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Method: Students construct and interpret population pyramids and discuss differences in population growth rates among several different countries.

Introduction:To help them make population projections for different countries, demographers(who study population) look at the profile of the countries’ residents. What are the agesof the people? How many are men? How many are women? Taking this information,they construct population pyramids like the ones students will create in this activity.These graphs depict the configuration of a country’s population as impacted by 70 to 80years of economic, political, and natural events. These graphs can also help predictfuture population trends.

Procedure:1. Display the world population pyra-mid and explain that this is a kind ofgraph used by demographers to studythe distribution of people across ageand gender categories.

2. Explain to the students that thegraph represents the entire worldpopulation sorted by age and gender,with the youngest at the bottom andthe oldest at the top. Each age levelgrouping is called a cohort.

3. Assign each student or group ofstudents one of the six countries, anddistribute graph paper and a copy of the student worksheet for that country.

4. The figures on the worksheetrepresent the population (in thousands) of each age group within each gender for eachparticular country. In order to construct the country’s pyramid, students must first calculate the percentage of the population of each gender in each age group.

Example: According to the worksheet, the United States’ total population in 2015 was 321,369,000. The population of males ages 0-4 was 10,211,000.

Students should complete these calculations for each cohort.

Using graph paper, students can construct a population pyramid as in the example. A linedrawn down the middle of the graph separates the male and female populations. The percent-ages of the population will be plotted along the X-axis with females to the right of the centerline, males to the left. The age groups will be running up the Y-axis with the youngest at thebottom, oldest at the top. (See “World Population Pyramid” for an example.)

5.

Have students graph the percentage data for their assigned country.6.

Have students hold up their finished graphs for all to see while going through thefollow-up questions in class.

Power of the PyramidsStudent Activity

Concept: The age and gender distribution ofa regional or national populationaffects its growth rate and providesinformation on its past, present,and future growth patterns.

Objectives: Students will be able to:• Calculate percentages using rawnumbers for each age/gender groupin a given population.• Construct a population age/gender distribution graph for oneof six different countries.• Make correlations between theshapes of the graphs and thegrowth patterns of different countries.

Subjects: Mathematics, biology, social studies, environmental science

Skills: Calculating, graphing, analyzingand interpreting data

Materials: Copies of student worksheetPower of the Pyramids graph paper Colored pencils RulersCalculators

Key Terms: cohort, demographers, population pyramid

Population Dynamics • Student Activity • Power of the Pyramids • page 1 of 4population connection ©2016

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10,211,000 - .032 or 3.2%321,320,000

Discussion Questions:1. Where are you represented on the tables and on thegraphs?

If you live in the United States and were between 10 and 14 years old in 2015, you are represented on the third bar from the bottom on the U.S. graph with males on the left, and females on the right.

2. Can you tell from the data if there are more male orfemale babies in each country?

Yes, there are more male babies. There is a slightly greater probability of giving birth to male children. For every 100 girls born, there are about 105 boys born.

3. Are there more elderly women or men? Why mightthat be the case?

There are more elderly women. Throughout the world, life expectancy for women is higher than for men. This is due to a number of genetic and social factors. In general, men are more predisposed to cer-tain health risks than women. Also, men make up the vast majority of the military and are more likely to die during wars.4. Can you tell from the graphs which country has themost people?

No. The graphs represent 100 percent of the popula-tion of each country broken down by age groups. Demographers use the percentage data instead of the raw data so that each graph fits on the same size paper and can be compared to the graphs of other countries.

5. Which country has the most people? How can youtell?

6. Of the six graphs, which look most likeWhat does that indicate about their population growth rates? What factors would change the shape of the pyramids in the future?

The graph for Nigeria looks most like a pyramid. This indicates a high growth rate. Population growth occurs when the segment of the population currently in its childbearing years (ages 15-44; bars 4-9 on the graphs) has produced a generation larger than itself (bars 1-3). If the birth rate goes down, this would change the shape of the graph over time from

a pyramid to more of a rectangle, indicating a more stable population.

7. Looking at the pyramids, which country appears tohave the slowest rate of population growth? How canyou tell?

France. The graph is closer to a rectangle than a pyramid, showing more uniform population size across the age groups. France has a birth rate and death rate that are roughly equal, which demogra-phers call zero population growth.

8. In which country do children make up the largestpercentage of the population?

You can see on the graph that the bottom of the Nigerian and the Indian pyramids go out the farthest, representing the largest percentage. The percentages that you calculated show that Nigerian babies (males and females combined) make up over 16 percent (8.4 + 8) of the population, and the older children also make up a big percentage.

10.

9. Some cultures have traditionally favored boychildren over girl children (as can be seen in the pyramids for India and China). Why might couples prefer to have boys rather than girls in these coun-tries? What are some consequences that may arise if a generation has a gender imbalance?

Parents may favor boys over girls in order to carry on an ancestral line, to avoid the high costs of a daugh-ter’s dowry, or from the traditional belief that boys are more valuable. In developing countries, boys are expected to take care of their parents in old age, as girls will marry and live with their husbands’ families. As a generation matures, a shortage of girls leads to a shortage of women for men to marry. This condition can cause instability and result in kidnappings and violence towards women, massive migration of men seeking mates, the sale of women for marriage, etc.


If you had a business and wanted to capitalize onyour information about the population age distribu-tion for the U.S., what would you sell?

Answers might include any products for people of the Baby Boom generation or their children.

11. If you had a business in Nigeria and wanted tocapitalize on your information about the Nigerianpopulation, what would you sell?

Answers might include any products for children and infants.

From the TOTAL line on the data sheet you can tell that China has more people than any other country.

pyramids?

12. How would you expect the Mexican pyramid tolook if you graphed it 40 years from now?

The graph shows that the Mexican population wasgrowing rapidly about 30 years ago, when the rate of growth slowed. If this trend continues unchanged,the Mexican “pyramid” will gradually become morerectangular.

Assessment Idea:Provide students with a population pyramid for a fictitious (or unlabeled) country. Population pyramidscan be accessed and printed from the “Pyramids” section of the International Data Base at the U.S.Census website, www.census.gov. Have them explainwhat the pyramid shows, what sort of growth patternsthey expect in the future, and what sort of concernsthe government might have based on the populationinformation.


Power of the PyramidsStudent Activity


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Power of the PyramidsStudent Worksheet 1

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Population Dynamics • Student Worksheet • Power of the Pyramids population connection ©2016

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Power of the Pyramids Graph Paper

Country: ___________________

Name: ____________________________ Date: _________________________

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p6=,8 6- :/, p?8(40+9 - population...

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