
1970 79.61
1971 80.65
1972 81.24
1973 81.58
1974 81.83
1975 82.09
1976 82.99
1977 83.73
1978 84.31
1979 84.62
1980 84.62
1981 85.58
1982 85.95
1983 86.01
1984 86.13
1985 86.49
1986 86.47
1987 86.44
1988 86.44
1989 86.30
1990 85.92
1991 88.11
1992 89.86
1993 91.29
1994 92.53
1995 93.62
1996 95.29
1997 96.59
1998 97.57
1999 98.23
2000 98.56
2001 98.45
2002 98.10
2003 97.54
2004 96.77
2005 95.80
2006 95.25
2007 94.47
2008 93.52
2009 92.53
2010 91.58
2011 91.25
2012 90.83
2013 90.35
2014 89.82
2015 89.24
2016 89.01
2017 88.65
2018 88.18
2019 87.58
2020 86.85

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