Dependency Ratios by rgamesby
A dependency ratio is a mathematical sum that allows governments to judge how many people of working age they have relative to how many people are said to be DEPENDENT. A dependent person is someone who cannot fend for themselves or who relies upon others to maintain their well being. Dependent groups include some disabled people, the very young and the very old. Countries with a dependency ratio close to 1 have high dependency - they have 1 person of working age for every dependent person. Dependency ratios of 0.5 are better; this means that for every 2 working age people there is only 1 dependent person to cater for. High dependency can result from;
A high number of children giving a youthful population, in the African country of Mali, over 40% of the population is under the age of 15.
Both of these situations can give rise to a number of problems and benefits.
A dependency ratio is calculated using the following sum;
% of population under 15 + % of population over 65 X 100
% of people of working age
China had a highly dependent population, find out why and what they did here.Try this exercise on Dependency Ratios
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