What is a population pyramid and what does it tell me?

Starter• What is the Demographic Transition Model?

• What does the DTM show?

• Why do birth and death rates change?

• Where is the UK on the DTM?

What is a population pyramid?

• A population pyramid shows a countries population structure.

• The population is divided into year age groups.

• It is divided into males and females.

• The percentage of each

age /sex group is given.

What is a population pyramid?

• Population pyramids have 2 main sections:

1.Active population

2.Dependant population

Explain these terms

LEDC population pyramids

• This is a typical shape for a LEDC country.

• It has a wide bottom.

• It has a narrow top.

• WHY?

• Unlike LEDC countries who have too many children born each year, MEDC’s have too few.

• What does this do to the shape of the pyramid?

Using the four population pyramids below, identify which one matches each stage of the DTM (Stage 1-4) Draw and label

ACTIVITY ONE 10 mins

Complete the two worksheets.

ACTIVITY TWO

Exam Practice • Compare and contrast the population structure of

the UK with that of Malawi (6 marks)

Exam Practice • In Malawi there is a much younger population (√) (1 mark) as the birth

rate is high and the death rate is high.

There is a high amount of people in their 30s in the UK whereas there are fewer middle aged people in Malawi. (√) (2 marks)

In both population pyramids there are fewer older people. (√) (3 marks)

In Malawi the structure of the pyramid is steadily decreasing as you go up the age groups while in the UK the structure is fairly random below the age of 50 and only starts to steadily decrease after 50 (√) (4 marks)

Both male and female populations are about the same for each country (√) (5 marks) although the UK has many more people living past 80. Malawi is more pyramid shaped – a typical LEDC (√) (6 marks)

HOMEWORK

• COMPLETE THE WORKSHEET

• TRY AND KEEP YOUR ANSWER WITHIN THE LINES!