Human Population Demographics


Table 1 Population (in 000s) of various countries for 1990

  United States China Kenya Japan
Age Group Male Female Male Female Male Female Male Female
0 - 4 9655 9205 55782 53655 2701 2661 3536 3376
5 - 9 9355 8941 44942 42316 2191 2171 3814 3626
10 - 14 8700 8311 49905 46040 1743 1748 4368 4144
15 - 19 8846 8451 63890 59174 1267 1269 5137 4876
20 - 24 9632 9314 65818 61211 1016 1013 4586 4362
25 - 29 10906 10741 51882 50504 829 856 4155 4018
30 - 34 11167 11059 43832 40254 641 687 3933 3858
35 - 39 10264 10289 45043 41707 500 530 4539 4476
40 - 44 8823 9016 33588 30066 386 405 5367 5312
45 - 49 6868 7163 26306 23015 290 315 4506 4551
50 - 54 5564 5925 24449 21333 234 255 4018 4101
55 - 59 5059 5569 22224 19912 195 208 3798 3943
60 - 64 4991 5785 17897 16601 154 164 3219 3499
65 - 69 4530 5564 13536 13557 111 116 2160 2888
70 - 74 3488 4660 9077 9977 76 78 1513 2206
75 + 4275 7726 8307 11199 88 89 2069 3394
Total 122124 127717 576479 540523 12421 12566 60714 62630
Total 249841 1117002 24987 123344

Questions

1. Which gender has the highest population in the youngest age groups on every pyramid? Why is this the case?

2. Which gender has the higher population in the oldest age groups? Why might this be so?

3. From the shape of the four pyramids, what can you conclude about the population growth rates? If birth and death rates remain the same in these countries, what will the pyramid look like in 25 years? What factors could change the shape of the pyramids?

4. Which country appears to have the slowest growth rate? How can you tell? If current trends continue, how might this pyramid look in 25 years?

5. How do the pyramids for Japan and the United States compare? Which of the two countries seems to have the higher fertility rate? What might have contributed to the bulges in the middle of each of these pyramids?

6. What is different about the shape of China's pyramid? What unique factors may have contrbuted to this shape?

7. For each country, determine the percentage of the population that has yet to reach its childbearing years (under 15). What do these numbers say about the prospects for future population growth?

8. Which countries' pyramids are closest to the world population pyramid? What conclusions can you draw from this?


Table 2

Country Total Fertility Crude Birth Rate Crude Death Rate Annual Rate of Increase (%) Doubling Time (years)
World 2.9 23 9    
Developing Countries
Average (exlcuding China) 3.8 29 10    
Egypt 3.6 28 6    
Kenya 4.5 33 13    
Madagascar 6.0 44 14    
India 3.4 27 9    
Iraq 5.7 38 10    
Vietnam 2.3 19 7    
Haiti 4.8 34 13    
Brazil 2.5 22 8    
Mexico 3.1 27 5    
Developed Countries
Average 1.6 11 10    
United States 2.0 15 9    
Canada 1.6 12 7    
Japan 1.4 10 7    
Denmark 1.8 13 11    
Germany 1.3 10 10    
Italy 1.2 9 9    
Spain 1.2 9 9    

9. Calculate the annual rate of increase and doubling time for each of the countries in Table 2.

10. What trend do you notice in the annual rate of increase and doubling time for the countries?

11. What does the this suggest about the use of global resources?