The bar charts illustrate the distribution of the population in three age groups in Yemen and Italy in 2000, as well as the estimated data for 2050.
Overall, it is clear that there was a difference in the age structure of the populations of the two countries. In 2000, Yemen had a much younger population than Italy, while Italy already had an older population at the same time. In addition, both countries are projected to rise in the proportion of the elderly by 2050, but the rise will be more significant in Italy.
In 2000, more than half of Yemen’s population was under 14 years old, over three times higher than Italy, which had only about 14.3% in this age group. In Italy, the working-age category from 15-59 years constituted the largest proportion, at 61.6%, representing more than half of the citizens, while in Yemen this cohort made up only 46.3%. Only a small percentage of people in Yemen were over 60, constituting 3.6%, in contrast to nearly a quarter of the residents in Italy.
In 2050, the percentage of people aged 15 to 59 in Yemen is expected to rise significantly by 11%, while the 60+ aged group will increase by over 2%, leaving the under-14 inhabitants down by more than 13% compared to 2000. Meanwhile, in Italy, the percentage of people over 60 is predicted to increase by nearly 20%, while the shares of young and middle-aged people will see a noticeable reduction of around 3% and 15%, respectively. This shows that both nations are facing the issue of demographic aging but Italy’s rate is still several times higher than in Yemen.