Table of Contents
Definition of Dependency Ratio
(noun) The ratio of productive workers to the non-productive people (i.e., disabled, elderly, young) in a society.
Dependency Ratio Pronunciation
Syllabification: de·pen·den·cy ra·tio
Audio Pronunciation
Phonetic Spelling
- American English – /di-pEn-duhn-see rAY-shee-oh/
- British English – /di-pEn-duhn-see rAY-shioh/
International Phonetic Alphabet
- American English – /dɪˈpɛndənsi ˈreɪʃiˌoʊ/
- British English – /dɪˈpɛndənsi ˈreɪʃɪəʊ/
Usage Notes
- Plural: dependency ratios
- Also called:
- age dependency ratio
- total dependency ratio
Additional Information
- Aging and Social Gerontology Resources – Books, Journals, and Helpful Links
- Word origin of “dependency” and “ratio” – Online Etymology Dictionary: etymonline.com
- Blackburn, Robin. 2002. Banking on Death. London: Verso.
- Blackburn, Robin. 2007. Age Shock. London: Verso.
- Laslett, Peter. 1989. A Fresh Map of Life. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson.
Related Terms
Works Consulted
Griffiths, Heather, Nathan Keirns, Eric Strayer, Susan Cody-Rydzewski, Gail Scaramuzzo, Tommy Sadler, Sally Vyain, Jeff Bry, Faye Jones. 2016. Introduction to Sociology 2e. Houston, TX: OpenStax.
Henslin, James M. 2012. Sociology: A Down-to-Earth Approach. 10th ed. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
Macionis, John, and Kenneth Plummer. 2012. Sociology: A Global Introduction. 4th ed. Harlow, England: Pearson Education.
Macmillan. (N.d.) Macmillan Dictionary. (https://www.macmillandictionary.com/).
Shepard, Jon M. 2010. Sociology. 11th ed. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
Shepard, Jon M., and Robert W. Greene. 2003. Sociology and You. New York: Glencoe.
Tischler, Henry L. 2011. Introduction to Sociology. 10th ed. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
Wikipedia contributors. (N.d.) Wiktionary, The Free Dictionary. Wikimedia Foundation. (http://en.wiktionary.org).
Cite the Definition of Dependency Ratio
ASA – American Sociological Association (5th edition)
Bell, Kenton, ed. 2013. “dependency ratio.” In Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Retrieved April 20, 2024 (https://sociologydictionary.org/dependency-ratio/).
APA – American Psychological Association (6th edition)
dependency ratio. (2013). In K. Bell (Ed.), Open education sociology dictionary. Retrieved from https://sociologydictionary.org/dependency-ratio/
Chicago/Turabian: Author-Date – Chicago Manual of Style (16th edition)
Bell, Kenton, ed. 2013. “dependency ratio.” In Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Accessed April 20, 2024. https://sociologydictionary.org/dependency-ratio/.
MLA – Modern Language Association (7th edition)
“dependency ratio.” Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Ed. Kenton Bell. 2013. Web. 20 Apr. 2024. <https://sociologydictionary.org/dependency-ratio/>.