Dependency ratio rises in Bangladesh as pressure builds on working population
Although the median age of the population remained 26 for the fifth consecutive year, Bangladesh's dependency ratio – comprising both youth and old age – increased to 53.7% last year, up from 52.3% in 2022.
The increase was mostly due to youth dependency (0-14yrs) rising to 44.2% from 43.1% in 2019. In 2022, it was 52.3%.
Old age dependency (65+) was 9.4% in 2023, up from 8.6% in 2022. The ratio was 8.0% in 2019, according to the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics' Bangladesh Sample Vital Statistics 2023 report released yesterday.
The dependency ratio is a measure of the age structure of a population, indicating the number of individuals who are likely to be economically dependent on the support of others.
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For comparison, the dependency ratio in India stood at 47.5% in 2022, having gradually improved from its 2013 peak of 53%, according to Statista.
In Pakistan, the dependency ratio was 69.03% in 2022 and in Sri Lanka it was 52.33%.
According to The Global Economy, Niger had the highest dependency ratio in the world at 105.13%, while Qatar had the lowest of 18.38%.
Back in Bangladesh, youth dependency fell by 0.8 percentage points in rural areas compared to 2019. It, however, rose by 1.2 percentage points for urban areas in the same period.
The dependency ratio for 60-64 and 65+ age groups have been rising in both urban and rural areas.
It reached double digits of 10.3% in rural areas, up from 9.1 in 2019 and 9.4 in 2022.
In urban areas, it stood at 6.9%, up from 6.4% in 2022. It was 6.7% in 2019.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh's population rose from 171.74 million in 2022 to 172.92 m in 2023.
The 25-39 age group comprised the highest of 22.28% of the population. This same group made up 24.07% of the population in 2019.
While the percentage of the population in the 0-4 age group rose by 1.82 percentage points, it fell for the 5-14 and 25-49 age groups in comparison to 2019.
The percentage of the population made up by the 50-65 age group also slightly rose in this period.
