Demography
This mod still has balancing issues and has not yet been tested extensively. Further changes affecting balance, performance, and gameplay will follow over the next few days. Please keep this in mind!
At its current stage, compatibility with other mods has not been confirmed. Only the GUI widgets shown in the screenshots, several laws, and part of the top navigation have been changed. Conflicts may still occur.
Compatibility with other mods will be added gradually.
Supported languages: German / English
Victoria 3 normally does not track the age of individual Pops. As a result, a young and growing population often plays very similarly to an ageing society with the same total population.
Age Groups adds a dynamic population pyramid with 17 age groups from 0–4 to 80+ to every state. It develops monthly and affects births, mortality, workforce, migration, war losses, building throughput, and welfare expenses.
The mod does not replace the vanilla population mechanics. It expands them by adding age as an additional factor.
Every state starts with an age structure suited to its region. The 17 five-year age groups are updated monthly:
- People age into the next group.
- Births are added to the 0–4 group.
- Deaths are removed from the affected groups.
- Migration and population losses alter the population pyramid.
Young societies offer stronger long-term growth but must support many children in the short term. Older societies have fewer births, higher mortality, and greater pension costs.
Births depend on the actual age structure. The groups between 20 and 29 contribute the most, while ages 15–19 and 30–39 contribute less. Vanilla factors such as standard of living and the demographic transition remain active.
Infants and older people have a higher mortality risk than young adults. Child rights, child benefits, and pensions can protect the affected groups but create additional government expenses.
War losses among young adults can remain visible for decades as weaker birth cohorts.
- Workforce potential: everyone between the minimum working age and retirement age.
- Workforce: the share of those groups that is actually available to the labor market.
The participation factor starts at 50%. Women’s rights, the healthcare system, and child benefits increase it, while devastation and turmoil reduce it. The value is limited to 20–80%.
Population growth therefore does not automatically create more workers. Reforms, wars, and internal unrest directly affect the economically usable workforce.
The average age of the workforce potential affects building throughput. A younger workforce can receive a limited bonus, while a significantly older workforce receives a penalty.
A lower retirement age makes the remaining workforce younger but reduces its total size and increases pension costs.
Immigration is distributed mainly among young adults, especially people aged 20–29. Successful immigration states therefore tend to become younger and gain not only immediate workers but also stronger future birth cohorts.
Emigration removes people from the existing age structure and can cause regions to age significantly over time.
In states with active barracks or conscription centers, population losses are taken mainly from military-age groups. Ages 20–34 are affected most, with a reduced effect from 15–54. Children and retirees are practically never treated as military casualties.
Long wars leave visible gaps in the population pyramid and later reduce births, workforce, and potentially building throughput.
- Child Labor Allowed: working age begins at 5.
- Restricted Child Labor: working age begins at 10.
- Compulsory Schooling: working age begins at 15.
- Child Benefit Program: working age begins at 15 and unlocks child benefits.
Stricter child rights also reduce child mortality. Early child labor increases workforce potential in the short term but can cause long-term demographic disadvantages.
Both systems create real ongoing government expenses and scale with the number of recipients and the state’s average annual wage.
- Pensions: support older dependents and reduce their mortality.
- Child benefits: support families, increase births, and reduce child mortality.
Rich countries pay more per recipient because of higher wages. Young countries face high child-related costs, while ageing countries face high pension costs.
- Demographic views in the state panel and at country level.
- A complete population pyramid.
- Displays for children, workforce potential, and retirees.
- A breakdown of workforce and workforce potential.
- Views for age distribution, mortality, deaths, and births.
- Detailed tooltips for population, workforce, and government expenses.
The available settings depend on the active laws.
Unlocked by Wage Subsidies or Old Age Pension.
Options: 0% / 5% / 10% / 15% / 20%
Unlocked by Old Age Pension. Share of the average annual wage paid per retiree.
Options: 10% / 20% / 30% / 40% / 50%
Higher pensions increase government expenses and reduce mortality among older groups.
Unlocked by Old Age Pension.
Options: 80 years / 75 years / 70 years / 65 years / 60 years
A lower age reduces workforce potential and increases the number of retirees.
Unlocked by the Child Benefit Program. Share of the average annual wage paid per child.
Options: 2% / 4% (+1% birth rate) / 6% (+2%) / 8% (+4%) / 10% (+6%)
Higher levels also reduce child mortality and slightly increase labor-force participation.
Victoria 3 has no native age value for individual Pops. The mod therefore runs a parallel model with 17 age groups for every state, updates it monthly, and synchronizes it with the state’s real population. Effects are returned to the engine through regular state and country modifiers.
- Age groups are modeled at state level, not for individual people.
- Migration and war losses are reconstructed from real population changes.
- Pensions and child benefits can technically only be paid as a general increase to dependent income.
- Several vanilla GUI files are fully overwritten. Major patches or other GUI mods may be incompatible.
- After starting the game, loading a save, or changing a law, displays may remain outdated until the next monthly update.
- All multiplayer participants need the same version of the mod.
