# How does the median age in a given country affect Covid?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-the-median-age-in-a-given-country-affect-covid/925755>\
**Category:** The Quarantine Zone\
**Tags:** covid-quarantine\
**Created:** [November 17, 2020, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-the-median-age-in-a-given-country-affect-covid/925755 "2020-11-17T01:37:21Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\
**Post date:** [November 17, 2020, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-the-median-age-in-a-given-country-affect-covid/925755/1 "2020-11-17T01:37:21Z")

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An interesting article from _The Economist_. It argues since Japan and Italy have the highest median age, one might expect COVID to be ten times as severe as in Uganda, which has the lowest. While not true - many things other than age are important, the idea of normalizing a country’s exposure by an age ratio “might allow a fairer comparison”. It helps explain lower case counts in some places.

> **[Why rich countries are so vulnerable to covid-19](https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2020/11/16/why-rich-countries-are-so-vulnerable-to-covid-19)**
>
> Based on people’s age alone, you would expect the disease to be ten times more deadly in Italy than in Uganda