In the 119th Congress which began in January 2025, almost ** percent of members of the House of Representatives were between the ages of ** and ** in 2025- more than any other age group.

As of 2025, the average age of senators in the 119th Congress was **. Of the total 100, ** members of the U.S. Senate were between the ages of ** and ** - more than any other age group. The minimum age requirement to be a member of the Senate is **, opposed to the House of Representatives which has a minimum age requirement of **. The average age of members of Congress from 2009 to 2023 can be found here.

About this dataset

Context

The dataset tabulates the population of Congress by gender across 18 age groups. It lists the male and female population in each age group along with the gender ratio for Congress. The dataset can be utilized to understand the population distribution of Congress by gender and age. For example, using this dataset, we can identify the largest age group for both Men and Women in Congress. Additionally, it can be used to see how the gender ratio changes from birth to senior most age group and male to female ratio across each age group for Congress.

Key observations

Largest age group (population): Male # 45-49 years (8) | Female # 60-64 years (13). Source: U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey (ACS) 2019-2023 5-Year Estimates.

Content

When available, the data consists of estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey (ACS) 2019-2023 5-Year Estimates.

Age groups:

• Under 5 years
• 5 to 9 years
• 10 to 14 years
• 15 to 19 years
• 20 to 24 years
• 25 to 29 years
• 30 to 34 years
• 35 to 39 years
• 40 to 44 years
• 45 to 49 years
• 50 to 54 years
• 55 to 59 years
• 60 to 64 years
• 65 to 69 years
• 70 to 74 years
• 75 to 79 years
• 80 to 84 years
• 85 years and over

Scope of gender :

Please note that American Community Survey asks a question about the respondents current sex, but not about gender, sexual orientation, or sex at birth. The question is intended to capture data for biological sex, not gender. Respondents are supposed to respond with the answer as either of Male or Female. Our research and this dataset mirrors the data reported as Male and Female for gender distribution analysis.

Variables / Data Columns

• Age Group: This column displays the age group for the Congress population analysis. Total expected values are 18 and are define above in the age groups section.
• Population (Male): The male population in the Congress is shown in the following column.
• Population (Female): The female population in the Congress is shown in the following column.
• Gender Ratio: Also known as the sex ratio, this column displays the number of males per 100 females in Congress for each age group.

Good to know

Margin of Error

Data in the dataset are based on the estimates and are subject to sampling variability and thus a margin of error. Neilsberg Research recommends using caution when presening these estimates in your research.

Custom data

If you do need custom data for any of your research project, report or presentation, you can contact our research staff at research@neilsberg.com for a feasibility of a custom tabulation on a fee-for-service basis.

Inspiration

Neilsberg Research Team curates, analyze and publishes demographics and economic data from a variety of public and proprietary sources, each of which often includes multiple surveys and programs. The large majority of Neilsberg Research aggregated datasets and insights is made available for free download at https://www.neilsberg.com/research/.

Recommended for further research

This dataset is a part of the main dataset for Congress Population by Gender. You can refer the same here

About this dataset

Context

The dataset tabulates the Congress population distribution across 18 age groups. It lists the population in each age group along with the percentage population relative of the total population for Congress. The dataset can be utilized to understand the population distribution of Congress by age. For example, using this dataset, we can identify the largest age group in Congress.

Key observations

The largest age group in Congress, OH was for the group of age 45 to 49 years years with a population of 16 (18.60%), according to the ACS 2019-2023 5-Year Estimates. At the same time, the smallest age group in Congress, OH was the 10 to 14 years years with a population of 0 (0%). Source: U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey (ACS) 2019-2023 5-Year Estimates

Content

When available, the data consists of estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey (ACS) 2019-2023 5-Year Estimates

Age groups:

• Under 5 years
• 5 to 9 years
• 10 to 14 years
• 15 to 19 years
• 20 to 24 years
• 25 to 29 years
• 30 to 34 years
• 35 to 39 years
• 40 to 44 years
• 45 to 49 years
• 50 to 54 years
• 55 to 59 years
• 60 to 64 years
• 65 to 69 years
• 70 to 74 years
• 75 to 79 years
• 80 to 84 years
• 85 years and over

Variables / Data Columns

• Age Group: This column displays the age group in consideration
• Population: The population for the specific age group in the Congress is shown in this column.
• % of Total Population: This column displays the population of each age group as a proportion of Congress total population. Please note that the sum of all percentages may not equal one due to rounding of values.

Good to know

Margin of Error

Data in the dataset are based on the estimates and are subject to sampling variability and thus a margin of error. Neilsberg Research recommends using caution when presening these estimates in your research.

Custom data

If you do need custom data for any of your research project, report or presentation, you can contact our research staff at research@neilsberg.com for a feasibility of a custom tabulation on a fee-for-service basis.

Inspiration

Neilsberg Research Team curates, analyze and publishes demographics and economic data from a variety of public and proprietary sources, each of which often includes multiple surveys and programs. The large majority of Neilsberg Research aggregated datasets and insights is made available for free download at https://www.neilsberg.com/research/.

Recommended for further research

This dataset is a part of the main dataset for Congress Population by Age. You can refer the same here

This dataset includes the retweets posted on Twitter by accounts associated with members of the US Congress during the 115th Congress (2017-2018). The list of accounts combines two sources: Justin Littman's list (https://dataverse.harvard.edu/dataset.xhtml?persistentId=doi:10.7910/DVN/UIVHQR)The United States project list (https://github.com/unitedstates/congress-legislators)Tweets were collected using Twitter's Search API through the twitter_user_collector Python script (https://github.com/casmlab/twitter_user_collector).We filtered all tweets posted during the 115th Congress, leaving only those that have an associated attribute "retweeted_status", which indicates that the given CM's tweet is a retweet of another tweet. These retweets number 209,856 during the 115th Congress, made by 38,131 unique Twitter accounts.We preserved and renamed metadata these tweets provided through Twitter's API, including the fields 'tweet_id_str', 'full_text', 'user_id_str', 'user_screen_name', 'user_followers_count', 'created_at', 'retweet_count', 'retweeted_status', and 'year' (extracted from 'created_at').Beyond that tweet metadata provided through Twitter’s API, we collected additional demographic metadata for as many CMs as possible of those featured in our Tweet collection by using The United States Project's crowdsourced list of current legislators’ official Twitter handles, and associated metadata fields identifying a legislator’s unique bioguide ID ('bioguide' field), name (‘name’ field), chamber (‘chamber’ field), party (‘party’ field), state represented (‘state’ field), gender (‘gender’ field), and birthday (‘birthday’ field). For those CMs not included in The United States Project, we manually searched for information to fill each of these metadata fields.Based on which state each of these CMs represents, we assigned each CM a region (‘region’ field) based on those U.S. regional divisions outlined by Karl and Koss in their 1984 paper (https://repository.library.noaa.gov/view/noaa/10238) and which is also used by the U.S. National Centers for Environmental Information. For those states not captured by Karl and Koss’ regions, we made determinations ourselves and assigned them according to climatological and cultural contexts. In doing so, we developed an additional regional label, “Islands”. Those states or territories that we independently assigned include American Samoa, Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Hawaii, District of Columbia, and Alaska.We determined age (‘age’ field) at the time of dataset creation (Jan. 10, 2020) according to CMs’ reported birthdays. We then grouped these ages into those age buckets 30-39, 40-49, 50-59, 60-69, 70-79, 80-89 (‘age_bucket’ field).The OpenICPSR dataset features tweets by 520 CMs with this associated metadata.Finally, we include fields which describe the original tweet that the CM retweeted and the user who posted it. We include that original poster’s Twitter user ID ('rt_user_id' field), Twitter screen name ('rt_screen_name' field), number of Twitter followers ('rt_followers_count' field), and user bio ('rt_bio' field). We extracted these fields from the JSON value included in the Twitter API's 'retweeted_status' field.

Since 1789, 45 different men have served as President of the United States, and the average age of these men when taking office for the first time was approximately 57 years. Two men, Grover Cleveland and Donald Trump, were elected to two non-consecutive terms, and Donald Trump's victory in 2024 made him the oldest man ever elected as president, where he will be 78 years and seven months old when taking office again. Record holders The oldest president to take office for the first time was Joe Biden in 2021, at 78 years and two months - around five months younger than Donald Trump when he assumes office in 2025. The youngest presidents to take office were Theodore Roosevelt in 1901 (42 years and 322 days), who assumed office following the assassination of William McKinley, and the youngest elected president was John F Kennedy in 1961 (43 years and 236 days). Historically, there seems to be little correlation between age and electability, and the past five presidents have included the two oldest to ever take office, and two of the youngest. Requirements to become president The United States Constitution states that both the President and Vice President must be at least 35 years old when taking office, and must have lived in the United States for at least 14 years of their life. Such restrictions are also in place for members of the U.S. Congress, although the age and residency barriers are lower. Additionally, for the roles of President and Vice President, there is a "natural-born-citizen" clause that was traditionally interpreted to mean candidates must have been born in the U.S. (or were citizens when the Constitution was adopted). However, the clause's ambiguity has led to something of a reinterpretation in the past decades, with most now interpreting it as also applying to those eligible for birthright citizenship, as some recent candidates were born overseas.

The annual salary received by members of the United States Congress in 2025 is ******* U.S. dollars. This has been the case since 2009. The Government Ethics Reform Act of 1989 provides an automatic cost of living adjustment increase in line with the

About this dataset

Context

The dataset tabulates the data for the Congress, OH population pyramid, which represents the Congress population distribution across age and gender, using estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey (ACS) 2019-2023 5-Year Estimates. It lists the male and female population for each age group, along with the total population for those age groups. Higher numbers at the bottom of the table suggest population growth, whereas higher numbers at the top indicate declining birth rates. Furthermore, the dataset can be utilized to understand the youth dependency ratio, old-age dependency ratio, total dependency ratio, and potential support ratio.

Key observations

• Youth dependency ratio, which is the number of children aged 0-14 per 100 persons aged 15-64, for Congress, OH, is 8.6.
• Old-age dependency ratio, which is the number of persons aged 65 or over per 100 persons aged 15-64, for Congress, OH, is 39.7.
• Total dependency ratio for Congress, OH is 48.3.
• Potential support ratio, which is the number of youth (working age population) per elderly, for Congress, OH is 2.5.

Content

When available, the data consists of estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey (ACS) 2019-2023 5-Year Estimates.

Age groups:

• Under 5 years
• 5 to 9 years
• 10 to 14 years
• 15 to 19 years
• 20 to 24 years
• 25 to 29 years
• 30 to 34 years
• 35 to 39 years
• 40 to 44 years
• 45 to 49 years
• 50 to 54 years
• 55 to 59 years
• 60 to 64 years
• 65 to 69 years
• 70 to 74 years
• 75 to 79 years
• 80 to 84 years
• 85 years and over

Variables / Data Columns

• Age Group: This column displays the age group for the Congress population analysis. Total expected values are 18 and are define above in the age groups section.
• Population (Male): The male population in the Congress for the selected age group is shown in the following column.
• Population (Female): The female population in the Congress for the selected age group is shown in the following column.
• Total Population: The total population of the Congress for the selected age group is shown in the following column.

Good to know

Margin of Error

Data in the dataset are based on the estimates and are subject to sampling variability and thus a margin of error. Neilsberg Research recommends using caution when presening these estimates in your research.

Custom data

If you do need custom data for any of your research project, report or presentation, you can contact our research staff at research@neilsberg.com for a feasibility of a custom tabulation on a fee-for-service basis.

Inspiration

Neilsberg Research Team curates, analyze and publishes demographics and economic data from a variety of public and proprietary sources, each of which often includes multiple surveys and programs. The large majority of Neilsberg Research aggregated datasets and insights is made available for free download at https://www.neilsberg.com/research/.

Recommended for further research

This dataset is a part of the main dataset for Congress Population by Age. You can refer the same here

As of 2023, the youngest member of the United States Senate was John Ossoff, at 35 years old. Although the minimum age requirement to run for a Senate seat is **, all but two Senate members in the ***** U.S. Congress were over 40 years old.

The most recent polling data from February 2025 puts the approval rating of the United States Congress at 29 percent, reflecting a significant increase from January. The approval rating remained low throughout the 118th Congress cycle, which began in January 2025. Congressional approval Congressional approval, particularly over the past few years, has not been high. Americans tend to see Congress as a group of ineffectual politicians who are out of touch with their constituents. The 118th Congress began in 2023 with a rocky start. The Democratic Party maintains control of the Senate, but Republicans took back control of the House of Representatives after the 2022 midterm elections. The House caught media attention from its first days with a contentious fight for the position of Speaker of the House. Representative Kevin McCarthy was eventually sworn in as Speaker after a historic fifteen rounds of voting. Despite the current Congress having a historic share of women and being the most diverse Congress in American history, very little has been done to improve the opinion of Americans regarding its central lawmaking body. Ye of little faith However, Americans tend not to have much confidence in many of the institutions in the United States. Additionally, public confidence in the ability of the Republican and Democratic parties to work together has decreased drastically between 2008 and 2022, with nearly 60 percent of Americans having no confidence the parties can govern in a bipartisan way.

The first sitting of the ***** Congress was from January 3, 2023, to January 3, 2025. Of the members of the House who sat during this session, *** members had previous employment in public service or politics. A further *** worked in business or banking before joining the House of Representatives.

The 119th Congress began in January 2025. In this Congress, there were 26 women serving as Senators, and 74 men. The number of women has increased since the 1975 when there were no women in the Senate. The first female Senator was Rebecca Felton of Georgia who was sworn in 1922. A breakdown of women Senators by party can be found here.

45 men have served as the President of the United States. Of these 45 men, 31 have had a military background, with ranks ranging from a militia private to five-star generals. There is some correlation between the ages of the presidents and major wars in U.S. history; explaining why none of those in office between 1909 and 1945 had any military background, and why six of the ten veteran presidents since then served in the National Guard or Naval Reserve. Three US presidents have held the highest position in the U.S. military, they were; George Washington, Commander in Chief of the Continental Army during the War of Independence; Ulysses S. Grant, Commanding General of the US Army during the American Civil War; and Dwight D. Eisenhower, Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force in Europe in the Second World War. Popular professions In terms of non-military roles, the most common profession for U.S. presidents before taking office was that of a lawyer. 27 U.S. presidents studied and practiced law before entering the world of politics, while Harry S. Truman met all the criteria to become a lawyer, before political and personal circumstances prevented this (although he was posthumously awarded an honorary law license in 1996). Joe Biden is the most recent U.S. president to have held this job; however, the profession was most common in earlier years, as 22 of the first 32 presidents had been lawyers. Eight presidents had also worked in the education sector, with four schoolteachers, three college professors and one university dean being elected to office, and a number went on to teach or serve on university boards after their time in office. More uncommon jobs for U.S. presidents include Hollywood actor (Ronald Reagan), inventor (Thomas Jefferson), peanut farmer (Jimmy Carter) and reality TV host (Donald Trump). Donald Trump was the only U.S. President without any military or political background before assuming office. Political roles A total of 15 vice presidents have ascended to the presidency; eight were due to the death of their respective president, six were elected for their first term, and Gerald R. Ford assumed the presidency following the resignation of Richard Nixon. Of the nine men who assumed the presidency following a death or resignation, five were re-elected to serve a full term. Thomas Jefferson and Richard Nixon are the only vice presidents to have won two presidential elections, and Jefferson is the only one to have completed both full terms. The most common political background of a U.S. president is that of a Congressman in the House of Representatives, with 18 presidents having served in this role, while 17 also served in the U.S. Congress as Senators. Additionally, 17 U.S. presidents had served as state governors, and William Howard Taft was the Governor-General of the Philippines from 1901 to 1903, when it was a U.S. territory. Six U.S. Presidents had previously served as Secretaries of State, while Taft and Grant had served as Secretaries of War, and Herbert Hoover had been the Secretary of Commerce.

As of July 2023, India has *** national political parties. The oldest political party in post-independent India is the Indian National Congress (INC). Founded in 1885, the party is 138 years old. The criteria for defining national and state-level political parties is set by the Election Commission of India. In addition to other criteria, a party must be recognized in at least **** states to become a national party. Therfeore, after parliamentary elections, political parties may gain a national status or lose it. Aam Admi Party (AAP) is the latest addition to the list of national parties.

As of December 2024, women constituted 63.8 percent of the Rwandan parliament (lower or single house). This makes it the country with the highest share of women in parliament worldwide. Cuba had the second-highest share of female MPs with 55.7 percent, followed by Nicaragua. The European country with the highest percentage of women in their parliament was Andorra with 50 percent.

In 2024, the African National Congress (ANC) party lost the majority share in the national assembly election in South Africa, with **** percent. This was the lowest share of votes recorded since the introduction of the country's first democratic election in 1994. However, the 2024 election revealed a significant change in ANC voter support, with a***-percentage point drop from the previous election year. Growing challenges affecting the ANC’s popularity South Africans are battling various issues concurrently. One of their main concerns is unemployment and job security. In May 2024, a survey conducted in ** countries worldwide found that South Africa had the highest share of citizens who were worried about unemployment, with ** percent. In fact, excessive power outages have exacerbated unemployment as it disrupts production, prevents businesses from growing, and weakens investment. The reduction in the ANC party’s support can be attributed to unresolved serious issues such as these. Rise of the uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) party The uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) party was launched in December 2023 by South Africa’s former president Jacob Zuma. The introduction of the MK party turned out to be a major game changer in the national and provincial elections held on May **, 2024. For instance, support for the ANC in the KwaZulu-Natal province declined by just over ** percent compared to the previous election in 2019. MK’s success is likely due to Zuma’s popularity as a Zulu traditionalist and his willful disregard for the established authority. Overall, the party made considerable gains in their first election and surpassed the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) to place third in the 2024 national elections.

In a survey conducted in Nigeria in 2022, Nigerian respondents declared feeling the closest to the All Progressive Congress (APC) and the People's Democratic Party (PDP). These two political parties were more popular in rural Nigeria. Notably, the percentage of respondents who did not have identification with any political party were mainly from urban areas of the country.

The proportion of seats held by women in the national parliament in the Philippines amounted to 27.33 percent in 2024. Between 1997 and 2024, the proportion rose by 16.27 percentage points, though the increase followed an uneven trajectory rather than a consistent upward trend.

In 2024 general elections, the National Democratic Party (NDA) in India won the majority of Lok Sabha seats standing at 292, a fall from 343 seats in 2019 .The NDA is led by the ruling BJP, headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. INDIA is a political alliance of more than 25 political parties in India, which was founded in July 2023 in an unprecedented attempt to be strong opposition to the NDA. The INDI Alliance garnered major gains in 2024 but lost to the incumbent BJP.