Globally, about 25 percent of the population is under 15 years of age and 10 percent is over 65 years of age. Africa has the youngest population worldwide. In Sub-Saharan Africa, more than 40 percent of the population is below 15 years, and only three percent are above 65, indicating the low life expectancy in several of the countries. In Europe, on the other hand, a higher share of the population is above 65 years than the population under 15 years. Fertility rates The high share of children and youth in Africa is connected to the high fertility rates on the continent. For instance, South Sudan and Niger have the highest population growth rates globally. However, about 50 percent of the world’s population live in countries with low fertility, where women have less than 2.1 children. Some countries in Europe, like Latvia and Lithuania, have experienced a population decline of one percent, and in the Cook Islands, it is even above two percent. In Europe, the majority of the population was previously working-aged adults with few dependents, but this trend is expected to reverse soon, and it is predicted that by 2050, the older population will outnumber the young in many developed countries. Growing global population As of 2025, there are 8.1 billion people living on the planet, and this is expected to reach more than nine billion before 2040. Moreover, the global population is expected to reach 10 billions around 2060, before slowing and then even falling slightly by 2100. As the population growth rates indicate, a significant share of the population increase will happen in Africa.

The global population has grown rapidly since 1950, from *** billion to over eight billion in 2023. The age distribution shows that the number of people within all age groups increased over the period, with the two youngest age groups being the largest in 2023. Population growth driven by development in Asia The increasing global population is explained by economic development and a coinciding improvement in living conditions in several parts of the world, particularly in Asia. Improvements in sanitary conditions, the rollout of vaccination programs, and better medical treatment brought down death rates around the world. China saw fast economic development from the early 1980s to the late 2010s, going hand in hand with a rapidly increasing population. Furthermore, the population of India has grown rapidly since it gained independence from the British Empire in the late 1940s, now being the largest in the world. Most of the future population growth will happen in Africa The global population is forecast to continue to increase over the coming decades, set to reach over 10 billion people by 2060. Most of this increase is projected to occur on the African continent, as many African countries are expected to experience an improvement in living standards. In 2022, over ** percent of the population in Sub-Saharan Africa was below 15 years old.

The statistic shows the global population as of mid-2022, sorted by age. In mid-2022, approximately two thirds of the global population were aged between 15 and 64 years.

Demographic data on global population by age groups

In 2024, just under 41 percent of Sub-Saharan Africa's population was below the age of 15; in contrast, this figure was just 17 percent in Europe & Central Asia and in North America. Across these regions, the share of the population aged 65 and over inversely correlated with the younger population, in that the regions with the largest share aged under 15 had the smallest share aged over 64, and vice versa. For most regions, the share of the population aged between 15 and 64 years ranged between 64 and 65 percent, except for Sub-Saharan Africa where it was below 56 percent. These trends can largely be explained by looking at global demographic development.

Graph and download economic data for Population Ages 0 to 14 for World (SPPOP0014TOZSWLD) from 1960 to 2024 about 0 to 14 years and population.

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Acknowledgements

Citation: United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division (2017). World Population Prospects: The 2017 Revision, DVD Edition.

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Actual value and historical data chart for World Population Ages 15 64 Total

Until 2100, the world's population is expected to be ageing. Whereas people over 60 years made up less than 13 percent of the world's population in 2024, this share is estimated to reach 28.8 percent in 2100. On the other hand, the share of people between zero and 14 years was expected to decrease by almost ten percentage points over the same period.

The Gridded Population of the World, Version 4 (GPWv4): Basic Demographic Characteristics, Revision 11 consists of estimates of human population by age and sex as counts (number of persons per pixel) and densities (number of persons per square kilometer), consistent with national censuses and population registers, for the year 2010. To estimate the male and female populations by age in 2010, the proportions of males and females in each 5-year age group from ages 0-4 to ages 85+ for the given census year were calculated. These proportions were then applied to the 2010 estimates of the total population to obtain 2010 estimates of male and female populations by age. In some cases, the spatial resolution of the age and sex proportions was coarser than the resolution of the total population estimates to which they were applied. The population density rasters were created by dividing the population count rasters by the land area raster. The data files were produced as global rasters at 30 arc-second (~1 km at the equator) resolution. To enable faster global processing, and in support of research commUnities, the 30 arc-second data were aggregated to 2.5 arc-minute, 15 arc-minute, 30 arc-minute and 1 degree resolutions.

United States US: Population: Male: Ages 75-79: % of Male Population data was reported at 2.399 % in 2017. This records an increase from the previous number of 2.355 % for 2016. United States US: Population: Male: Ages 75-79: % of Male Population data is updated yearly, averaging 1.984 % from Dec 1960 (Median) to 2017, with 58 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 2.399 % in 2017 and a record low of 1.514 % in 1960. United States US: Population: Male: Ages 75-79: % of Male Population data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s USA – Table US.World Bank: Population and Urbanization Statistics. Male population between the ages 75 to 79 as a percentage of the total male population.; ; World Bank staff estimates based on age/sex distributions of United Nations Population Division's World Population Prospects: 2017 Revision.; ;

Actual value and historical data chart for World Population Ages 50 64 Male Percent Of Male Population

Graph and download economic data for Population Ages 15 to 64 for the United States (SPPOP1564TOZSUSA) from 1960 to 2024 about 15 to 64 years, population, and USA.

Population: Age 15 to 64: Guangdong data was reported at 96.407 Person th in 2023. This records an increase from the previous number of 93.262 Person th for 2022. Population: Age 15 to 64: Guangdong data is updated yearly, averaging 67.753 Person th from Dec 1982 (Median) to 2023, with 29 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 91,449.628 Person th in 2020 and a record low of 45.169 Person th in 1999. Population: Age 15 to 64: Guangdong data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by National Bureau of Statistics. The data is categorized under China Premium Database’s Socio-Demographic – Table CN.GA: Population: Sample Survey: By Age and Region.

Population ages 70-74, male (% of male population) in World was reported at 2.5312 % in 2024, according to the World Bank collection of development indicators, compiled from officially recognized sources. World - Population ages 70-74, male (% of male population) - actual values, historical data, forecasts and projections were sourced from the World Bank on November of 2025.

FR: Population: Male: Ages 25-29: % of Male Population data was reported at 6.132 % in 2017. This records a decrease from the previous number of 6.214 % for 2016. FR: Population: Male: Ages 25-29: % of Male Population data is updated yearly, averaging 7.311 % from Dec 1960 (Median) to 2017, with 58 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 8.768 % in 1976 and a record low of 5.945 % in 1969. FR: Population: Male: Ages 25-29: % of Male Population data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s France – Table FR.World Bank: Population and Urbanization Statistics. Male population between the ages 25 to 29 as a percentage of the total male population.; ; World Bank staff estimates based on age/sex distributions of United Nations Population Division's World Population Prospects: 2017 Revision.; ;

China Population: Age 85 to 89 data was reported at 13.443 Person th in 2023. This records an increase from the previous number of 12.542 Person th for 2022. China Population: Age 85 to 89 data is updated yearly, averaging 4.792 Person th from Dec 1982 (Median) to 2023, with 36 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 10,826.530 Person th in 2020 and a record low of 1.453 Person th in 1994. China Population: Age 85 to 89 data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by National Bureau of Statistics. The data is categorized under China Premium Database’s Socio-Demographic – Table CN.GA: Population: Sample Survey: By Age and Sex.

The changing population age structure has a significant influence on the economy, society, and numerous other aspects of a country. This paper has innovatively applied the method of compositional data forecasting for the prediction of population age changes of the young (aged 0–14), the middle-aged (aged 15–64), and the elderly (aged older than 65) in China, India, and Vietnam by 2030 based on data from 1960 to 2016. To select the best-suited forecasting model, an array of data transformation approaches and forecasting models have been extensively employed, and a large number of comparisons have been made between the aforementioned methods. The best-suited model for each country is identified considering the root mean squared error and mean absolute percent error values from the compositional data. As noted in this study, first and foremost, it is predicted that by the year 2030, China will witness the disappearance of population dividend and get mired in an aging problem far more severe than that of India or Vietnam. Second, Vietnam’s trend of change in population age structure resembles that of China, but the country will sustain its good health as a whole. Finally, the working population of India demonstrates a strong rising trend, indicating that the age structure of the Indian population still remains relatively “young”. Meanwhile, the continuous rise in the proportion of elderly population and the gradual leveling off growth of the young population have nevertheless become serious problems in the world. The present paper attempts to offer crucial insights into the Asian population size, labor market and urbanization, and, moreover, provides suggestions for a sustainable global demographic development.

China Population: Age 35 to 39 data was reported at 118.381 Person th in 2023. This records an increase from the previous number of 109.832 Person th for 2022. China Population: Age 35 to 39 data is updated yearly, averaging 109.234 Person th from Dec 1982 (Median) to 2023, with 36 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 118,025.959 Person th in 2010 and a record low of 54.152 Person th in 1994. China Population: Age 35 to 39 data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by National Bureau of Statistics. The data is categorized under China Premium Database’s Socio-Demographic – Table CN.GA: Population: Sample Survey: By Age and Sex.

This statistic shows the median age of the world population from 1950 to 2100. By 2100, the global median age is projected to be 41.9 years of age.