Ranked: Countries With the Fewest Seniors, by Population Share

Pallavi Rao
2025-06-29 08:32:00
www.visualcapitalist.com

See this visualization first on the Voronoi app.

Ranked: Countries With the Fewest Seniors, by Population Share

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Key Takeaways

Middle Eastern states like Qatar and the UAE have the fewest seniors as a share of the population.
A significant part of their population are younger migrant workers, who are usually below 40.
A similar effect occurs in sub‑Saharan Africa, where younger populations mean large numbers of older adults are still a small share of the country.

While Western, industrialized countries worry about aging societies, in other parts of the world older adults are the smallest share of the population.

This chart ranks the 36 countries with the fewest seniors in 2025 by share of population, along with total count of residents aged 65 and above.

The figures are estimates for 2025, made under the medium variant projection in the UN World Population Prospects (2024).

Ranked: Countries With the Lowest Share of Seniors

Qatar (1.7%) and the UAE (1.8%) have the lowest share of seniors in their population.

This is because Gulf states rely heavily on migrant labor forces, predominantly aged under 40, which holds down the share of older adults.

Rank	Country	Share of Population, 65+ (2025)	65+ Population (2025)	Total Population (2025)
1	Qatar	1.7%	53.0K	3.1M
2	UAE	1.8%	203.0K	11.3M
3	Zambia	2.0%	438.0K	21.9M
4	Chad	2.1%	445.0K	21.0M
5	Central African Republic	2.2%	121.0K	5.5M
6	Uganda	2.2%	1.1M	51.4M
7	Mali	2.4%	595.0K	25.2M
8	Afghanistan	2.4%	1.1M	43.8M
9	Yemen	2.5%	1.1M	41.8M
10	Burundi	2.6%	367.0K	14.4M
11	Malawi	2.6%	575.0K	22.2M
12	Somalia	2.6%	514.0K	19.7M
13	Niger	2.6%	731.0K	27.9M
14	Côte d’Ivoire	2.7%	868.0K	32.7M
15	Mayotte	2.7%	9.0K	337K
16	Burkina Faso	2.7%	646.0K	24.1M
17	Oman	2.7%	148.0K	5.5M
18	Mozambique	2.7%	974.0K	35.6M
19	Cameroon	2.8%	842.0K	29.9M
20	Angola	2.9%	1.1M	39.0M
21	Kenya	3.0%	1.7M	57.5M
22	Tanzania	3.0%	2.1M	70.5M
23	Saudi Arabia	3.1%	1.1M	34.6M
24	Congo	3.1%	199.0K	6.5M
25	Nigeria	3.1%	7.3M	237.5M
26	South Sudan	3.1%	375.0K	12.2M
27	DRC	3.1%	3.5M	112.8M
28	Benin	3.2%	467.0K	14.8M
29	Kuwait	3.2%	160.0K	5.0M
30	Gambia	3.2%	90.0K	2.8M
31	Guinea-Bissau	3.2%	73.0K	2.3M
32	Mauritania	3.3%	173.0K	5.3M
33	Togo	3.3%	317.0K	9.7M
34	Sierra Leone	3.3%	290.0K	8.8M
35	Ethiopia	3.3%	4.5M	135.5M
36	Liberia	3.3%	191.0K	5.7M

Meanwhile, in countries like Zambia (2.0%), Chad (2.1%), and Uganda (2.2%), high fertility rates result in the populations skewing younger

For example, in the fifth-ranked Central African Republic, where only 2.2% of the population is above 65, more than half the population is below 18.

However, smaller shares don’t necessarily mean smaller cohorts of seniors.

In the case of Nigeria (3.1%) and Ethiopia (3.3%), older adult populations measure 7.3 million and 4.5 million people respectively.

For reference, that’s more than the total population of Ireland and New Zealand put together.

Implications of Smaller Older Adult Populations

While youthful populations can mean lower healthcare spending for older adults, they also necessitate investment in education and future employment.

Meanwhile, Gulf countries may need to plan for a demographic shift as migrant populations eventually age or repatriate.

In Africa, bolstering eldercare infrastructure remains a long-term priority as countries still need to account for their current working-age population growing older.

Learn More on the Voronoi App

If you enjoyed today’s post, check out Ranked: Cities With the Largest Working-Age Populations on Voronoi, the new app from Visual Capitalist.

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