Socio-economic Baseline Survey of Chittagong Hill Tracts - chtdf

4.6 Dependency RatioHDRCSocio-economic Baseline Survey of Chittagong Hill Tracts35Dependency ratio refers to the ratio of thedependent population (population aged 0-4years and 60 years and over) to theworking age population (population aged15- 59 years). The dependency ratio of allCHT is estimated 82.1 with that ofindigenous and Bangalee 76 and 91respectively. The dependency ratio of theCHT population is marginally lower thanthe national dependency ratio, which is 83.Figure 4.8: Dependency Ratio of CHT Population37.442.239.534.532.933.875.75.65.45.590.8382.110-14 Children 15-34 Young 60+ old Dependency ratioIndigenous peoples: All Bangalee All CHTTable 4.4: Dependency ratio of indigenous peopleAge Bawm Chak Chakma Khy- Khumi Lushai Marma Mro PangkhuchangyaTan-Tripuraang0-14 (Children) 39.1 34.1 34.7 39.4 43.7 30.7 36.9 43 36.9 38.9 43.860+ (Old) 6.1 7.5 6.2 3.9 5.6 5.3 5.4 6.4 5.3 6.5 3.9Dependency ratio 82.5 71.4 69.2 76.2 96.8 56.3 27.8 97.6 73.1 83.2 91.0Among IP, the dependency ratio is the highest among the Mro with 97.6 followed by Khumi(96.8), Tripura (91.0) Bawm (83), Khyang (76), Pangkhua (73), Chak (71), Chakma (69), andLushai (56). The lowest dependency ratio is among the Marma (27.8).4.7 EducationEducational status is considered as one of the prime components of human capital. In termsof both literacy and years of schooling, the status of CHT is simply deplorable. Educationalattainment has been categorized by six different levels of education: Primary Incomplete,Primary Completed, Secondary Incomplete, Secondary completed, Above Secondary and NoEducation. More than half of the household members age 5 years and above are illiterate (‘noeducation’). This is irrespective of ethnicity with not much variation between indigenouspeoples (54%) and Bangalee (47%). Among the indigenous communities, the highestproportion of population illiterate, i.e., having ‘no education’ was found for Khumi (88%),followed by Mro (87%) and Khyang (74%). Educational attainment in terms of havingeducation (i.e., at least class-I passed) is the highest among Lushai (77%), followed byPangkhua (75%) and Chak (64%).