Some sample data...

Evolution of the population

The size and growth of a country’s population are both causes and effects of economic and social developments. The natural increase in population (births minus deaths) has slowed in all OECD countries, resulting in a rise in the average age of populations. In several countries, falling rates of natural increase have been partly offset by immigration.

Definition

The tables refer to the resident population. Growth rates are the annual changes in the population and are the net result of births, deaths and net immigration during the year. Birth rates are calculated as the number of live births per 1 000 population.

Comparability

For most OECD countries, population data are based on regular, ten-yearly censuses, with estimates for intercensal years being derived from administrative data such as population registers, notified births and deaths and migration records. In some European countries, including Germany and the Netherlands, population censuses are no longer carried out and the estimates are based entirely on administrative records. In general, the population data for OECD countries are reliable, although, for some countries, there are breaks in the series as indicated by vertical lines in the tables.

There is a particularly important break in the series for the United States between 2000 and 2001.

Long-term trends

In 2000, OECD countries accounted for just over 18% of the world’s population of 6 billion. China accounted for 21% and India for just over 17%. The next two largest countries were Indonesia (3%) and the Russian Federation (2%). Within OECD, the United States accounted for nearly 25% of the OECD total, followed by Japan (11%), Mexico (9%), Germany (7%) and Turkey (6%).

Between 1990 and 2003, population growth rates for all OECD countries averaged 0.6% per annum. Growth rates much higher than this were recorded for Mexico and Turkey (high birth rate countries) and for Australia, Canada, Luxembourg and New Zealand (high net immigration). In the Czech Republic and Hungary populations declined from a combination of low birth rates and net emigration. Growth rates were very low, although still positive, in Italy, Poland, and the Slovak Republic.

From 1990 to 2000 average birth rates for all OECD countries fell from 14.3 per 1 000 population to 12.4. All OECD countries except Denmark and Luxembourg experienced falling birth rates over the period. Falls were small – less than 0.5 per 1 000 – in France, Greece, Japan, Netherlands, Portugal and Spain, but were very marked – 3.5 per 1 000 population or more – in Canada, Czech Republic, Iceland, Poland, Slovak Republic and Sweden. By the end of the period Iceland, Mexico, and Turkey had the highest birth-rates while the Czech Republic, Germany and Italy had the lowest.

Foreign population

The size of a country’s immigrant population is important for several reasons. Immigrants bring new ideas and enrich the cultures of their host nation, they may accept jobs that are no longer attractive to native workers, and in countries with low birth-rates immigrant workers can offset declining work forces and help to fund retirement pensions. At the same time, immigration on a large scale presents political and social challenges to government.

Figure: Immigrant population in selected OECD countries

Definition

To measure the size of the immigrant population, OECD countries use two main approaches. Some countries record the number of residents who were born in a foreign country; others record the number of residents who have a foreign nationality.

Comparability

These two approaches give different results depending, in particular, on the rules governing the acquisition of citizenship in each country. For example, in some countries children born in the country automatically acquire the citizenship of their country of birth (countries of jus solis, the right of soil) while in other countries they retain the nationality of their parents (countries of jus sanguinis, the right of blood). Both measures are shown in the table for Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands and Sweden. It can be seen that for these countries the foreign-born criterion gives substantially higher percentages for the immigrant population than the approach based on nationality.

Long-term trends

It is difficult to have a clear idea of the trend in the immigrant population from the statistics on the foreign population. This is because new additions to the foreign population due to immigration can be offset by the acquisition of nationality on the part of resident foreigners. The data on the foreign-born, however, are unambiguous: the percentage of the foreign ­born has increased over the past decade in all countries for which data are available.

The countries with the largest share of the foreign population are Luxembourg and Switzerland. On the other hand, Australia, Canada and New Zealand have the highest proportion of foreign-born. Switzerland is certainly among those with high foreign-born populations, although no firm data on the foreign-born are as yet available.

Employment rates by age group 

These rates show the percentage of persons of working age who are in employment, broken down into three age groups. The youngest age group contains persons who are just entering the labour market, the second group those in their prime working lives, and the third group those who are approaching retirement.

Employment rates in these different age groups are significantly affected by government policies with regard to higher education, pensions and retirement age.

Definition

To calculate the employment rate for a given age group, the total population in that age group is divided between those in employment and those who are not. The numbers in employment are then expressed as a percentage of the total numbers in that age group.

Employment is generally measured through household labour force surveys and, according to the ILO Guidelines, employed persons are defined as those aged 15 or over who report that they have worked in gainful employment for at least one hour in the previous week. Those not in employment consist of persons who are out of work but seeking employment, students and all others who have excluded themselves from the labour force for one reason or another, such as incapacity or the need to look after young children or elderly relatives.

Comparability

All OECD countries except Iceland, Mexico and Turkey use the ILO Guidelines for measuring employment. For the three countries that do not do so, employment rates are consistent over time but are not strictly comparable with the ratios for the other countries.

For the denominators – the population in each age group – the sources are a mixture of labour force surveys, administrative records and population censuses.

Long-term trends

In general, employment rates for those in the prime age group – 25 to 54 – are very similar between countries with ratios for most countries over 70% in 2003. Rates are most variable between countries for those in the youngest age group where, in 2003, they ranged from under 30% in Poland, Italy, Greece, Hungary, Belgium and the Slovak Republic to over 60% in Switzerland and the Netherlands. Employment rates for the oldest age group also vary considerably between countries with nearly 70% of this age group in employment in 2003 in Norway and Sweden but less than 30% employed in the Slovak Republic, Belgium, Poland and Hungary.

Over the period shown in the tables, employment rates for the youngest age group have been falling for the OECD as a whole. This partly reflects government policies to encourage young people to enter tertiary education, but the falls have been most marked countries where total employment rates have been falling, such as the Czech Republic, Poland and Turkey; when the labour market is tight, young people have particular difficulties in finding employment. For those in the prime working age group – 25 to 54 – employment rates have remained stable for the OECD as a whole, but there were significant falls in the employment rates for Poland, Sweden and Turkey and large gains in Ireland, the Netherlands and Spain. Persons in the top age group have fared particularly well overall, with the largest increases in employment rates for Belgium, the Czech Republic, Netherlands and New Zealand.

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