Nigeria vs North America: Age dependency ratio
Nigeria
77.3%
in 2025
North America
54.9%
in 2025
Nigeria rank
23rd
North America rank
26th
Age dependency ratio over time
- Nigeria
- North America
How they compare
Nigeria currently reports 77.3% against 54.9% in North America, a difference of 22.4%.
That makes Nigeria's figure about 1.4 times North America's.
Across all 66 years both countries report, Nigeria has been ahead every year.
Nigeria ranks 23rd and North America ranks 26th of 218 countries.
Nigeria has averaged higher in every one of the 7 decades both report.
Head to head by decade
| Decade | Nigeria | North America | Difference | Ahead |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1960s | 81.4% | 66.3% | 15.1% | Nigeria |
| 1970s | 87.2% | 55.8% | 31.4% | Nigeria |
| 1980s | 93.9% | 49.7% | 44.2% | Nigeria |
| 1990s | 91.0% | 51.1% | 39.8% | Nigeria |
| 2000s | 88.7% | 48.2% | 40.5% | Nigeria |
| 2010s | 89.1% | 49.9% | 39.3% | Nigeria |
| 2020s | 80.9% | 53.6% | 27.3% | Nigeria |
Averages of every year both report within each decade.
Frequently asked questions
- Which has higher age dependency ratio, Nigeria or North America?
- Nigeria, at 77.3% against 54.9% in North America as of 2025.
- What is the difference in age dependency ratio between Nigeria and North America?
- 22.4%, with Nigeria ahead.
- How many years of comparable data are there for Nigeria and North America?
- 66 years are reported by both, from 1960 to 2025.
- How do Nigeria and North America rank globally for age dependency ratio?
- Nigeria ranks 23rd and North America ranks 26th 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.