Population Under Age 15
Population Under Age 15 by country
Commentary
Notable countries
The highest shares of population under age 15 are overwhelmingly concentrated in Africa, led by the Central African Republic at 49%, followed by Niger at 46.6% and Somalia at 46.59%. The entire top 10 is African, with all values above 43.5%, showing a very young age structure in that group. At the other end, South Korea has the lowest share at 10.57%, followed by Japan at 11.44% and Singapore at 11.69%. A notable pattern is that the bottom 10 is dominated by Europe, with a few East Asian economies also among the oldest age structures.
Regional trends
Africa stands out clearly with the highest continental average at 37.68%, far above the global mean of 26.23%. Oceania is next at 31.12%, while Asia sits close to the world average at 24.98% and South America slightly below it at 23.66%. North America is lower still at 21.73%, and Europe has by far the lowest average at 15.27%, indicating the oldest overall age profile among the regions listed.
Data source
The data come from the World Bank 2024 and measure the share of each country's population under age 15, in percent. Coverage includes 196 countries. A caveat is that this is a population age-structure indicator only, so it does not by itself explain why countries have younger or older populations.
Interpretation
Higher values mean a larger share of children in the population, which points to a younger age structure; lower values mean a smaller child population and an older overall demographic profile. Because the direction is defined as higher is better, countries with larger youth shares rank more favorably on this metric. Still, a high share under 15 is not automatically an advantage, just as a low share is not automatically a disadvantage. The data mainly show a strong divide between very youthful populations, especially in Africa, and much older age structures in Europe and parts of East Asia.