POPULATION PYRAMIDS

DEFINITION

A population pyramid is a bar graph which shows the age and sex structure of a population. This information is very useful to governments for policy planning

Because these population structures can predict the changes of a population in the future.

Besides, they show the level of development of a population

WHY IS IT USEFUL?

ELEMENTS OF A POPULATION STRUCTURE OR POPULATION PYRAMID

Male side

It’s usually in blue and at the left

side

Female side

It’s usually in pink and

at the right side

The vertical axis shows the

population divided into five year age

groups

The horizontal axis shows the percentage of males and female in each

age group

The horizontal axis also can show the number of people in each sex and

age group

NUMBER OF PEOPLE

PERCENTAGE OF PEOPLE

HOW DO POPULATION STRUCTURES DIFFER?

Developing and developed countries have particular shapes in their

population structures

POOREST DEVELOPING COUNTRIES.

(SUDAN)

• The top is narrow because the life expectancy is low

• The base is large because the birth rate is very high

MORE ECONOMICALLY

DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

(MEXICO)

• The top is less narrow because the life expectancy is higher

• The base is smaller because the birth rate is falling slowly

• There are also a lack of population in some ages (20-25) because of the migration

DEVELOPED COUNTRIES

(USA)

• The top is bigger because the life expectancy is higher

• The base is narrow because the birth rate is low

• There are sectors which are bigger because the inmigrants who come to their countries

DEVELOPED COUNTRIES WITH OLD

POPULATION

(SPAIN)

• The old people starts to have the biggest percentage of the population

• The base of the pyramid has a lack of children

• The replacement of the population is not granted

• There will be few people to maintain the dependent population

EVOLUTION OF THE SPANISH POPULATION STRUCTURE

We also can see other interesting things in the population structures

RUSSIA 2000

Lack of population due to the First and the Second World War.

There are also more women than men

Besides, we can see that there are lost generations because of the war

We also can see how the Russian population decreased after the end of the Soviet Union because many countries became independent (Ukraine, Belarus, Lithuania...)

BAHRAIN 2011

Why does it have that particular shape?

GERMANY 2005

Why does it have that particular shape?

HOMEWORK

• Click on this link http://populationpyramid.net/

• Choose a country• Find the population pyramids of that country in

the years 1950, 2014 and 2050• Copy those pyramids, print them and paste them

in your notebook• Then, write an essay saying the most important

information that you can find by analyzing those structures