Old-age dependency growing across EU regions

The EU’s old-age dependency ratio, defined as the proportion of elderly individuals (aged 65 years or over) relative to the working-age population (people aged 20 to 64 years), has increased noticeably in the last 20 years. In 2004, the EU’s old-age dependency ratio was 26.8%, meaning there were slightly fewer than 4 working-age adults per elderly person aged 65 years or over. On 1 January 2024, the ratio was 37.0%, indicating that there were fewer than 3 working-age adults for every elderly person. 

The French outermost regions Mayotte (6.1%) and Guyane (13.8%) and the capital region Byen København in Denmark (17.8%) had the lowest old-age dependency ratios. 

Meanwhile, the Belgian coastal region of Arrondissement of Veurne had the highest old-age dependency ratio (72.8%). Alto Tâmega e Barroso in northern Portugal (71.4%) and Evrytania in central Greece (71.1%) were the only other regions in the EU where this ratio exceeded 70%.

Source datasets: demo_r_pjanind3 and demo_pjanind

On January 2024, there were 139 nomenclature of territorial units for statistics (NUTS 3) regions where the old-age dependency ratio was at least 50%. This group of regions was mainly concentrated in (eastern) Germany and France. In addition, Italy, Finland, Portugal, Bulgaria, Greece and Spain also had several regions where the old-age dependency ratio was at least 50%. 

This news item marks International Day of Older Persons, celebrated every year on 1 October. 

Would you like to know more about population statistics at the regional level?

You can read more about population statistics in the Eurostat regional yearbook – 2025 edition, also available as a set of Statistics Explained articles as well as in the population section of the interactive publication Regions in Europe.