This statistic displays the age distribution of Europe in 2020, with forecasts for 2025 and 2050. In 2020, the largest age group in Europe were those aged between 35 and 39, at roughly ** million people. By 2025 however, the largest age group is forecasted to be those aged 40-44 (**** million) and by 2050 those aged 60-64 (**** million).

In 2024, Italy and Portugal were the European countries with the largest share of elderly population, with ** percent of the total population aged 65 years and older. Bulgaria, Finland, and Greece were the countries with the next highest shares of elderly people in their population, while the European Union on average had **** percent of the population being elderly. Iceland, Ireland, and Luxembourg had around ** percent of their population being elderly, while Türkiye and Azerbaijan had around ** percent.

The main objectives of this data collection effort were to assemble a set of cross-nationally comparable microdata samples for Economic Commission for Europe (ECE) countries based on the 1990 national population and housing censuses in countries of Europe and North America, and to use these samples to study the social and economic conditions of older persons. The samples are designed to allow research on a wide range of issues related to aging, as well as on other social phenomena. The Finland microdata sample contains information on persons aged 50 and over and on the persons who reside with them. Variables included in this dataset provide information on geographic area, type of residency, type of dwelling, household characteristics and demographic characteristics such as age, sex, year of birth, household composition, marital status, number of children, education, income, religion, and occupation.

In 2020, 7.4 percent of the population of Italy were over the age of 80, compared with the European Union average of 5.9 percent. By contrast, just 1.8 percent of the population of Turkey were aged over 80, the lowest share among the provided countries.

Graph and download economic data for Working Age Population: Aged 15-64: All Persons for the Euro Area (19 Countries) (LFWA64TTEZQ647S) from Q1 2005 to Q4 2022 about working-age, 15 to 64 years, Euro Area, Europe, and population.

The main objectives of this data collection effort were to assemble a set of cross-nationally comparable microdata samples for Economic Commission for Europe (ECE) countries based on the 1990 national population and housing censuses in countries of Europe and North America, and to use these samples to study the social and economic conditions of older persons. The samples are designed to allow research on a wide range of issues related to aging, as well as on other social phenomena. The Estonia microdata sample contains information on persons aged 50 and over and the persons who reside with them. Variables included in this dataset cover geographic area, type of residency, type of dwelling, and household characteristics, as well as demographic information such as age, sex, marital status, number of children, education, income, and occupation.

European Union - Proportion of population aged 65 and over was 22.00% in December of 2025, according to the EUROSTAT. Trading Economics provides the current actual value, an historical data chart and related indicators for European Union - Proportion of population aged 65 and over - last updated from the EUROSTAT on March of 2026. Historically, European Union - Proportion of population aged 65 and over reached a record high of 22.00% in December of 2025 and a record low of 17.60% in December of 2010.

Share of six specific age groups in the total population on 1 January.

Graph and download economic data for Working Age Population: Aged 15-24: All Persons for the European Union (LFWA24TTEUQ647S) from Q1 2005 to Q4 2019 about working-age, EU, 15 to 24 years, Europe, and population.

Graph and download economic data for Working Age Population: Aged 15-64: All Persons for the European Union (LFWA64TTEUQ647N) from Q2 2000 to Q4 2019 about working-age, EU, 15 to 64 years, Europe, and population.

Graph and download economic data for Working Age Population: Aged 15-24: All Persons for the European Union (LFWA24TTEUA647N) from 2005 to 2019 about EU, working-age, 15 to 24 years, Europe, and population.

In 2025, the population of Europe was estimated to be approximately 7.4 million, with the most common single year of age being 38, at over 10.6 million. By contrast, there were just 126,350 people aged 99 this year.

Graph and download economic data for Population ages 65 and above for the European Union (SPPOP65UPTOZSEUU) from 1960 to 2024 about 65-years +, EU, Europe, and population.

Graph and download economic data for Age Dependency Ratio: Older Dependents to Working-Age Population for the European Union (SPPOPDPNDOLEUU) from 1960 to 2024 about working-age, EU, ratio, Europe, and population.

Euro Area - Proportion of population aged 50-64 years was 21.50% in December of 2024, according to the EUROSTAT. Trading Economics provides the current actual value, an historical data chart and related indicators for Euro Area - Proportion of population aged 50-64 years - last updated from the EUROSTAT on February of 2026. Historically, Euro Area - Proportion of population aged 50-64 years reached a record high of 21.50% in December of 2024 and a record low of 18.90% in December of 2010.

Dataset

This dataset was created by Dr Dev Kambhampati

Contents

EUROPEAN UNION ELDERLY POPULATION (By Country)

Graph and download economic data for Working Age Population: Aged 15-64: All Persons for the European Union (LFWA64TTEUA647S) from 2005 to 2019 about EU, working-age, 15 to 64 years, Europe, and population.

Annual population data for European regions at the NUTS3 territorial level for the period 2016–2025.

The dataset provides regional population statistics for Europe using the NUTS3 territorial classification, the most detailed level of the European statistical regional system.

Population values represent the usually resident population on 1 January of each year and are sourced from the Eurostat regional demographic statistics database.

The dataset is organized into three files:

total.csv – total population

male.csv – male population

female.csv – female population

Each observation represents the population of a specific NUTS3 region and year, enabling consistent regional comparisons across European territories.

The dataset is structured as a regional panel dataset, allowing longitudinal analysis of demographic changes across European regions.

Structure of the original Eurostat dataset

The original Eurostat dataset reports population values by broad age groups for each NUTS3 region.

For every region and year, four observations are reported.

Age groups in the Eurostat dataset are identified by internal AGE codes. As a result, when the data are exported the observations appear in the following order:

Total population (all ages)

Population aged 15–64 years

Population aged 65 years and over

Population aged 0–14 years

The total population corresponds to the sum of the three age groups.

Because of this structure, each NUTS3 region appears four times in every file, once for each age group.

When performing analyses that require the total regional population, only the rows corresponding to total population (all ages) should be used.

If all rows are aggregated without filtering the total population, the population values would be counted multiple times, leading to incorrect results.

Data preprocessing

To create a consistent and machine-readable dataset, the following preprocessing steps were applied:

filtering the dataset to retain only NUTS3 territorial units

removing aggregated territorial levels and non-territorial statistical codes

removing rows without population observations

converting Eurostat missing values (: notation) to NaN

adding a country name column to provide a human-readable territorial label

In the original Eurostat data, missing observations are typically reported consistently across age groups. When population data are unavailable for a specific NUTS3 region in a given year, the missing value generally affects all age groups for that same region and year. These cases represent missing observations rather than zero population values and are therefore preserved as NaN in the dataset.

Potential uses

This dataset can be used for:

regional demographic analysis

European population trend studies

territorial comparisons across regions and countries

spatial demographic research

integration with economic, environmental, or social indicators

European Union - Proportion of population aged 80 years and more was 6.10% in December of 2024, according to the EUROSTAT. Trading Economics provides the current actual value, an historical data chart and related indicators for European Union - Proportion of population aged 80 years and more - last updated from the EUROSTAT on February of 2026. Historically, European Union - Proportion of population aged 80 years and more reached a record high of 6.10% in December of 2024 and a record low of 4.70% in December of 2010.

In 2020, Germany had the highest number of over 65's at approximately 18.1 million, which was followed by Italy and France at 13.9 million and 13.7 million inhabitants respectively.