The dependency ratio compares people in age groups usually treated as dependents with people in the working-age group, and it is expressed as dependents per 100 working-age people. In the World Bank’s standard age dependency ratio, dependents are people younger than 15 and people 65 or older, and the working-age base is people ages 15 to 64.
The standard formula
The World Bank’s standard total age dependency ratio is:
Total age dependency ratio = 100 × [(population ages 0–14 + population ages 65 and over) ÷ population ages 15–64]
The multiplication by 100 is a scaling convention. It lets the result read as dependents per 100 working-age people, so a value of 60 means 60 dependents for every 100 people of working age.
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To calculate it for a country and year:
- Count the population aged 0 to 14 in that year.
- Count the population aged 65 and over in the same year.
- Add the two counts to get the dependent population.
- Count the population aged 15 to 64.
- Divide the dependent population by the working-age population, then multiply by 100.
Youth and old-age components
The total can be split into two parts that share the same working-age denominator:
| Component | Numerator (dependents) | Denominator (working age) | Unit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Youth dependency ratio | Population younger than 15 | Population ages 15–64 | Dependents per 100 working-age people |
| Old-age dependency ratio | Population 65 and older | Population ages 15–64 | Dependents per 100 working-age people |
| Total age dependency ratio | Both groups combined | Population ages 15–64 | Dependents per 100 working-age people |
Because the denominator is shared, the total equals the youth ratio plus the old-age ratio. Two places can report the same total for very different reasons, so check which component is driving the number before drawing conclusions.
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A worked example with hypothetical numbers
The figures below are invented to show the arithmetic. They do not describe any real country or year.
- Population ages 0–14: 20 million
- Population ages 15–64: 100 million
- Population ages 65 and over: 15 million
The youth ratio is 100 × 20 ÷ 100 = 20. The old-age ratio is 100 × 15 ÷ 100 = 15. The total is 35 dependents per 100 working-age people.
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The label “dependency ratio” does not fix the age cutoffs. Publishers use different bands, and the figures are not interchangeable.
| Source | Dependent age groups (numerator) | Working-age group (denominator) | Status and notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| World Bank, World Development Indicators age dependency ratio | Younger than 15 and 65 or older (metadata describes “people younger than 15 or older than 64”) | Ages 15–64 | Standard series; metadata lists annual observations with a reference period of 1960–2025, and the latest observation changes as the series is updated |
| OECD old-age dependency indicator | 65 and over | Ages 20–64 | Archived OECD page; covers the old-age component only and uses a different working-age band |
| UN Population Division total dependency ratio | Selectable age thresholds; one example pairs ages 0–24 with ages 25–64 | Set by the chosen thresholds | Metadata describes the bands as adjustable, so the cutoffs must be read from each table |
Before comparing two values, confirm four things: the dependent age bands, the working-age band, whether the figure is total or a single component, and the observation year. A ratio built on ages 20–64 will read differently from one built on 15–64 even if the underlying population is identical.
What the ratio can and cannot tell you
The World Bank’s metadata states that “dependency ratios show only the age composition of a population, not economic dependency.” The indicator is useful for describing demographic structure, for comparing how age composition changes over time, and for framing questions about the needs of school-age and retirement-age populations.
It does not establish:
- How many people actually work or how many are employed.
- How many people are supported financially by someone else in a given household.
- A country’s fiscal burden, pension sustainability or public spending level.
- The balance between employed and non-employed people, since some people outside the 15–64 band work and many inside it do not.
How to use it in personal-finance reading
For a household-finance reader, the dependency ratio is background context. It describes the age structure of a population and does not predict an individual’s taxes, pension entitlement or family support obligations. If you want to go further than age composition, pair the ratio with labor-force participation, employment, earnings, pension rules or public expenditure data for the same place and the same years, rather than treating the age ratio as a stand-in for those measures.
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- This guide is a perfect overview for the topics covered in introductory statistics courses.
Where you compare two countries or two decades, use the same age bands and label each figure as total, youth or old-age. Differences that look dramatic can be produced by a change in cutoffs or a data revision rather than by a change in the population itself.
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