Post on 17-May-2015
Population Structure
• Population structure is the make up of the total population in a country or area where people are grouped by age and sex.
• The graphical technique used to summarise age structure is the population pyramid.
Interpreting Pop Pyramids
Start at the base – what has happened recently?
Next go to the top – how long do people live for?
Then look at the middle – are there any age groups that stand out? Long / short bars?
Dependent Population
Dependent Population
• The dependency ratio is directly linked to a country’s age structure.
• To calculate it, the population is split into economically active (15-64) and inactive (0-14 and 65+)
• Dependency ratio is calculated as a % using:
Number of economically active Number of non-economically active
X 100
How has the population structure of the UK changed over time?
How has the population structure of the UK changed over time?
How has the population structure of the UK changed over time?
Male Female
Population in millions
How has the population structure of the UK changed over time?
Ageing populations in the MEDW
• The regressive population structure
The worldwide distribution of people aged 65 and over
• http://www.geographyinthenews.rgs.org/news/article/default.aspx?id=298
• http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_depth/uk/2004/ageing/default.stm