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Story · Population

The world is getting older

Median age has climbed on every continent, the share of people over 65 has more than doubled since 1960, and fertility has fallen below replacement in most rich countries.

4 charts · 3 min read · Data refreshed 11 Sep 2026

In 1950, the population-weighted median age of the world was 19.4 yrs. By 2023 it had risen to 30.8 yrs.

The oldest population in 2023 is Monaco, with a median age of 54.4 yrs.

01 · World map

Median age, decade by decade

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2023
216 countries
Median age, 2023World map of Median age (2023) for 216 countries, from 13.4 yrs to 54.4 yrs.Fiji: 27.7 yrsTanzania: 17.2 yrsW. Sahara: —Canada: 40.3 yrsUnited States: 38.0 yrsKazakhstan: 29.5 yrsUzbekistan: 26.9 yrsPapua New Guinea: 22.3 yrsIndonesia: 29.8 yrsArgentina: 32.1 yrsChile: 36.0 yrsDR Congo: 15.8 yrsSomalia: 15.4 yrsKenya: 19.5 yrsSudan: 18.3 yrsChad: 15.4 yrsHaiti: 23.5 yrsDominican Republic: 27.7 yrsRussia: 39.5 yrsBahamas: 34.6 yrsFalkland Is.: —Norway: 39.5 yrsGreenland: 34.2 yrsFr. S. Antarctic Lands: —Timor-Leste: 21.0 yrsSouth Africa: 28.2 yrsLesotho: 21.4 yrsMexico: 28.9 yrsUruguay: 35.8 yrsBrazil: 33.9 yrsBolivia: 24.7 yrsPeru: 29.5 yrsColombia: 31.6 yrsPanama: 29.6 yrsCosta Rica: 34.1 yrsNicaragua: 25.3 yrsHonduras: 23.5 yrsEl Salvador: 27.0 yrsGuatemala: 22.6 yrsBelize: 25.9 yrsVenezuela: 29.0 yrsGuyana: 25.6 yrsSuriname: 28.1 yrsFrance: 41.8 yrsEcuador: 28.4 yrsPuerto Rico: 45.3 yrsJamaica: 31.7 yrsCuba: 41.7 yrsZimbabwe: 17.8 yrsBotswana: 22.9 yrsNamibia: 21.0 yrsSenegal: 19.1 yrsMali: 15.5 yrsMauritania: 17.1 yrsBenin: 17.8 yrsNiger: 15.3 yrsNigeria: 17.8 yrsCameroon: 17.8 yrsTogo: 18.1 yrsGhana: 20.9 yrsCôte d'Ivoire: 18.1 yrsGuinea: 18.0 yrsGuinea-Bissau: 18.9 yrsLiberia: 18.4 yrsSierra Leone: 19.3 yrsBurkina Faso: 17.3 yrsCentral African Republic: 14.3 yrsRepublic of the Congo: 18.3 yrsGabon: 21.5 yrsEquatorial Guinea: 21.0 yrsZambia: 17.5 yrsMalawi: 17.6 yrsMozambique: 16.3 yrsEswatini: 22.0 yrsAngola: 16.5 yrsBurundi: 15.9 yrsIsrael: 29.2 yrsLebanon: 28.3 yrsMadagascar: 18.9 yrsPalestine: 19.8 yrsGambia: 18.2 yrsTunisia: 32.1 yrsAlgeria: 28.2 yrsJordan: 24.3 yrsUnited Arab Emirates: 31.2 yrsQatar: 33.2 yrsKuwait: 34.5 yrsIraq: 20.3 yrsOman: 29.3 yrsVanuatu: 20.1 yrsCambodia: 25.8 yrsThailand: 39.7 yrsLaos: 24.3 yrsMyanmar: 29.5 yrsVietnam: 32.4 yrsNorth Korea: 36.0 yrsSouth Korea: 44.5 yrsMongolia: 26.8 yrsIndia: 28.1 yrsBangladesh: 25.3 yrsBhutan: 29.4 yrsNepal: 24.7 yrsPakistan: 20.3 yrsAfghanistan: 16.9 yrsTajikistan: 21.9 yrsKyrgyzstan: 25.1 yrsTurkmenistan: 26.2 yrsIran: 32.9 yrsSyria: 22.2 yrsArmenia: 35.8 yrsSweden: 39.9 yrsBelarus: 40.5 yrsUkraine: 42.0 yrsPoland: 41.3 yrsAustria: 43.1 yrsHungary: 43.3 yrsMoldova: 37.8 yrsRomania: 42.6 yrsLithuania: 42.1 yrsLatvia: 43.1 yrsEstonia: 41.9 yrsGermany: 45.1 yrsBulgaria: 44.3 yrsGreece: 45.7 yrsTürkiye: 32.5 yrsAlbania: 36.3 yrsCroatia: 44.8 yrsSwitzerland: 42.3 yrsLuxembourg: 38.9 yrsBelgium: 41.4 yrsNetherlands: 41.4 yrsPortugal: 46.2 yrsSpain: 44.9 yrsIreland: 38.4 yrsNew Caledonia: 33.9 yrsSolomon Islands: 20.3 yrsNew Zealand: 37.3 yrsAustralia: 37.8 yrsSri Lanka: 32.8 yrsChina: 39.1 yrsTaiwan: 43.5 yrsItaly: 47.5 yrsDenmark: 41.2 yrsUnited Kingdom: 39.8 yrsIceland: 35.8 yrsAzerbaijan: 32.6 yrsGeorgia: 36.8 yrsPhilippines: 25.3 yrsMalaysia: 30.1 yrsBrunei: 31.8 yrsSlovenia: 43.9 yrsFinland: 42.8 yrsSlovakia: 41.3 yrsCzechia: 42.7 yrsEritrea: 18.7 yrsJapan: 49.0 yrsParaguay: 26.3 yrsYemen: 18.2 yrsSaudi Arabia: 29.2 yrsN. Cyprus: —Cyprus: 37.8 yrsMorocco: 29.2 yrsEgypt: 24.0 yrsLibya: 27.2 yrsEthiopia: 18.7 yrsDjibouti: 24.4 yrsSomaliland: —Uganda: 16.5 yrsRwanda: 19.4 yrsBosnia and Herzegovina: 44.9 yrsNorth Macedonia: 40.3 yrsSerbia: 43.9 yrsMontenegro: 39.3 yrsKosovo: —Trinidad and Tobago: 36.7 yrsSouth Sudan: 18.0 yrs
Median age, 2023
  • 13.4 yrs – 16.5 yrs
  • 16.5 yrs – 18.3 yrs
  • 18.3 yrs – 21.3 yrs
  • 21.3 yrs – 27.5 yrs
  • 27.5 yrs – 33.9 yrs
  • 33.9 yrs – 54.4 yrs
  • No data
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Source: Our World in Data — grapher · median-age · retrieved 11 Sep 2026

People aged 65 and over were 5.0 % of the world population in 1960; in 2025 they were 10.4 %.

02 · Trend

Share of population aged 65+

Population-weighted mean across 217–217 countries per year, computed by CountryAtlas from country values.

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  • World
  • High income
  • Low income
Seniors (65+)3 series from 1960 to 2025: World, High income, Low income.19601970198019902000201020200%5%10%15%20%

3 series from 1960 to 2025: World, High income, Low income.

Source: World Bank — WDI · SP.POP.65UP.TO.ZS · retrieved 11 Sep 2026

03 · Selected countries

Fertility rate, births per woman

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  • Japan
  • Italy
  • South Korea
  • China
  • India
  • Nigeria
Fertility6 series from 1960 to 2024: Japan, Italy, South Korea, China, India, Nigeria.196019701980199020002010202002468

6 series from 1960 to 2024: Japan, Italy, South Korea, China, India, Nigeria.

Source: World Bank — WDI · SP.DYN.TFRT.IN · retrieved 11 Sep 2026

04 · Ranking, 2023

Oldest populations

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Sources

Every figure on this page is computed from the CountryAtlas snapshot 20260911T072322Z (built 11 Sep 2026). Values carry the licence of their source; the compilation is CC BY 4.0.

Our World in Data · World Bank

Indicators used

How this story is built

A story is a declarative template: a list of blocks (world map by year, aggregate trend, country lines, a ranking) bound to indicators. Sentences are templates filled with numbers computed server-side from exactly the payloads charted below; when a value is missing the sentence is omitted rather than guessed.

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