Thailand is ageing faster than every G7 country but Japan
Rise in the share of people aged 65+, 2000–2023 (points), against income per person in 2023; 153 countries.
- 1. The world has already passed peak child
- 2. Japan's median age is more than three times Niger's
- 3. South Korea now has a quarter of its 1971 births
- 4. China's population is projected to more than halve by 2100
- 5. Japan now has over 100,000 centenarians, up from 153
- 6. Japan has 9 million empty homes: one in seven
- 7. More Christians live in sub-Saharan Africa than anywhere else
- 8. Two in three people live where fertility is below replacement
- 9. Japan's births fell below half their 1899 level
- 10. Brazil now has more people over 65 than Germany
- 11. 34 countries and territories are past their population peak
- 12. Chile's fertility rate fell below Italy's and Japan's
- 13. Thailand's births have fallen below its deaths
- 14. Women hold at least half the seats in seven parliaments
- 15. Child marriage in South Asia has nearly halved since 2005
- 16. Argentina's teen birth rate fell 60% in ten years
- 17. Sri Lanka's population has shrunk three years in a row
- 18. Bangladesh's births per woman have fallen by two-thirds since 1970
- 19. China now has more university students than preschoolers
- 20. Uruguay now records more deaths than births
- 21. Kazakhstan's births have fallen by a quarter since 2021
- 22. Thailand is ageing faster than every G7 country but Japan
Thailand's share of people aged 65 and over rose from 6.1% to 14.7% between 2000 and 2023.
Thailand's income per person in 2023, under a third of America's; among the G7 only Japan (+12.1 points) aged faster.
Across 153 countries, richer usually means faster ageing; among countries under $40k, only Bosnia and Albania sit further above the line than Thailand.
the numbers & method
Claim types Estimate · Interpretation
Share aged 65+ = SP.POP.65UP.TO / SP.POP.TOTL (World Bank WDI, last updated 2026-10-08, population estimates based on the UN World Population Prospects), read from the World Bank API via the progrss vault (wb-wdi); Thailand, the United States and Japan re-read on api.worldbank.org (SP.POP.65UP.TO.ZS: Thailand 6.12% in 2000, 14.72% in 2023; US 12.19% → 17.43%; Japan 17.44% → 29.56%). Income: GDP per person, PPP, current international $, 2023 (NY.GDP.PCAP.PP.CD: Thailand 23,598; US 82,587; Germany 72,262). G7 rise in points, 2000–2023: Japan 12.1, Canada 6.8, Germany 6.3, Italy 6.0, France 5.7, US 5.2, UK 3.4. Countries with at least 1 million people and both years of data (153). Correlation across 153 countries: Pearson r 0.67 (income on a log scale), Spearman 0.73; dropping any one country gives r 0.66 to 0.69. Restricted to the 108 countries under $40k: r 0.68, Spearman 0.75; Thailand +4.9 points above the line, 3rd of 108. A link, not a cause (progrss calculation). Changes in points and the fitted line are progrss calculations. Population figures are estimates.
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