Of all major regions of the world, Europe has the most challenging demographics, combining a stagnant population and a rising dependency ratio. But within Europe, five countries have worse demographics than the European average: Germany, Italy, Portugal, Spain and Greece.
Because of the economic crisis, Greece’s population has stagnated at 11 million, a level first reached in 2001. In addition, Greece’s dependency ratio will be climbing faster than that of Europe as a whole. On UN estimates, a third of the Greek population will be aged 65+ in 2050, compared to a quarter for Europe overall.
Shown above and below are the dependency ratios (DR) of Greece and of Europe. The Total DR is the ratio of the population aged 0-14 and that aged 65+ to the population aged 15-64. The Child DR is the ratio of the population aged 0-14 to the population aged 15-64. The Old-Age DR is the ratio of the population aged 65 years or over to the population aged 15-64. All ratios are presented as number of dependants per 100 persons of working age (15-64).
This post uses data from the United Nations Population Division.