Ibrahim Traoré, who gained power in Burkina Faso following a coup d'état in 2022, is the youngest head of state worldwide. Most people on the list, like Kim Jong-un in North Korea and Nayib Bukele in El Salvador, hold real political power in their countries, whereas others have more ceremonial roles.

Africa has the youngest population in the world. Among the 35 countries with the lowest median age worldwide, only three fall outside the continent. In 2023, the median age in Niger was 15.1 years, the youngest country. This means that at this age point, half of the population was younger and half older. A young population reflects several demographic characteristics of a country. For instance, together with a high population growth, life expectancy in Western Africa is low: this reached 57 years for men and 59 for women. Overall, Africa has the lowest life expectancy in the world.

Africa’s population is still growing Africa’s population growth can be linked to a high fertility rate along with a drop in death rates. Despite the fertility rate on the continent, following a constant declining trend, it remains far higher compared to all other regions worldwide. It was forecast to reach 4.12 children per woman, compared to a worldwide average of 2.31 children per woman in 2024. Furthermore, the crude death rate in Africa overall dropped, only increasing slightly during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. The largest populations on the continent Nigeria, Ethiopia, Egypt, and the Democratic Republic of Congo are the most populous African countries. In 2023, people living in Nigeria amounted to around 224 million, while the number for the three other countries exceeded 100 million each. Of those, the Democratic Republic of Congo sustained the fourth-highest fertility rate in Africa. Nigeria and Ethiopia also had high rates, with 5.24 and 4.16 births per woman, respectively. Although such a high fertility rate is expected to slow down, it will still impact the population structure, growing younger nations.

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.

Attitudes of young people to Europe. Interest in European get-togethers.

Topics: Free association with Europe and supported associations with the European Community; knowledge about the countries geographically belonging to Europe; most important political problems (issue relevance); attitude to a united Europe (scale); assessment of the future development of united Europe; information on stays abroad in other European countries; contacts with people in other European countries; situations and forms of get-together; feeling of belonging to Europe; perceived things in common in contacts with Europeans; identification as European; level of information regarding Europe; significance of European symbols; necessity of a European currency; regret of failure of European unification; preference for national or European solution of selected political controversies; assessment of the impact on the Federal Republic, Europe or the entire world from these problems; desire for more influence of Europe in the world; attitude to support of poorer EC countries, even at disadvantage for the Federal Republic; preferred countries for organized get-togethers with young people; desired composition and preferred language at such get-togethers; assessment of the development of general friendship between the EC countries; influence of decisions of other EC countries on one´s own country; interest in private and occupational stays abroad; general interest in European neighboring countries; interest in politics; party preference; assessment of the importance of decisions at municipal level, state parliament level, Federal Parliament level, the level of the European Parliament and the United Nations; political participation; sources of information about Europe; interest in selected political topics; source of information about events in Europe or European politics.

This statistic shows the countries with the lowest projected median age in 2050. By 2050, Niger is projected to have the population with the lowest median age at 19 years old.

Global Educational Attainment Among Young Adults by Country, 2023 Discover more data with ReportLinker!

This dataset provides values for RETIREMENT AGE WOMEN reported in several countries. The data includes current values, previous releases, historical highs and record lows, release frequency, reported unit and currency.

Jordan JO: Age Dependency Ratio: % of Working-Age Population: Young data was reported at 58.507 % in 2017. This records a decrease from the previous number of 59.207 % for 2016. Jordan JO: Age Dependency Ratio: % of Working-Age Population: Young data is updated yearly, averaging 85.299 % from Dec 1960 (Median) to 2017, with 58 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 102.410 % in 1980 and a record low of 58.507 % in 2017. Jordan JO: Age Dependency Ratio: % of Working-Age Population: Young data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Jordan – Table JO.World Bank.WDI: Population and Urbanization Statistics. Age dependency ratio, young, is the ratio of younger dependents--people younger than 15--to the working-age population--those ages 15-64. Data are shown as the proportion of dependents per 100 working-age population.; ; World Bank staff estimates based on age distributions of United Nations Population Division's World Population Prospects: 2017 Revision.; Weighted average;

World Countries Generalized represents generalized boundaries for the countries of the world as of August 2022. The generalized political boundaries improve draw performance and effectiveness at a global or continental level. This layer is best viewed out beyond a scale of 1:5,000,000.This layer's geography was developed by Esri and sourced from Garmin International, Inc., the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (The World Factbook), and the National Geographic Society for use as a world basemap. It is updated annually as country names or significant borders change.

In 2021, there were around 207 million children aged 0-4 years in Africa. In total, the population aged 17 years and younger amounted to approximately 650 million. In contrast, only approximately 48 million individuals were aged 65 years and older as of the same year. The youngest continent in the world Africa is the continent with the youngest population worldwide. As of 2023, around 40 percent of the population was aged 15 years and younger, compared to a global average of 25 percent. Although the median age on the continent has been increasing annually, it remains low at around 20 years. There are several reasons behind the low median age. One factor is the low life expectancy at birth: On average, the male and female population in Africa live between 61 and 65 years, respectively. In addition, poor healthcare on the continent leads to high mortality, also among children and newborns, while the high fertility rate contributes to lowering the median age. Cross-country demographic differences Africa’s demographic characteristics are not uniform across the continent. The age structure of the population differs significantly from one country to another. For instance, Niger and Uganda have the lowest median age in Africa, at 15.1 and 16.1 years, respectively. Not surprisingly, these countries also register a high crude birth rate. On the other hand, North Africa is the region recording the highest life expectancy at birth, with Algeria leading the ranking in 2023.

Chile CL: Age Dependency Ratio: % of Working-Age Population: Young data was reported at 26.594 % in 2023. This records a decrease from the previous number of 26.684 % for 2022. Chile CL: Age Dependency Ratio: % of Working-Age Population: Young data is updated yearly, averaging 46.100 % from Dec 1960 (Median) to 2023, with 64 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 69.541 % in 1962 and a record low of 26.594 % in 2023. Chile CL: Age Dependency Ratio: % of Working-Age Population: Young data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Chile – Table CL.World Bank.WDI: Population and Urbanization Statistics. Age dependency ratio, young, is the ratio of younger dependents--people younger than 15--to the working-age population--those ages 15-64. Data are shown as the proportion of dependents per 100 working-age population.;World Bank staff estimates based on age distributions of United Nations Population Division's World Population Prospects: 2022 Revision.;Weighted average;

European Number of Young High Growth Enterprises (Gazelles) in Publishing by Country, 2023 Discover more data with ReportLinker!

This dataset provides values for RETIREMENT AGE MEN reported in several countries. The data includes current values, previous releases, historical highs and record lows, release frequency, reported unit and currency.

As of 2024, 99 percent of young people aged 15-24 living in high-income countries used the internet. Meanwhile, the percentage of internet users among the rest of the population of the countries in the same category was 93 percent. Upper-middle-income economies ranked second by the share of young people using the internet, 97 percent. In markets with low income, the percentage of 15-24 year-olds using the internet was the lowest, 43 percent.

European Share of Young High Growth Enterprises (Gazelles) in the Population of Active Enterprises in ICT by Country, 2023 Discover more data with ReportLinker!

European Number of Young High Growth Enterprises (Gazelles) in Hotels by Country, 2023 Discover more data with ReportLinker!

This dataset is about book subjects and is filtered where the books is The Country Life book for the young rider. It has 10 columns such as authors, average publication date, book publishers, book subject, and books. The data is ordered by earliest publication date (descending).

South Africa ZA: Age Dependency Ratio: % of Working-Age Population: Young data was reported at 44.137 % in 2017. This records a decrease from the previous number of 44.469 % for 2016. South Africa ZA: Age Dependency Ratio: % of Working-Age Population: Young data is updated yearly, averaging 69.827 % from Dec 1960 (Median) to 2017, with 58 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 78.491 % in 1966 and a record low of 44.137 % in 2017. South Africa ZA: Age Dependency Ratio: % of Working-Age Population: Young data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s South Africa – Table ZA.World Bank.WDI: Population and Urbanization Statistics. Age dependency ratio, young, is the ratio of younger dependents--people younger than 15--to the working-age population--those ages 15-64. Data are shown as the proportion of dependents per 100 working-age population.; ; World Bank staff estimates based on age distributions of United Nations Population Division's World Population Prospects: 2017 Revision.; Weighted average;

The number of unemployed youth worldwide decreased gradually from 2010 to 2019, but then increased in 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. As of 2024, there were an estimated 64.5 million unemployed youths between 15 and 24 years worldwide. Highest youth unemployment globally The countries with the highest rates of youth not in education, employment, or training (NEET) include Niger, Kiribati, Guyana, Somalia, and Afghanistan. While there is geographic diversity in this group, each of these countries are either low-income or low-middle income. Moreover, each has their own set of challenges contributing to high NEET rates. For example, in Afghanistan this can be attributed to conflict and the 2021 Taliban takeover. In Kiribati and other Pacific Island nations, they face high levels of brain drain to larger economies such as Australia, New Zealand, and the United States. Lowest youth unemployment globally On the contrary, countries with the lowest youth NEET rates include Japan, the Netherlands, Sweden, Iceland, and Malta. Factors such as well-structed vocational training programs and affordable university education contribute to low NEET rates. However, these countries still face their own challenges. For example, one contributing factor to such low NEET rates in Japan is the overall shrinkage of the Japanese population, which is simultaneously aging. While unemployment remains low in the country, it faces the potential crisis of not having enough people to support the labor market.

Young immigrants by sex, age and country of birth