Age structure

In 2022, for every 100 persons of working age in the world there were 54 children or older people. Among the thirty economies with the highest dependency ratio, all except Afghanistan were in Africa. In these cases, the high ratios were a result of an extraordinarily high child dependency. In Africa as a whole, the child dependency ratio alone was 71 per cent. By contrast, the lowest dependency ratios were found on the Arabian Peninsula and in the Caribbean. Several developed economies, most notably Japan, show rising dependency ratios due to increasing old-age dependency.

Globally, 65 per cent of people were of working age in 2022. Fifty years ago, this number was 57 per cent. The marked change is that the proportion of children has decreased from 37 per cent in 1972 to 25 per cent while the proportion of older persons has increased from 5 to 10 per cent. People above the age of 64 are projected to make up 17 per cent of the global population by 2050.

In most economies, the age structure has seen a trajectory over time, where dependency ratios first decrease, due to shrinking proportions of children, and later increase, as more people reach an age over 64.

In most regions of the world, the bulk of the dependency ratio decrease has already taken place. Further decreases in the child dependency ratio are projected to be more than offset by increases in the old-age dependency ratio. In Africa, however, the decline of the dependency ratio is expected to continue beyond 2050, and by 2050, the indicator is projected to fall to 60 per cent from 77 per cent in 2022. In developed economies, dependency ratios are already increasing and are projected to reach 73 per cent by 2050.