Summary charts, diagrams, tables are indispensable accompanying statistics. One of them is the age and sex pyramid, which provides a rich field for analysis. We will devote this article to it, simultaneously analyzing with the help of this diagram the composition of the Russian population.
About the age-sex pyramid
Age and gender pyramid - a graph that distributes the entire population by gender and age. It represents, respectively, the opposition of two groups of people of the same age - men and women. The schedule can be drawn up by years of life and by more enlarged categories - five years and decades. Its appearance depends entirely on the goals of the component - to present a gender and age analysis of a short period of time or the scale of a century, centuries.
The standard form of the age-sex pyramid is as follows:
- Each highlighted age is a horizontal bar in the chart. Shows the number or proportion of the entire population of people of a given age.
- The youngest groups are at the bottom of the pyramid, the most overgrown - at the top.
- On the left side of the chart is the number or proportion of men of a particular age, and on the right side is women.
What is the sex and age chart primarily talking about? On the evolution of population reproduction in a particular period, on its type, which is determined by the birth and death rates in different periods of analysis, and, in addition, determines the total number of men and women of a particular age.
Types of sex and age pyramids
Analysts distinguish three main types of named pyramids:
1. Reduced. It is characterized by:
- low birth rate;
- low percentage of young people;
- a large proportion of middle-aged and elderly people;
- life expectancy is high;
- a tendency towards an aging population is noticeable;
- the number of men and women in age groups has been stable or decreasing for a long time.
2. Growing. Its distinguishing features are as follows:
- high fertility rates;
- short life span;
- the overwhelming percentage is the young population;
- a small number of elderly people;
- a trend of rapid population growth.
3. Anti-aging. As a result of a successful demographic policy, a significant increase in the birth rate is observed.
After analyzing such a schedule, you can not only clearly present the real picture, but also predict the age and gender composition of the population in the future. In addition, age and gender pyramids help highlight the age structure of the population, which we will discuss later.
Sundberg Age Structures
As early as 1894, the demographer and statistician A.-F. Sundberg (Sweden) proposed three types of population age structures:
- Progressive. For him, a characteristic high proportion of young people against the background of the elderly. This effect is achieved due to the expanded type of reproduction. A sex and age pyramid for this type will look like a triangle. The wider its base, the higher the birth rate.
- Stationary. There is a simple type of playback. The diagram in this form resembles a bell - the number of young and old people is approximately equal.
- Regressive. In this case, narrowed reproduction on the face. The diagram in its form repeats the urn - a small number of children and young people, but a high percentage of adult citizens.
If you compare the age-sex pyramids with the graph of the natural population movement, you can notice the following:
- A great influence on the structure of the diagram is made by wars, leading to a decline in the young population and a decrease in the birth rate.
- They are reflected on the edges of the pyramid and population migration - the proportion of adult men of working age is increasing.
World sex and age composition
If we consider the age and sex pyramids of all world states, then the latter can be conditionally divided into the following categories:
- The number of women and men is relatively the same in Latin America and Africa.
- The female population prevails over the male - this phenomenon is characteristic of half the countries of the globe, especially in Europe. The reason was the echoes of world wars - until now, the harmonious ratio of men and women cannot be restored.
- The male population prevails over the female - typical for Asian countries, mainly for China and India.
Russian age and sex structure
The age and sex pyramid of the Russian population, compiled from the results of the general census in 2002 and according to statistics, shows the following:
- The general analysis shows the apparent gender imbalance of the population: up to 29 years, the number of the male population predominates, 30-44 years - the number of men and women is about the same, and after 44 years the number of women increases in order to 3 times exceed the number of men at 70 years old.
- We can say that the country's population is steadily aging. This is not due to an increase in the proportion of older people, but because of low birth rates.
- In 2016, the proportion of children under 15 years old was 17%, and the proportion of older people over 65 was 20% of the total population. This state of affairs can lead to a sharp reduction in the income of citizens (one dependent citizen accounts for one dependent). Only the birth rate can save the situation.
