Malawi vs Small states: Age dependency ratio
Malawi
74.6%
in 2025
Small states
52.3%
in 2025
Malawi rank
29th
Small states rank
30th
Age dependency ratio over time
- Malawi
- Small states
How they compare
Malawi currently reports 74.6% against 52.3% in Small states, a difference of 22.3%.
That makes Malawi's figure about 1.4 times Small states's.
Across all 66 years both countries report, Malawi has been ahead every year.
Malawi ranks 29th and Small states ranks 30th of 217 countries.
Malawi has averaged higher in every one of the 7 decades both report.
Head to head by decade
| Decade | Malawi | Small states | Difference | Ahead |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1960s | 86.1% | 83.3% | 2.8% | Malawi |
| 1970s | 91.7% | 78.5% | 13.2% | Malawi |
| 1980s | 96.2% | 71.9% | 24.3% | Malawi |
| 1990s | 97.5% | 68.7% | 28.8% | Malawi |
| 2000s | 99.4% | 59.9% | 39.5% | Malawi |
| 2010s | 94.1% | 54.7% | 39.4% | Malawi |
| 2020s | 79.4% | 52.7% | 26.7% | Malawi |
Averages of every year both report within each decade.
Frequently asked questions
- Which has higher age dependency ratio, Malawi or Small states?
- Malawi, at 74.6% against 52.3% in Small states as of 2025.
- What is the difference in age dependency ratio between Malawi and Small states?
- 22.3%, with Malawi ahead.
- How many years of comparable data are there for Malawi and Small states?
- 66 years are reported by both, from 1960 to 2025.
- How do Malawi and Small states rank globally for age dependency ratio?
- Malawi ranks 29th and Small states ranks 30th of 217 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.