Old-age dependency ratio increasing in the EU

Under the baseline scenario of the latest population projections issued by Eurostat, the EU’s population will continue to grow older.

This can be illustrated by the old-age dependency ratio, defined as the ratio of the number of elderly people (aged 65 years and over) compared with the number of people of working-age (15-64 years).

The EU’s old-age dependency ratio is projected to be at 57% in 2100, almost double that of 2019 (31%). This means that there will be fewer than two persons of working age for each elderly person aged 65 and over.

The projected increase in old-age dependency ratio follows the trend observed in the past decade (26% in 2009).