Japan vs South Asia: Age dependency ratio
Japan
70.2%
in 2025
South Asia
47.0%
in 2025
Japan rank
41st
South Asia rank
41st
Age dependency ratio over time
- Japan
- South Asia
How they compare
Japan currently reports 70.2% against 47.0% in South Asia, a difference of 23.2%.
That makes Japan's figure about 1.5 times South Asia's.
The two have swapped places 1 time across 66 shared years of data; in 1960 it was South Asia ahead.
Japan ranks 41st and South Asia ranks 41st of 218 countries.
Across the 7 decades both report, Japan averaged higher in 2 and South Asia in 5.
Head to head by decade
| Decade | Japan | South Asia | Difference | Ahead |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1960s | 47.8% | 81.7% | 33.9% | South Asia |
| 1970s | 46.0% | 81.4% | 35.3% | South Asia |
| 1980s | 46.8% | 78.0% | 31.2% | South Asia |
| 1990s | 43.8% | 71.9% | 28.1% | South Asia |
| 2000s | 51.4% | 62.7% | 11.3% | South Asia |
| 2010s | 64.4% | 53.6% | 10.8% | Japan |
| 2020s | 70.1% | 48.1% | 22.0% | Japan |
Averages of every year both report within each decade.
Frequently asked questions
- Which has higher age dependency ratio, Japan or South Asia?
- Japan, at 70.2% against 47.0% in South Asia as of 2025.
- What is the difference in age dependency ratio between Japan and South Asia?
- 23.2%, with Japan ahead.
- How many years of comparable data are there for Japan and South Asia?
- 66 years are reported by both, from 1960 to 2025.
- How do Japan and South Asia rank globally for age dependency ratio?
- Japan ranks 41st and South Asia ranks 41st of 218 countries.
- Where does this data come from?
- World Population Prospects, United Nations (UN), publisher: UN Population Division, published as Age dependency ratio (% of working-age population). Statizoid refreshes it automatically from the source and publishes the full history for both places.
Individual pages
About this data
Age dependency ratio is the ratio of dependents--people younger than 15 or older than 64--to the working-age population--those ages 15-64. Data are shown as the proportion of dependents per 100 working-age population.