Interpreting population pyramids

Part II: Expository Essay

This assignment meets General Education Learning Outcome, GELO 3: Apply a scientific approach to answer questions about the earth and environment.

You will complete the worksheet below with partners or small groups in class. Individually, you will then write an essay on population issues revealed through the worksheet, class lectures, and the video World in the Balance.

Purpose: We use demographic indicators and population pyramids to understand population dynamics, make decisions about environmental and policy issues, and predict future trends.

In this activity you will:

Pages 1 -7:

1. Compare population pyramids for developing and industrialized countries and analyze population growth, and environmental and/or policy issues within the countries.

2. Examine other demographic data that can influence the impact of population on the environment.

3. For questions that require mathematical calculations, the answers are provided. You must do the computations (show your work) that will result in that answer.

Page 8:

4. Integrate the concepts into an essay on population.

Part 1: Calculations

Problem 1

Examine the population pyramids of the two most populous countries in the world, China and India (page 4). From the shape of the population pyramids, predict which country is growing faster and explain why.

Calculate the percent of population under the age of 15. First estimate the total number of people in China and India that are less than 15 years old (look at Population Pyramids for China & India 2014). Divide that number by the midyear population (Table 1- Demographic Indicators for 2015) and multiply by 100 to get the % of the total population under the age of 15. Please show your calculations.

Percent (%) of population under the age of 15 in China:
Percent (%) of population under the age of 15 in India:

Why is the percentage of individuals under the age of 15 a good indicator of future population growth?

Is the population of China or India growing faster? List 2 demographic indicators (from Table 1) that support your answer.

Problem 2

Refer to the IDB Summary Demographic Data for Kenya

Using the midyear population data for Kenya, calculate the % of women of childbearing age in 2000 and 2025 (# women 15 - 49 years old divided by total # women). Please show your calculations.

Percent (%) of women of child-bearing age in 2000:
Percent (%) of women of child-bearing age in 2025:

How will this change impact future population growth?

Problem 3

Refer to the IDB Summary Demographic Data for the 'United States

Calculate the adult dependency ratios for 2000 and 2025. Divide the midyear population data into 3 sections: children under age 15, working age adults (15 - 64 years old), and senior citizens over age 65. Calculate the adult dependency ratio (# of senior citizens divided by # of working age adults). Please show your calculations.

Adult dependency ratio in 2000:
Adult dependency ratio in 2025:

What trend do you notice? How do you explain this change?

What will be the impact of its trend on government policies? Why is it important for a courftry to have the majority of its population in the 15 - 64 age group?

Problem 4

From class lecture, discussions, demographic data andvideo: World in the Balance describe two key issues (gender, health, environmental, social or political) that are influencing the current population patterns for:

India
Japan
Kenya

Problem 5

The growth rates for China. India. Kenya. Japan and the US in 2015 are shown in the table below. The growth rate of a country (or how fast a population is growing) is calculated as the (number of births + migrants - deaths) divided by the total population (use 1000 here, since birth and death rates are per 1000.

Attachment:- Essay Work Sheet.pdf