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Data for 1986

Median Age of the Population, 1986

1986, as UN DESA Population Division’s 2024 release gives it · stored as published, never rewritten

The median age is the age that splits a country's population into two equal halves: half the people are younger, half older. It is the simplest single summary of whether a population is young or old, and it shapes almost everything from school places to pensions.

Median Age of the Population, 1986 covers 222 countries. Vatican City is highest, at 43.6846; Marshall Islands is lowest, at 13.6845. The middle country reads 19.8204. Against 1985, 222 values changed (185 up, 37 down), the same countries are covered.

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Median Age of the Population · Data for 1986

HighestVatican City

43.6846

LowestMarshall Islands

13.6845

Shaded by value in five groups of equal size, darkest at the highest end.

01Values only

The table

Every country and every column of Median Age of the Population, 1986, as published. The file carries values only, so no position is shown. “=” marks a shared position.

Showing 25 of 222 countries · select a heading to sort

Median Age of the Population, 1986: every country, as published by UN DESA Population Division.
Vatican CityVATSouthern Europe43.6846
MonacoMCOWestern Europe42.3404
Isle of ManIMNNorthern Europe38.2800
SwedenSWENorthern Europe36.9597
GermanyDEUWestern Europe36.0402
SwitzerlandCHEWestern Europe35.3585
DenmarkDNKNorthern Europe35.3096
JapanJPNEastern Asia34.9796
LuxembourgLUXWestern Europe34.9556
ItalyITASouthern Europe34.8804
BulgariaBGREastern Europe34.6249
BelgiumBELWestern Europe34.3912
United KingdomGBRNorthern Europe34.3822
SerbiaSRBSouthern Europe34.3436
HungaryHUNEastern Europe34.3119
AustriaAUTWestern Europe34.2837
FinlandFINNorthern Europe34.0936
GreeceGRCSouthern Europe33.8099
NorwayNORNorthern Europe33.7926
LatviaLVANorthern Europe33.6635
San MarinoSMRSouthern Europe33.4759
CroatiaHRVSouthern Europe33.4057
CzechiaCZEEastern Europe33.3370
EstoniaESTNorthern Europe32.9679
UkraineUKREastern Europe32.8623

02In 1986

At either end

The 5 countries at each end of the headline.

Highest

  1. Vatican City43.6846
  2. Monaco42.3404
  3. Isle of Man38.2800
  4. Sweden36.9597
  5. Germany36.0402

Lowest

  1. Marshall Islands13.6845
  2. Yemen13.8679
  3. Kenya13.9554
  4. Eswatini14.2391
  5. Palestine14.2865

Neither end is better. The values describe a shape, not a score. The middle country reads 19.8204. “Shared” marks a value another country also holds.

031985 → 1986

Since 1985

What changed between 1985 and this one: who joined or left, and how far the headline moved.

  • +0 / −0countries joined / left
  • 222values changed, of 222 in both
  • 185 · 37rose · fell
  • 0unchanged

Rose most

Fell most

  • Nauru22.7056 → 21.8527−0.8529
  • Burundi15.4585 → 15.2161−0.2424
  • Gabon18.6547 → 18.4562−0.1985
  • Mali16.2164 → 16.0260−0.1904
  • Timor-Leste18.8210 → 18.6442−0.1768

Both years come from the same release, so a difference here is a change in the data, not a revision of it. Every country’s full history is charted on the statistic page.

04Caveats

Read before you use

What this edition’s numbers are and are not, worked out from the file itself.

How values are stored

  • One year of the 2024 release

    Every year in this series comes from UN DESA Population Division’s 2024 release, recalculated on one method. It can differ from what was first published for 1986.

  • Nothing missing

    Every one of the 222 countries has every column.

05The files

Download and cite

The table as a file, digit for digit, what this site changed, and a citation for this edition.

Licence in full

What this site changed: Reshaped into one row per country: regional and income-group totals are left out, only the columns listed are kept, each row gets its ISO 3166 code, and some country names are brought to one spelling. No value is recalculated, rescaled or rounded.

Licence: CC BY 3.0 IGO · what it allows, in plain words

Cite this edition

UN DESA Population Division (1986). Median Age of the Population, 1986 [data set], describing 1986. As held by Nations Inquiry, https://nationsinquiry.com/datasets/median-age/1986

0674 held

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