Population pyramids tell us how many people there are in a certain age group as well as the number of men and women in these groups.

There are three different types of pyramids:

  • Countries with a fast growing population
    These pyramids show a strong base and a very narrow top. Birth rates are high and there many children and young people. People also die earlier than in Europe or North America.
  • Countries with zero growth
    The number of births reached its peak during the baby boom of the 1950s and 60s. Since then the birth rate has been constant.
  • Counties with declining population
    Many European countries have such a population structure. Families are having fewer children and the death rate is sometimes higher than the birth rate. The baby boomers of the past century are getting older and older, which leads to many pensioners. These countries can only grow if they have enough immigrants who come to live and work there.

Such pyramids also can tell governments which problems they will be facing in the future. Countries , in which more than half of the population is under 18, will need more and more schools and later on enough jobs to give all citizens work.

Countries with a declining population have a high number of older people. They don’t have enough young workers to pay the pension for these people when they retire. Such countries need more hospitals and old people’s homes to care for their elderly citizens.

Almost all pyramids show that, although more boys are born than girls, there are more older women than men. This is, partly, because women live longer than men—3 to 5 years on average.




Angola - Country with a fast-growing population

angola - population pyramid



Jordan - Country with zero growth

Jordan - population pyramid



Italy - Country with declining population

Italy - Population pyramid


All images : PopulationPyramid.net, CC BY 3.0 IGO



Words

  • although = while
  • baby boomer = person born between the end of World War II and the middle of the 1960s
  • base = the lowest part of the pyramid
  • birth = the time at which a baby is born
  • birth rate = shows how many babies are born for every 1,000 people in a year 
  • century = a hundred years
  • certain = special
  • citizen = a person who lives in a country and has rights there
  • constant = steady, the same
  • death rate = shows the number of deaths for every 1,000 people in a year 
  • declining = going down
  • elderly = old
  • face = to have a problem
  • fewer = less, a smaller number
  • government = the people who rule a country
  • immigrant = a person who goes to another country to live and work there 
  • narrow  = not wide, thin
  • old people's home = house and building where old people live and where doctors and nurses look after them
  • on average = normally, usually
  • partly = somewhat, in part
  • peak = highest point
  • pensioner = someone who does not work anymore because he is too old; they get money from the state
  • retire = to stop working because you are too old
  • zero growth = if something does not grow any more