Somalia vs Sub-Saharan Africa: Age dependency ratio
Somalia
96.7%
in 2025
Sub-Saharan Africa
78.1%
in 2025
Somalia rank
3rd
Sub-Saharan Africa rank
6th
Age dependency ratio over time
- Somalia
- Sub-Saharan Africa
How they compare
Somalia currently reports 96.7% against 78.1% in Sub-Saharan Africa, a difference of 18.6%.
That makes Somalia's figure about 1.2 times Sub-Saharan Africa's.
The two have swapped places 2 times across 66 shared years of data; in 1960 it was Somalia ahead.
Somalia ranks 3rd and Sub-Saharan Africa ranks 6th of 218 countries.
Across the 7 decades both report, Somalia averaged higher in 6 and Sub-Saharan Africa in 1.
Head to head by decade
| Decade | Somalia | Sub-Saharan Africa | Difference | Ahead |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1960s | 92.7% | 87.9% | 4.7% | Somalia |
| 1970s | 91.5% | 92.8% | 1.2% | Sub-Saharan Africa |
| 1980s | 95.2% | 94.9% | 0.3% | Somalia |
| 1990s | 98.5% | 93.3% | 5.2% | Somalia |
| 2000s | 102.7% | 90.5% | 12.2% | Somalia |
| 2010s | 100.6% | 86.8% | 13.8% | Somalia |
| 2020s | 97.4% | 80.5% | 16.9% | Somalia |
Averages of every year both report within each decade.
Frequently asked questions
- Which has higher age dependency ratio, Somalia or Sub-Saharan Africa?
- Somalia, at 96.7% against 78.1% in Sub-Saharan Africa as of 2025.
- What is the difference in age dependency ratio between Somalia and Sub-Saharan Africa?
- 18.6%, with Somalia ahead.
- How many years of comparable data are there for Somalia and Sub-Saharan Africa?
- 66 years are reported by both, from 1960 to 2025.
- How do Somalia and Sub-Saharan Africa rank globally for age dependency ratio?
- Somalia ranks 3rd and Sub-Saharan Africa ranks 6th 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.