Median Age

[imoldernu]

While looking for some unrelated statistics, I came across this comparison of the ages of people living in different countries.
Median age - total (years) 2013 country comparisons, ranks, By Rank

Am posting only because the difference in median age floored me, and thought it might be interesting to others. Here are a few of the numbers:

Median Age (half of the population above, half below)
Uganda 15
Afghanistan 18
Syria 22
China 26
India 27
United States 37
Russia 39
Canada 41
Japan and Germany 45

Next challenge is to try and make sense of the numbers, and what they might mean for the future.

 

[MichaelB]

I know the China number is bad. Median age there is 36 ( see here https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/fields/2177.html)
As for meaning, I bet it means those folks are going to get older. What do you think?

 

[imoldernu]

Yes... China s/b 36 ...

As for meaning, I bet it means those folks are going to get older. What do you think?

Maybe... dunno about Africa or the Middle East.

 

[Htown Harry]

Am posting only because the difference in median age floored me, and thought it might be interesting to others. Here are a few of the numbers...

Next challenge is to try and make sense of the numbers, and what they might mean for the future.

Thanks for posting.

Clicking through to a country leads to a number of additional stats for that country, many with links to other world rankings.

A few more minutes of clicking and the trends for the countries at the bottom of the median age list share a number of common - but not surprising - characteristics relevant to public health: low percentage with access to sanitary facilities, low doctor ratios, high HIV rates, high percentage of underweight children, etc.

African countries pack the top 50 in all such categories.

Making sense of the numbers gets much more complicated as one goes up the scale toward the more affluent, developed countries.

 

[gardenfun]

Tom Friedman of the NYTimes had a couple of columns recently about the implications of the different age distributions between India and China. He was focusing on education--that India's much younger population represented a huge opportunity for the "education business", whatever form that might take.

If India's population is younger than China's, what does that mean for dominance in industry, etc? I'm not sure, going on my second beer tonight. Ask me tomorrow...

 

[Animorph]

Japan and Germany will have fewer workers supporting more retirees.