The oldest and youngest countries on Earth· by median age
Line up the whole planet by age, and the person standing exactly in the middle is 30.4 years old. That is the world median age for 2023: half of humanity is older, half younger. The oldest population is Monaco, with a median of 54.4 years; the youngest is Central African Republic, at 14.3. Between them, across 220 countries and territories, the gap is a full forty years, and by 2050 the world median is projected to reach 36.1 years.
Three honest notes up front. The median is not the average: it is the midpoint, the age that splits a population in half, which makes it harder to distort with extremes. The figures are modelled estimates from the UN World Population Prospects 2024, built by reconciling censuses, surveys and registration data, not a fresh headcount. And every 2050 number on this page is a projection under the UN medium-fertility variant: a carefully built forecast, not a fact. The very top of the table is also microstate territory, with Monaco first by a wide margin.
Where the world is old, and where it is young
The deep color marks the countries with the oldest populations: Southern Europe, East Asia and a belt of microstates. The palest, youngest band runs through Sub-Saharan Africa. The map and the ranked list beside it move together; switch the metric above to see the projected 2050 picture.
Tap a country to read its figure.
Natural Earth 10m · Crimea shown as Ukraine · source: UN WPP 2024 / Our World in Data, CC BY 4.0
Every country, ranked from the oldest population down
The complete table, highest median age first. Click a column to sort. Beside each median sits the 2050 figure and the change it implies: both are UN medium-variant projections, not measurements, which is why they carry the "projected" label.
| # ▲ | Country | Median | 2050 (projected) | By 2050 | vs world |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Monaco | 54.4 yrs | 42.8 yrs | -11.6 yrs | +24.0 yrs |
| 2 |  Japan | 49.0 yrs | 52.8 yrs | +3.8 yrs | +18.6 yrs |
| 3 |  Italy | 47.5 yrs | 52.9 yrs | +5.4 yrs | +17.1 yrs |
| 4 |  San Marino | 47.4 yrs | 50.8 yrs | +3.4 yrs | +17.0 yrs |
| 5 |  Hong Kong | 46.2 yrs | 62.0 yrs | +15.8 yrs | +15.8 yrs |
| 6 |  Portugal | 46.2 yrs | 48.3 yrs | +2.1 yrs | +15.8 yrs |
| 7 |  Greece | 45.7 yrs | 49.9 yrs | +4.2 yrs | +15.3 yrs |
| 8 |  Isle of Man | 45.7 yrs | 48.7 yrs | +3.0 yrs | +15.3 yrs |
| 9 |  Puerto Rico | 45.3 yrs | 54.7 yrs | +9.4 yrs | +14.9 yrs |
| 10 |  Bermuda | 45.1 yrs | 52.3 yrs | +7.2 yrs | +14.7 yrs |
| 11 |  Germany | 45.1 yrs | 47.9 yrs | +2.8 yrs | +14.7 yrs |
| 12 |  Bosnia and Herzegovina | 44.9 yrs | 51.5 yrs | +6.6 yrs | +14.5 yrs |
| 13 |  Spain | 44.9 yrs | 51.8 yrs | +6.9 yrs | +14.5 yrs |
| 14 |  Croatia | 44.8 yrs | 49.1 yrs | +4.3 yrs | +14.4 yrs |
| 15 |  United States Virgin Islands | 44.7 yrs | 42.3 yrs | -2.4 yrs | +14.3 yrs |
What a median age actually tells you
The median age splits a population into two equal halves: exactly as many people are older than that age as younger. It is a sturdier midpoint than the average, because a baby boom or a cluster of centenarians drags an average around while barely moving the median. The number is also a compressed biography of a nation. Where the median is under 20, the typical resident is still in school; where it passes 40, the typical resident is deep into working life, and the society around them is already reorganizing for pensions, care and shrinking classrooms.
The gap between the ends of this table is enormous. Monaco (54.4 years), Japan (49.0) and Italy (47.5) anchor the old end, while 40 countries have a median under 20, 36 of them in Sub-Saharan Africa, down to Central African Republic at 14.3. The United States sits at 38.0 years, rank 61 of 220: about 7.6 years older than the world median, yet younger than nearly all of Europe. The world itself was youngest in 1969, at 20.3 years, and has aged every year since; the chart above shows that turn.
Treat the numbers with the care they deserve. They come from the UN World Population Prospects 2024, which reconciles censuses, surveys and vital registration into modelled estimates: excellent, but estimates, strongest where recent censuses exist. The 2050 column follows the UN medium-fertility variant, one path among several the UN publishes, and real fertility, mortality and migration will bend it. And microstates such as Monaco top the table partly because wealthy retirees move in: migration shapes a median as surely as birth rates do.
Five numbers worth remembering
The same dataset, squeezed into the facts people actually retell.
You, against the median
Pick a country and enter your age: the card compares you with the median resident, the world, and the projected 2050.
Frequently asked questions
What is the median age of a country?
The median age is the age that splits a country's population into two equal halves: as many people are older than it as younger. If a country's median age is 30, half its residents are under 30 and half are over. It is the standard midpoint used by the UN, and this page ranks the 2023 medians for 220 countries and territories, from Monaco at 54.4 years down to Central African Republic at 14.3.
What is the difference between median age and average age?
The average (mean) adds every age up and divides by the number of people; the median takes the person standing in the middle. The two differ because extremes pull the average around: a wave of newborns drags it down, long-lived elders push it up, while the median barely moves. That robustness is why demographers, and this ranking, use the median to describe how old a population is.
Which country has the oldest population in the world?
Monaco, with a median age of 54.4 years in 2023: half its residents are older than that. It is a microstate whose figure is lifted by wealthy retirees moving in. Among countries with over a million people, Japan is oldest at 49.0 years, followed by Italy at 47.5. All figures are UN World Population Prospects 2024 estimates.
Which country has the youngest population?
Central African Republic, with a median age of 14.3 years in 2023: half its population is younger than that. Niger (15.3) is close behind, and the whole young end of the table is dominated by Sub-Saharan Africa, where high birth rates keep populations very young: of the 40 countries with a median under 20, 36 are in that region.
What is the median age of the world?
About 30.4 years in 2023: half of humanity is older, half younger. The world median fell to 20.3 years in 1969, when birth rates were at their peak, and has risen steadily since. Under the UN medium-variant projection it reaches about 36.1 years by 2050.
How is the 2050 median age projected?
The 2050 figures follow the medium variant of the UN World Population Prospects 2024: a scenario that extends current fertility, mortality and migration trends along their most likely path. The UN also publishes higher and lower variants, so treat every 2050 number here as a well-built forecast, not a fact. On that path the world median rises from 30.4 to about 36.1 years, and the United States from 38.0 to about 41.9.
Cite this page
CC BY 4.0Our compilation on this page — the figures as arranged, ranked and dated here — is published under CC BY 4.0. Reuse it anywhere, including commercially, with a link back. The underlying data belongs to the organizations credited below.
Us, by Numbers. "Median Age by Country: Oldest and Youngest Populations." https://usbynumbers.com
Sources & further reading
Every figure here is built on one open dataset: the UN World Population Prospects 2024 median-age estimates, processed by Our World in Data and released under CC BY 4.0.
- Our World in Data: median age (UN WPP 2024, processed)primary dataset
- United Nations: World Population Prospects 2024methodology
- Our World in Data: age structuresecondary reading