Average age
The average age is a technical term from population science ( demography ). It describes the average age of a defined group of people as the arithmetic mean of the age of all people in this population at a specific point in time. A group of people in this sense are groups of people with identical characteristics such as the inhabitants of a state or a region. Statistically, the term is also used for groups of people such as the employed, the unemployed, women of childbearing potential or first-year students.
The median age , which is used to describe the aging of a population, must be distinguished from this key figure . As a rule, the median age does not match the average age. The median age divides a sample into two halves, so that the values in one half are smaller and in the other half larger than the median age. In 2013, the median age of the world population was 29.4 years. In Germany it was 44.3 years in 2010.
Influencing factors
As a demographic parameter, the average age depends on the age and gender structure of the group of people under consideration, thus on the proportion of male and female people in individual age groups and the proportion of individual age groups in the overall group (see also population pyramid ). This composition results from the sum of the main demographic events - births, deaths, immigration and emigration ( immigration , emigration ). The factors influencing these four named events are in turn very diverse and depend on the current framework conditions, such as the cultural environment , religion , social and societal structure, the (economic) situation, the state of the environment , the quality of the health system , the geography , the legal system , the political circumstances or even the individual preferences .
Conversely, the average age can also allow conclusions to be drawn about the economic and social development status of the group of people.
Development of the average age
The best known variant is the representation of the average age for a spatial unit (e.g. state , federal state , municipality , district ).
With regard to the national mean age, two extremes can currently be observed. In most industrialized nations, the average age has been rising continuously for decades , due to a falling birth rate and increasing life expectancy . In the Third World, however, the average age is stagnating or changing only marginally. There are high birth rates here , but the average life expectancy is comparatively low.
The average age worldwide has risen continuously over the past 50 years. In 1950 it was 23.9 years, in 2005 it was already 28.1 years. The differences between the individual states are wide. The lowest average age had the inhabitants of Uganda in 2005 with only 14.8 years. The highest average age is over 42 years in Japan (42.9 years), Italy (42.3) and Germany (42.1). In 2013, the average age for men in Germany was 42.8 years and for women 45.5 years.
The United Nations statistics also illustrate the large difference between developed and less developed regions and thus the relationship to life expectancy, but large fluctuations can be observed even within a region such as Africa or Europe (e.g. Europe: average age: 39.0 years, range: 28.3 to 42.3 years).
The development of the birth rate, life expectancy or migration can be decisive for the future development of individual countries. For example, the increasing average age will play an important role in China's future policy. 1.314 billion people currently live in the People's Republic of China . This makes China the most populous country on earth . China faces immense problems in the medium term. Life expectancy increases with the industrial progress of the country. If nothing changes in China's one-child policy , there will not be enough working offspring from 2030 to support the aging population.
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World Population Prospects The 2006 Revision, PDF at www.un.org
World Population Aging 2007, United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs publications, June 2007 PDF at www.un.org
Federal Institute for Population Research
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b BiB - Federal Institute for Population Research - Glossary - Average age of the population. (No longer available online.) In: www.bib-demografie.de. Archived from the original on August 1, 2015 ; accessed on August 17, 2015 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ BiB - Federal Institute for Population Research - Figures - Median Age. (No longer available online.) In: www.bib-demografie.de. Archived from the original on September 12, 2015 ; accessed on August 17, 2015 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ The median age in a global comparison of countries. In: www.laenderdaten.de. Retrieved August 17, 2015 .
- ↑ UN Data: Median age in years. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on March 3, 2015 ; accessed on August 17, 2015 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Claire Grobecker et al. a .: Population and demographics. Extract from the 2013 data report. Federal Statistical Office, 2013, accessed on August 17, 2015 .
- ^ Juliane Roloff: Demographic Development. In: Online Academy. Friedrich Ebert Foundation, accessed on August 17, 2015 .
- ↑ Countries with the highest average age of the population 2010 | Statistics. In: Statista. Retrieved August 17, 2015 .
- ↑ BiB - Federal Institute for Population Research - Figures - Average age of the population in Germany, 1871 to 2013. (No longer available online.) In: www.bib-demografie.de. Archived from the original on September 12, 2015 ; accessed on August 17, 2015 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ The aging of the world population, 1950-2050. United Nations, 2001, accessed August 17, 2015 .
- ↑ Federal Agency for Civic Education: On the current situation of the world population | bpb. In: www.bpb.de. Retrieved August 17, 2015 .
- ↑ China's future looks old. In: MaxPlanckResearch 3/2008. 2008, accessed August 17, 2015 .
- ↑ Statista - the statistics portal. In: Statista. Retrieved August 17, 2015 .
- ↑ The one-child policy of the PRC and its effects. In: IGFM.de. Retrieved August 17, 2015 .
- ↑ China's demographics - one child, two parents, four grandparents. Retrieved August 17, 2015 .
