WHGI Platform for Investment
Demographic Dividend
Helping Countries Achieve Accelerated Population-driven Economic Growth
WHGI advances work on the demographic dividend (DD)—the accelerated economic growth that can occur when a country’s working-age population grows larger relative to dependents, paired with strategic investments in health, education, gender equity, and economic opportunity.
By helping countries understand and harness this population shift, WHGI supports policies and programs that can improve wellbeing, strengthen economies, and create lasting social change.
WHGI partners with a consortium of researchers from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, the University of California Berkeley, and the National Transfers Account of the University of Hawaii to address key research and policy questions related to the DD.
WHGI has also organized international gatherings on the DD and worked with the Population Reference Bureau (PRB), the African Union (AU), and the UN Economic Commission for Africa to produce a report and briefs to better assist policy makers in understanding issues around the DD.
Uncovering Demographic Dividend Insights
The Demographic Dividend initiative is WHGI’s research, advocacy, and policy framework that helps countries realize their potential for accelerated economic growth by emphasizing the importance of investing in young people and promoting gender equity to achieve sustainable development goals.
The DD offers a framework by which to define a research agenda, advocate for policies, and mobilize resources that can help countries realize their potential for accelerated economic growth.
The DD Initiative’s country-level highlights offer point in time data on key indicators that are related to a nation’s ability to capture a demographic dividend. WHGI gathers data points from demographic, health, education, and economic domains: all crucial components of achieving a dividend. Trend data is used to show how certain dynamics in the country are changing.
Demographic Dividend Effort Index
The Demographic Dividend Effort Index (DDEI) is a robust tool that takes researchers, policymakers, advocates, service providers, and program implementers through a process of assessing local efforts in high-impact policies and programs.
Connected WHGI Global Program
WHGI’s Demographic Futures, Population, and Environment Global Program recognizes the critical connections between population change, health, the environment, and long-term development. Grounded in an understanding of how demographic shifts shape issues such as climate resilience, aging, economic opportunity, and resource demand, this Global Program advances country-led collaboration, research, and evidence-based action to help shape healthier, more sustainable futures.
As a core part of this work, WHGI’s demographic dividend (DD) initiative champions the demographic dividend framework as a pathway to accelerate economic growth, strengthen family planning outcomes, and inform policies that invest in people—particularly women and young people—as drivers of national development. Through partnerships, knowledge exchange, and strategic convening, WHGI helps countries translate demographic insights into action.
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