We have heard many times that the population of the Republic of Serbia is old and that we are among the oldest populations in the world. How old are we really? The last population census was conducted in 2022, and data on the number of inhabitants by age group was recently published.
According to the data of the Republic Institute of Statistics [1], 6,647,003 inhabitants lived in the Republic of Serbia in 2022. Of the total population, 21.1%, or 1,456,175, are over 65 years old. The average age of the population in Serbia is 43.85 years. If we take into account that the average age of the population in Serbia, only 70 years ago, in 1950, was 29.15 years, it is clear how pronounced the aging of the population is.
Another indicator tells about the aging of the population, namely the population aging index. We define it as the ratio of the population aged 60 and over to the population aged 0 to 19. Population aging index whose value does not exceed 20 index points indicates a very young population, and over 40 indicates an old population. While the population aging index was 22.42 in 1950, it was 144.7 in 2020.
At the same time, life expectancy at birth in 2020 was 71.4 years for men, while it was 77.2 years for women. Although life expectancy at birth increased by about 20 years in the last 70 years, there was a temporary deterioration of this indicator compared to 2019, as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. In 2019, life expectancy at birth for men was 73.09 years, which is 1.69 years more than in 2020, while for women in 2019 it was 78.35 years, which is 1.15 years more. more than in 2020.
If we look at the censuses from 2011 and 2022, the number of people over 65 increased from 17.4% in 2011 to as much as 22.1% in 2022.