Population Pyramids Population Pyramids by rgamesby A population pyramid is a graph that allows us to see the gender and age structure of a population. The pyramid below shows the number of people in millions in each age group in the UK in 2010, the annotations reveal the key features typical of population pyramids. There are different shapes to the pyramids which tell us different things about the population of the country. They are useful because they give a really visual idea of what the birth and death rates are like in a country, and because they show the life expectancy. They can also help governments plan for the future because they show change over time. |
Think about it 1) Try this exercise on interpreting population pyramids 2) Find out what Population Pyramids can be used for using Wikipedia 3a) Visit
IDB
population pyramids website and make a summary population pyramid
for a country of your choice. 4) Take a BBC Bytesize test on Population Pyramids 5) Try a population web quest |
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Rapid Growth or Youthful Population LEDCs have a triangular shaped pyramid. They have lots of children and people do not tend to live for a long time (low Life expectancy). These countries populations grow rapidly as many more children are added to the population than people die. The Philippines pyramid shows this perfectly and has a population growing at 2.1% per year. |
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Slow Growth Most MEDCs have a space rocket shape, with old people living for a long time (high life expectancy), lots of workers and reasonable numbers of children. These populations are stable and are growing slowly as the number of young is just above the number of people dying. |
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Declining or Ageing population Some MEDCs actually have declining populations where there are not enough children being born each year to replace those dying. Germany is experiencing a period of negative growth (-0.1%). As negative growth in a country continues, the population is reduced. A population can shrink due to a low birth rate and a stable death rate. Increased emigration may also be a contributor to a declining population. |
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