demographic dividend

Syllable breakdown

Dictionary meaning

the potential economic growth premium that can be generated when a country's population age structure shifts so that the working-age population is larger relative to the dependent population of children and elderly people; the demographic dividend arises when fertility rates decline following improvements in child survival, creating a period of decades in which the ratio of workers to dependents is unusually favourable; African countries — which have the youngest population age structure of any world region — are projected to enter this demographic window over the coming decades, but realising the dividend requires complementary investments in education, health, and the creation of productive employment; without these conditions, a young population creates a youth bulge that generates unemployment, social instability, and migration rather than growth