Population Composition
Introduction
People of any country are diverse in many respects.
- people can be distinguished by their age six and their place of residence.
- some other distinguishing attributes of the population are occupation, education and life expectancy
Sex composition
Sex ratio
- The number of women and men in a country is an important demographic character .
- The ratio between the number of women and men in the population is called the sex ratio.
Male population /Female population X 1000
The number of males per thousand females
- The sex ratio id important information about the status of women in a country .
- In regions where gender discrimination is rampant ,sex ratio is bound to be unfavorable
- Such areas are those where the practice of female foeticide, .female infanticide and domestric violence agains women are prevent.
- One of the reasons could be lower socio-economic status of women .
Natural Advantage v/s social Disadvantage
Females have a biological advantage over males as they tend to be more resilient then males yet this advantage is cancelled out by social disadvantages and discrimination that they face .
Sex ratio around the world
- On an average, the world population reflects a sex ratio of 102 males per 100 females .
- The highest sex ratio in the world has been recorded in Latvia where there are 85 males per100 females .
- The world pattern of sex ratio does not exhibit variations in the developed regions of the world.
- Country likes China, India ,Saudi Arab Pakistan have a lower sex ratio .
Age Structure
Age structure represents the number of the people of different age groups.
Important indicator of population composition.
Working population [15 Years -59Years ]
Young population [Less than 15 Years ]
Ageing population [Above 60 Years ]
Age- Sex Pyramid
A population pyramid is used to show the age sex structure of the population
- The shape of the population pyramid reflects ,the characteristics of the population .
- The left side shows the percentage of males while the right side shows the percentage of women in each age group .
Expanding population pyramid
- The age -sex pyramid of Nigeria as you can se in a triangular shaped pyramid with a wide base and is typical of less developed countries .
- These have larger population in lower age groups due to high birth rates
Constant population pyramids .
- Australia's age sex pyramid is bell shaped and tapered towards the top
- This shows birth and death rates are almost equal leading to a near constant population.
Declining population
- The Japan pyramid has a narrow base and a tapered top showing low birth death rates.
- The population growth is developed countries is usually zero or negative.
Ageing population.
- Population ageing is the process by which the shared of the older population becomes proportionally larger.
- This is a new phenomenon of the twentieth century .
Rural Urban composition
- The division of population into rural and urban is based on the residence.
- This division is necessary because rural and urban life styles different from each other in terms of their livelihood and social conditions.
- It is the criteria for differentiating rural and urban population varies from country country .
Rural areas
rural areas are those areas where people are engaged in primary activities .
Urban areas
urban areas are those areas where majority population is engaged in non-primary activities.
Rural and Urban sex composition
It shows the number of female per 1000 males in rural and urban areas.
- The rural and urban differences in sex ratio in Canada and west European counties like Finland are just the opposite of those in African and Asian countries like Zimbabwe and Nepal respectively.
Reasons for high women sex ratio in urban areas of developed countries
- The excess of females in urban areas of U.S.A ,Canada ,Europe is the result of influx of females from rural areas to avail of the vast job opportunities .
- By contrast the sex ratio in Asia urban areas remain male dominated due to the predominance of male migration.
Literacy
Proportion of liberate population of country in an indicator of its Scio-economic development as it reveals the standard of living social status of female ,availability of educational facilities and policies of government .
- Level of economic development is both a cause and consequence of literacy.
Occupational Structure
The occupational structure can be observed as people working in different activities such as
Primary, secondary, Tertiary and Quaternary activities.
Primary Activities
Primary activities are classified as Agriculture ,forestry ,fishing, fishing and mining.
Secondary Activities
Secondary activities are classified as manufacturing .
Tertiary Activities
Tertiary activities are classified as trade , transport , communication and other service .
Quaternary Activities
The jobs related to research , information technology and developing ideas as quaternary activities .
- The proportion of working population engaged in these four sector is a good indicator of the levels of economic development of a nation .
- If the economy is still in the primitive stages, then the proportion of people engaged in primary activities be high as it involves extraction of natural resources .