thedata
Population ageing is not confined to Europe. These are the global figures, from Our World in Data.
Old-age dependency ratio, 2021
People over 64 per 100 of working age
Japan — two working-age people per person over 64
Finland — about three working-age people each
World — about six working-age people each
People aged 65 and over, worldwide
Set to double within thirty years
Over the same thirty years the working-age population grows by 20 per cent.
Age structure
The largest age group, by country.
One way to read a country’s age structure is to ask which ten-year age band holds the most people. In 2021 the answer varied enormously.
Most of Africa
Children under 10 are the largest ten-year age group.
United Kingdom, Netherlands
People in their fifties are the largest group.
Monaco, Croatia
People in their sixties are the largest group.
In 1950
Small children and teenagers were the largest group in almost every country.
Old-age spending
The largest item of social spending.
Across the OECD, spending on old age — pensions and elderly care — takes the largest share of social spending, ahead of health, with family or incapacity benefits third. The ranking has held since 1980, while the share of GDP going to each has risen.
9.4%
of GDP
OECD average spending on old age and survivor programmes, 2023, including pensions and long-term care.
21%
of government spending
The same programmes as a share of total general government expenditure.
15%
Italy and Greece
Public pension spending as a share of GDP at the top of the range; around 3 per cent in Chile, Korea and Mexico.
50%
social protection and health
Roughly half of all government spending in the OECD goes to these two functions combined.
Social spending by category, all OECD countries · Government spending by function
Sources
Where the figures come from.
ourworldindata.org
ourworldindata.org
ourworldindata.org
ourworldindata.org/government-spending · oecd.org
ourworldindata.org/age-structure
Gerontonomia 