Chapter 8 Figure 19 | Demographic characteristics of refugee population by UNHCR regions | end-2017 59% 51% 50% 47% 48% 48% 50% 39% 29% 20% Africa* female Europe Americas children Middle East and North Africa Asia and Pacific * Excluding North Africa. cent), returned refugees (21 per cent and 21 per cent), and stateless people (75 per cent and 39 per cent).75 The proportion of women and girls in the refugee population has proven to be relatively stable, varying by only a few percentage points over time. In 2017, 50 per cent of the population was female, about the same as in 2016. The proportion of children in the population increased slightly by one percentage point from the last few years to 52 per cent of the population. The proportion of working-age population (18-59 years) remained stable at 45 per cent, and the proportion aged 60 and older dropped slightly to 3 per cent. The demographic characteristics of refugee populations varied greatly between countries. Among countries reporting sex-disaggregated data in 2017 for more than 1,000 refugees, Bosnia and Herzegovina had the highest female proportion with 58 per cent, followed by Serbia and Kosovo (S/RES/1244 (1999)), Chad, and Togo with 56 per cent. In contrast, in Tajikistan nearly the entire refugee population reported was male, while 75 This figure includes Myanmar refugees in Bangladesh and IDPs in Rakhine State, Myanmar. The equivalent figures without these populations are 67 per cent and 19 per cent. unhcr > Global trends 2017 Indonesia reported only 25 per cent of its refugee population as female, followed by Ukraine (30 per cent), Angola (31 per cent), and Republic of Korea (32 per cent). Among countries reporting age-disaggregated data for populations of more than 1,000 refugees, Afghanistan reported the greatest proportion of children in its refugee population with 72 per cent under the age of 18. Further, many countries in sub-Saharan Africa hosted refugee populations with a high proportion of children, reflective of the younger population structure in the region. Burkina Faso, Chad, Congo, the DRC, South Sudan and Uganda all hosted refugee populations with more than 60 per cent children by end-2017, with clear implications for the provision of protection and services. In contrast, the lowest proportion of children was in the refugee population hosted by Bosnia and Herzegovina with 6 per cent followed by Argentina (8 per cent), Serbia and Kosovo (S/RES/1244 (1999)) (8 per cent), Nepal (12 per cent), Ireland (13 per cent) and Ecuador (15 per cent). Differences in the demographic composition of the refugee population were seen at a regional level, as well [Figure 19]. In Europe, only 39 per cent of the 59