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.

List of African countries by median age. Niger average age is 14.8, the youngest African country and the youngest country in the world. The African islands of Seychelles is the oldest African country with an average age of 36.8.

In 2024, Italy was the European country with the oldest population, recording a median age of 48.7 years, closely ahead of Bulgaria and Portugal, with 47 years. In general, almost all European countries have a median age above 40 years old. Only Azerbaijan, Turkey, Armenia, and Kosovo had a median age below 35 years old. Kosovo was the youngest territory of the continent in terms of median age.

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.

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.

List of African countries by median age of the total population and male and female median ages. Niger with an average age of 14.8 years old is the youngest country in Africa and the youngest country in the world.

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.

Kosovo, one of the youngest countries in an aging Europe, took its first steps on the road to greater prosperity a quarter of a century ago. Kosovo’s economy has experienced significant growth in recent years. The Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has triggered Kosovo’s first ever recession in 2020. While spending on education has more than doubled, the quality of human capital needs to improve. And barriers to women’s economic empowerment need to be lifted. Proximity to major markets in Europe and a youthful population provide an opportunity for growth. Kosovo is one of the youngest countries in an aging Europe. Trade facilitation and logistics connectivity are getting better. Proximity to a large and affluent market, low taxes and labor costs, a resilient and liquid financial sector, and strong ties with its diaspora will help support growth.

license: apache-2.0 tags: - africa - sustainable-development-goals - world-health-organization - development

  Children and young people achieving a minimum proficiency level in reading (%) - Primary education





  Dataset Description

This dataset provides country-level data for the indicator "4.1.1 Children and young people achieving a minimum proficiency level in reading (%) - Primary education" across African nations, sourced from the World Health Organization's… See the full description on the dataset page: https://huggingface.co/datasets/electricsheepafrica/children-and-young-people-achieving-a-minimum-proficiency-le-for-african-countries.

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

In 2023, the median age of the population in Thailand was **** years, which was the oldest median age across Southeast Asia. Comparatively, the median age of Timor-Leste's population was ** years in 2023.

Young people's at-risk-of-poverty rate by sex and country of birth

Greenland Age Dependency Ratio: % of Working-Age Population: Young data was reported at 30.116 % in 2023. This records an increase from the previous number of 29.881 % for 2022. Greenland Age Dependency Ratio: % of Working-Age Population: Young data is updated yearly, averaging 38.402 % from Dec 1960 (Median) to 2023, with 64 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 88.043 % in 1966 and a record low of 29.280 % in 2017. Greenland 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 Greenland – Table GL.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: 2024 Revision.;Weighted average;

Denmark DK: Age Dependency Ratio: % of Working-Age Population: Young data was reported at 25.824 % in 2017. This records a decrease from the previous number of 25.939 % for 2016. Denmark DK: Age Dependency Ratio: % of Working-Age Population: Young data is updated yearly, averaging 28.170 % from Dec 1960 (Median) to 2017, with 58 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 39.271 % in 1960 and a record low of 25.277 % in 1990. Denmark DK: 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 Denmark – Table DK.World Bank: 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;

France FR: Age Dependency Ratio: % of Working-Age Population: Young data was reported at 29.074 % in 2017. This records a decrease from the previous number of 29.088 % for 2016. France FR: Age Dependency Ratio: % of Working-Age Population: Young data is updated yearly, averaging 30.470 % from Dec 1960 (Median) to 2017, with 58 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 42.591 % in 1961 and a record low of 28.258 % in 2006. France FR: 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 France – Table FR.World Bank: 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;

Young people in the country between the ages of 17-28 years, living in municipalities under 5000 residents.

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.

Young immigrants by sex, age and country of birth

Financial overview and grant giving statistics of Young Country Outdoors Inc

Analysis of ‘Unemployment rates of young people (15-29) by age group and country’ provided by Analyst-2 (analyst-2.ai), based on source dataset retrieved from http://data.europa.eu/88u/dataset/https-www-datenportal-bmbf-de-portal-0-55 on 16 January 2022.

--- Dataset description provided by original source is as follows ---

Table 0.55: Unemployment rates of young people (15-29) by age group and country

--- Original source retains full ownership of the source dataset ---