Bulgaria: 1.5 times as many people aged 65+ as children under 15
on 1 July 2023
In 1950 it was the other way round: 4.3 children under 15 for every person aged 65+. The over-65s overtook the under-15s in 1999.
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Two head counts of the same country: people aged 65 and over and children under 15, both UN estimates for 1 July.
Blue is the card’s first number, orange the second; they share one scale. The ring marks where the lines crossed; the gap after it is shaded. The large numbers are the latest year both lines share.
- People aged 65 and over thousand persons, 1 July
458 (1950) → 1,484 (2023)
- Children under 15 thousand persons, 1 July
1,954 (1950) → 988 (2023)
Only years where both series are published; gaps are not filled. An overtaking counts if the new leader was behind at the start and ahead in no more than a fifth of the years before it, and it leads in the latest shared year and in at least two shared years in a row. A short dip of up to two years does not end a lead and is named; if the leader was ahead once before, that year is named too. Size thresholds pick a story and do not show that one causes the other.
Five-year age groups from World Population Prospects 2024, added up unchanged. The old outnumber the young both because people live longer and because fewer children are born; the picture alone does not say which matters more.
A question for this picture
Who will work when these children grow up, and how many will there be?