Youth quotient
The youth quotient is a term from demography .
It indicates the ratio of the number of “young” people, that is, people who are not yet of working age (mostly up to 15 or 20 years) to the number of people of working age (mostly up to 64 or 59 years).
Calculation of the youth quotient
It always refers to a specific population at a specific point in time. Customary, as is the case in German official statistics , is the calculation of a youth quotient from the number of people aged up to 18 years in relation to the number of 18 to under 64 year olds (i.e. in relation to the number of people of typical working age) . A different choice of age limits is also possible. There are different definitions for the calculation of the youth quotient. The limits used should always be indicated accordingly.
The calculated youth quotient can be specified as a decimal number with decimal places (e.g. by specifying a youth quotient of 0.20 with a ratio of 1 to 5). It is customary to multiply the value by a factor of 100 (in the example mentioned, the youth quotient would result in 20 in the sense of 20 young people per 100 older people).
More often there is also an indication as a percentage . Strictly speaking, this is incorrect and should be avoided , since the youth quotient always describes a ratio or a size ratio of two different populations. By contrast, percentages always capture parts of a whole (hundredths) by definition.
Empirical data
Due to the demographic change in Germany that has persisted since the 20th century , an aging population is occurring , which is causing the youth quotient to drop steadily and the old-age quotient to rise.