Population, proportion of total population that are adolescents

Adolescent population proportion

Proportion of the total population in a country that are adolescents (10–19 years)

Knowledge of the proportion of adolescents in a country facilitates the prioritization of health resources and adequate allocation to meet adolescents’ health needs. The total adolescent population, which provides the numerator for calculating adolescent population proportion, is also a useful input in the calculation of indicators where the population size is required, such as ‘Adolescent mortality rate’ (‘all-cause’ and ‘cause-specific’).

Social, cultural, economic, educational and environmental health determinants

Population; demographics; determinants

GAMA recommends this as a core indicator, essential for measuring the health of all adolescents globally. Official United Nations country- and region-level population estimates and projections are available in the World Population Prospects population estimates and projections.

No

Number of adolescents (10–19 years) in a country

Total population in the same country

Age group (10–14, 15–19 years); sex

Calculating this indicator requires data on the entire population of a country by age. Countries with a population register obtain these data on an ongoing basis. In the case of surveys or censuses, these data can be based on a direct question on age, a question on date of birth, or a combination of both, which allows for cross-verification.

Individual

Population register

Population-based surveys, Population census

2024-05-30

WHO Department of Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent Health and Ageing

mncahdata@who.int

10509

Data and indicators to measure adolescent health, social development and well-being (Azzopardi P, et al., Innocenti Research Briefs, 2017)

World Population Prospects (UN Population Division)

Adolescent health indicators