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Countries with the Oldest Median Age

Name the twenty countries whose citizens have the highest median age.
Source: CIA World Factbook as of 26 June 2020
Data does not exist for the Vatican
Quiz by relessness
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Last updated: June 26, 2020
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First submittedJanuary 29, 2013
Times taken39,189
Average score70.0%
Rating4.71
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Median Age
Country
55.4
Monaco
48.6
Japan
47.8
Germany
46.5
Italy
46.2
Andorra
45.3
Greece
45.2
San Marino
Median Age
Country
44.9
Slovenia
44.6
Portugal
44.5
Austria
44.5
Lithuania
44.4
Latvia
43.9
Croatia
43.9
Spain
Median Age
Country
43.7
Bulgaria
43.7
Estonia
43.7
Liechtenstein
43.6
Hungary
43.6
Serbia
43.3
Czech Republic
+14
Level 74
Jul 26, 2017
Nothing surprising really, but my first 5 guesses were still wrong. Huh.
+3
Level 26
Nov 10, 2017
same...
+14
Level 72
Jul 27, 2017
I tried every country in Europe bar 5, needless to say all five are on the list.
+43
Level 90
Jul 27, 2017
It's not called the Old Continent for nothing.
+17
Level 59
Jul 29, 2017
Nice quiz! Japan is the only non-European countries on the list
+2
Level 84
Jul 5, 2020
Ack, totally forgot the Baltics!
+15
Level 57
Oct 23, 2017
Surprised not to see Vatican on this list
+9
Level 55
Nov 9, 2017
Data for Vatican is missing, that's why it's not there.
+3
Level 61
Nov 9, 2017
I'm pretty sure Vatican is absent from a lot of these quizzes.
+13
Level 73
Aug 1, 2020
If they were included the median age probably would be something like 70 and 80 I suppose
+2
Level 60
Nov 9, 2017
Surely the Vatican City is the highest by far............or do they not keep statistics?
+1
Level 52
Nov 10, 2017
There are no children in the Vatican, so of course the median age will be very high. But it is a fluke, so it would be ridiculous to include the Vatican.
+2
Level 74
Jun 26, 2020
According to the Vatican itself there was one birth inside the Vatican (from a Swiss Guard), so at least at some point there has been a child there.

https://www.vaticanstate.va/it/stato-governo/note-generali/popolazione.html

+1
Level 66
Jun 29, 2020
but does the child live there?
+1
Level 36
Nov 9, 2017
How is China not on here
+6
Level 88
Nov 9, 2017
Chinas population has been increasing a lot over the past 40 years which means theres a lot young people being born
+8
Level 82
Nov 9, 2017
The "great leap forward." During the 1950s under Communist rule forced agricultural reforms and willful ignorance to accept that the failings of Communist policy led to massive starvation and somewhere between 20 and 50 million deaths in the country. The birth rate plummeted, the death rate skyrocketed, but after things stabilized and recovered somewhat there was a huge baby boom starting in the early 60s. As a result, the large bulk of China's population was born after 1962 and the median age is not very high. In about 20 or 30 years China will likely have one of the highest median ages in the world, though.

Jorissie: not so much since they implemented the one child policy in 1979. I'm sure this is what Tempest is referring to.

+1
Level 71
Feb 7, 2019
50.000 babies born every day in China, that's a lot of youngsters.
+3
Level 73
Aug 1, 2020
Not THAT much relative to the population. That's roughly 4 births a day per 100,000 people.
+1
Level 75
Sep 25, 2023
Their median age is currently 37-38, on par with the US but their fertility rate is low, especially in the Northeast, therefore it might make the list soon.

Taiwan, on the other hand, is not far off this list, their median age being at 41-42

+3
Level 57
Nov 9, 2017
They are all European countries! Except for Japan.
+4
Level 62
Nov 9, 2017
Funny quiz. Actually, the European continent has not aged THAT much. A number of post-communist countries in the east have a high median age because young people have emigrated in the search of better jobs in the west. In the west they are not (yet) counted as part of the population because they don't have citizenship.
+9
Level 47
Nov 9, 2017
They are counted as part of the population of the new country
+1
Level 82
Jun 26, 2020
It's not only citizens
+3
Level 20
Nov 9, 2017
Europe is dying
+16
Level 51
Nov 9, 2017
Apparently not. That's why, of the 20 countries where people live longest from median average, 19 are European. See this quiz.
+10
Level 82
Nov 9, 2017
right because old people live forever. ::face palm::
+3
Level 68
Jun 27, 2022
I wonder how many times a day you facepalm due to the ignorance of people
+2
Level 40
Nov 9, 2017
I got all except Japan, and seems that Japan is most guessed one with only 4% not getting it XD
+2
Level 77
Nov 9, 2017
I did it. 100%. Wow.
+3
Level 81
Nov 9, 2017
So any of these would be a "country for old men"?
+2
Level 74
Nov 10, 2017
So the secret to living to an old age is to either eat lots of Mediterranean food or drink a lot of alcohol. Oh, and not have wars or immigrants. That's also important.
+4
Level 84
Apr 11, 2018
More like "don't have many babies" vs. "living to an old age". They just don't have nearly as many young people in these countries today.
+2
Level 48
Mar 18, 2019
It seems like "not having Republicans" also helps
+2
Level 74
Nov 11, 2017
So what are the factors involved? High life expectancy, emigration of young adults, possibly low population?
+6
Level 47
Nov 21, 2017
High life expectancy, fertility rate below the country's replacement level, net emigration, or high immigration of old people, poor economic opportunities, being rich for a long period of time (i.e. enough for low fertility rates to have lasted a couple generations). The European countries here tend to be Eastern Europe which have low fertility rates, relatively poor economic opportunities compared to other EU countries, Japan has, much like South Korea, China, Taiwan, Singapore etc. very low fertility rates, however is probably the only non-European country not to make the list as the other countries haven't been rich long enough for the fertility rate to make a big enough impact. I'm sure soon there will be many more Asian countries on this list. I'm sure cultural pressures in these countries are making fertility rates so much lower than in Europe as well.
+1
Level 59
Jun 27, 2022
I think China's population at some point is expected to plateau while India's population will continue to grow and pass China as the world's most populated country
+2
Level 59
Aug 3, 2020
Monaco, being a tax haven, is also the playground of the mega-rich, who tend to be older, so it attracts plenty of very rich people who settle there. I suspect that might be a factor with Liechtenstein as well.
+2
Level 70
Jun 27, 2022
Good point (although their second or third wives probably bring the average age down!!)
+1
Level 23
Jan 25, 2019
100% at the first try, wow. I figured it would only be Europe and Japan on that list.
+1
Level 48
Dec 11, 2019
Croatia, Bulgaria, Serbia all surprised me, I didn't get them until the very end. I didn't expect them to have a very high age (Especially former Yugoslav countries). Slovenia was expected but Serbia & Croatia surprised me!
+2
Level 46
Aug 2, 2020
It's partly to do with low fertility rates and partly with high emigration of younger people due to low economic opportunities but good educational systems.
+2
Level 71
Jun 27, 2020
The secret is to have enough food, good access to medical care, hospitalisation, aged care, minimal opportunity for parasites and diseases to flourish, e.g. malaria, cholera, aids, ebola etc etc. temperate climate, smaller families, no religious fanatics or factions, comfortable living quarters, enough clothes, and good hygiene including toilet habits, bathing and food preparation being most important, honest police, army and government to minimise corruption and a free press......... that's all.
+1
Level 41
Aug 1, 2020
I’m surprised South Korea, Australia, and the Scandinavian countries weren’t on there. But I did notice if a country was there, the closest neighbor was often there as well, such as Spain and Portugal.
+1
Level 65
Aug 1, 2020
Quo vadis, Europa?
+2
Level 79
Aug 1, 2020
I literally typed every country in Europe EXCEPT Bulgaria!! 🤦‍♂️
+1
Level 56
Aug 1, 2020
For me it was Austria.
+1
Level 79
Jan 6, 2021
Got all this time!
+2
Level 71
Aug 1, 2020
What's particularly interesting to me is that, other than Monaco, all of the top 4 countries are also former Axis countries.
+1
Level 75
Aug 1, 2020
I've got some kind of mental block on Japan. I forget it on every single quiz. No idea why.
+1
Level 59
Aug 2, 2020
100% and I got most of them in the last half.
+1
Level 43
Jan 30, 2022
Is there an update needed? Cause the Netherlands went up to 43.3 and Czech Republic dropped to 43.2, but I don't know if its that important

Edit: I see that other countries have changed as well

+1
Level 52
Apr 12, 2022
It seems like maybe some European countries aren't on here because of immigration.
+1
Level 68
Jun 27, 2022
this is just sad. we are dying.

yet people support abortions

+5
Level 50
Jun 27, 2022
Tbh the situation in countries that have very low average age is worse
+1
Level 48
Jul 23, 2022
Bosnia and Herzegovina is tied with the Czech Republic (both have a median age of 43.3 years). It should be included.
+1
Level 78
Jun 22, 2023
We should just go into the Vatican and ask everyone how old they are... might take about an hour, and it would make the quiz nicer.
+1
Level 49
Aug 23, 2023
Aside from Japan, all of those countries are in Europe.
+1
Level 87
Oct 7, 2023
Would have thought China's one-child policy would have upped the median age more.