Africa Is The World's 'Youngest' Region, Asia The 'Oldest'

The world’s population is aging, but not evenly. While some regions are growing older at an alarming pace, others remain remarkably young.

In this graphic, Visual Capitalist's Marcus Lu maps the median age in every country, showing where populations are oldest and youngest around the globe.

Median age measures the midpoint of a population’s age distribution. In other words, it’s where half the people are younger and half are older. This is different from a mean average, which sums all ages and divides by the total number of people, making it more affected by very young or old individuals.

Data & Discussion

The data for this visualization comes from the World Factbook. Note that the median age of the world is around 30.9 years.

Africa Has the Youngest Populations

Africa stands out as the youngest region by far, with 21 countries reporting a median age below 20, led by Niger (15), Uganda (16), and Mali (16). Altogether, these 21 countries represent 790 million people.

This demographic structure reflects high fertility and improving child survival rates, but also signals future challenges in job creation and education. These youthful populations could shape global labor markets and migration flows in the decades ahead.

Europe and East Asia: Aging at Record Speeds

On the other hand, Europe and East Asia have some of the oldest populations on the planet. Europe’s oldest include Monaco (57), Italy (48), and Germany (47), while in Asia, Japan (50), Hong Kong (47), and South Korea (46) underscore the region’s demographic decline.

Shrinking workforces and rising dependency ratios pose serious challenges in the future, particularly when it comes to healthcare and pensions.

If you enjoyed today’s post, check out The World’s Fastest Shrinking Countries by Population on Voronoi, the new app from Visual Capitalist.