United Kingdom - Population ages 65 and above (% of total population)

Population ages 65 and above (% of total population) in United Kingdom was 18.65 as of 2020. Its highest value over the past 60 years was 18.65 in 2020, while its lowest value was 11.77 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 11.77
1961 11.86
1962 11.95
1963 12.03
1964 12.11
1965 12.20
1966 12.36
1967 12.54
1968 12.71
1969 12.88
1970 13.03
1971 13.27
1972 13.48
1973 13.68
1974 13.87
1975 14.05
1976 14.29
1977 14.52
1978 14.71
1979 14.86
1980 14.95
1981 15.05
1982 15.09
1983 15.09
1984 15.10
1985 15.14
1986 15.26
1987 15.41
1988 15.56
1989 15.68
1990 15.75
1991 15.85
1992 15.90
1993 15.91
1994 15.90
1995 15.89
1996 15.91
1997 15.91
1998 15.91
1999 15.90
2000 15.89
2001 15.93
2002 15.96
2003 15.99
2004 16.01
2005 16.04
2006 16.11
2007 16.17
2008 16.25
2009 16.38
2010 16.57
2011 16.81
2012 17.11
2013 17.43
2014 17.73
2015 17.97
2016 18.16
2017 18.29
2018 18.40
2019 18.51
2020 18.65

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