Name:
Date:
Period:
Age Structure Diagrams
Purpose: To study human populations by using census data to gather demographic information on developed
and developing countries and constructing and interpreting age structure diagrams.
Open an internet browser and go to www.census.gov, scroll down to look at the population clock.
1. What is the current U.S. population? ______________________________________________
2. What is the current world population? ____________________________________________
3. Which clock is spinning faster? What does this say about the population growth rate in the U.S.
compared to the rest of the world?
Select a country from either list A or B below. Your partner should select a country from the opposite list.
My Country: ___________________________________________
Partners Country: _____________________________________
Partners Name: _______________________________________
List A
List B
Afghanistan
Ethiopia
Angola
Bangladesh
Bhutan
Haiti
Nepal
Samoa
Yemen
Myanmar
United States
Norway
Australia
Canada
Japan
New Zealand
Germany
France
Israel
United Arab
Emirates
Belize
Cambodia
Netherlands
Spain
Honduras
Columbia
Ireland
United Kingdom
Now go to:
http://www.census.gov/population/international/data/idb/informationGateway.php
Select “components of population growth” from the special reports drop down menu
Choose the most recent year that data is available for your chosen country and click submit to
retrieve data for your country.
Complete the following information for your country.
What year is the information below based on:
What is the total
population?
What is the total number
of births?
What is the total number
of deaths?
What is the Crude Birth
Rate (CBR)
What is the net migration
rate?
What is the total number of
migrants?
What is the life expectancy at
birth?
What is the infant mortality
rate?
What is the Crude Death
Rate (CDR)
What is the total fertility rate?
(average births / woman)
Clearly show your set up and your work for the following problems. Circle your answer.
4. Based on birth and death rates reported above, calculate the annual percent growth rate for
your country. (including migration)
5. Based on the information above, and assuming a constant growth rate and exponential
growth, calculate the predicted population for your country 10 years following that which the
data was reported for.
6. Based on the rate you calculated above, when will this population be twice as big as it
currently is?
Now return to:
http://www.census.gov/population/international/data/idb/informationGateway.php
Change the report type to “population by 5 year age groups” and complete the data table below.
Midyear Population by Age and Gender
Country Name:
Age Group
0-4
5–9
10 – 14
15 – 19
20 – 24
25 – 29
30 – 34
35 -39
40 – 44
45 – 49
50 - 54
55 – 59
60 – 64
65 – 69
70 – 74
75 – 79
80 – 84
85 - 89
% Males
% Females
Use a piece of graph paper to create an age structure diagram for your country and use your
diagram and that of your partner to answer the following questions.
Questions
7. Age structure diagrams can generally be characterized as pyramids, columns, columns with
bulges or inverted pyramids? How would you characterize the shape of each of the age
structures you and your partner created for your respective countries? What concerns
should residents of each country have respectively?
8. Are the shapes of your age structure diagram and that of your partners consistent with what
you would expect given the countries birth rate, death rate, and growth rate? Explain.
9. Use your answers to the following questions to compare the fertility rates of the two
countries
a. What percent of the each countries population is in the pre-reproductive age classes
(0-15 years old)?
b. What percent of each countries population is in the reproductive age classes (15-45
years old)?
c. What do these numbers suggest about the fertility rates of the two countries relative
to each other? Explain.
d.
Is this consistent with the fertility rates that you and your partner found earlier on
the website?
e. Based on this information, why will pyramid shaped age structures lead to a more
rapidly growing population than a rectangular age structure pyramid?
10. If birth rates in Sudan were to remain constant, but death rates
were to decline, what shape would the age structure diagram have
in 35 years? Roughly sketch this age structure diagram. What
would happen to the overall size of the population as a result?