Countries by Age dependency ratio, old (% of working-age population)
Monaco ranks first with an old-age dependency ratio of 71.81%, meaning there are roughly 72 people older than 64 for every 100 working-age residents. At the other end, Qatar ranks 216th at just 2.01%. The 69.8 percentage-point gap reflects stark differences in population age structure across the 216 countries covered.
Ranking 2024
Values shown in %.
Analysis
This metric measures the ratio of older dependents to the working-age population. As defined by the World Bank: age dependency ratio, old, is the ratio of older dependents — people older than 64 — to the working-age population — those ages 15-64, shown as the proportion of dependents per 100 working-age population. The indicator code is SP.POP.DPND.OL, drawn from the World Bank World Development Indicators for data year 2024. The dataset covers 216 countries, with 100% of data points classified as official-quality and all 216 countries reporting data from within the last seven years. Eighteen extreme outliers were identified at the 3-sigma threshold. Values range from 2.01% to 71.81%, a spread of 3,467.6%.
The top of the ranking is dominated by high-income European nations and territories with older population structures. Monaco leads at 71.81% (rank 1), far ahead of second-ranked Japan at 50.66% (rank 2). Portugal (rank 3, 39.14%), Finland (rank 4, 38.88%), and Italy (rank 6, 38.79%) follow, with most of the top 20 composed of European Union member states or European territories. Germany ranks 10th at 36.88% and France ranks 12th at 36.10%. Non-European entries in the upper tier include Puerto Rico (rank 5, 38.83%) and Hong Kong SAR, China (rank 19, 33.92%), both of which reflect distinct demographic histories within their respective regions.
The middle of the ranking shows considerable geographic diversity. Thailand (rank 64, 21.98%) and China (rank 65, 21.15%) appear well above most of their regional neighbors, reflecting faster demographic aging relative to Southeast and South Asia broadly. Countries in the 100-150 range, such as India (rank 124, 10.47%) and Indonesia (rank 120, 10.70%), sit at roughly a quarter of the ratio seen in top-ranked European countries. A notable anomaly appears at the bottom: several Gulf states record extremely low ratios. Saudi Arabia ranks 211th at 4.03%, Kuwait ranks 212th at 3.94%, Oman ranks 213th at 3.64%, and the United Arab Emirates ranks 215th at 2.15%, with Qatar last at 2.01%. These low values stand in contrast to the high-income status of these countries, a pattern visible directly in the ranking data.
The metric captures only population age structure and does not account for actual labor force participation rates, retirement ages, or the economic contribution of those classified as dependents. The working-age band (15-64) is fixed, which means students, the unemployed, and others not economically active are counted as part of the denominator. Countries with large expatriate working-age populations, such as the Gulf states at the bottom of this ranking, will mechanically show very low ratios regardless of the native population's age structure. Comparisons between countries with different migration profiles, informal labor markets, or varying definitions of dependency should be made with caution. Monaco's extreme value of 71.81% identifies it as one of 18 statistical outliers flagged at the 3-sigma threshold, which may affect its comparability to the rest of the dataset.
Methodology
Data are sourced from the World Bank World Development Indicators, indicator code SP.POP.DPND.OL, for data year 2024. The metric is defined as follows: age dependency ratio, old, is the ratio of older dependents — people 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. The dataset covers 216 countries, all with data from within the last seven years (100% recency). All 216 data points are classified as official-quality (100%), exceeding the 70% threshold. The metric is expressed as a percentage. The data range spans 2.01% (Qatar, rank 216) to 71.81% (Monaco, rank 1), a spread of 3,467.6%. Eighteen extreme outliers were identified using a 3-sigma threshold. Average year-over-year change across the dataset is 2.5%, well below the 50% volatility threshold, indicating stable time-series data. No data from microstates below 1 million population were excluded; 0 of 216 entries are classified as microstates.