In 2000 the total population of Belize was 240 406 inhabitants; by 2023 this figure had risen to 410 825, representing a 70.9% increase. Regarding the country’s demographic profile, in 2023 people over 65 years of age accounted for 5.2% of the total population, an increase of 1.3 percentage points compared to the year 2000. In 2023, there were 99. women per 100 men and 19.2 older people (65 years or older) per 100 children under 15 years of age, as can be seen in the country’s population pyramids, distributed by age group and sex (Figure 1). Considering the population between 15 and 64 years of age to be potentially active (i.e., potential participants in the labor force), this group represented 67.5% of the total population of the country in 2023 (277 284 people). When we add these figures to the potentially passive population (111 990 under 15 years of age and 21 552 over 65 years of age), the result is a dependency ratio of 48.2 potentially passive people per 100 potentially active people. This ratio was 78.2 in 2000.
Life expectancy at birth in 2023 was 74.6 years, lower than the average for the Region of the Americas and 6.1 years higher that in 2000.
(Read More: Health in the Americas+)
