Box 5.1.1: Dependency ratios
A country’s dependency ratios measure proportions of the population who may be ‘dependent’
on others; that is, they are either too old or too young to be in the labour force so may be
‘dependent’ on those of working age to produce the goods and services that they need. While
this article is focused on working–age people aged 25–64, for the purposes of dependency
ratios we look at the three most commonly used age ranges for dependency ratios:
• Child dependency ratio: the number of children aged 0 to 14 compared with the number
of people aged 15 to 64 (that is, people of ‘traditional’ working age).
• Old–age dependency ratio: the number of people aged 65 and over compared with the
number aged 15 to 64.
• Total dependency ratio: the sum of the number of children aged 0 to 14 and people aged
65 and over compared with the number aged 15 to 64.