3C Ageing population

A Look at the countries in the box. Number them 1−8 according to what you think the average overall life expectancy is.
1 is the highest and 8 is the lowest.

China   India   Japan   Mexico   Poland   Ukraine   United Kingdom   Zambia

B Your teacher will give you a country to research. Find out the information below and complete the fact file.
Share your findings with the class.

Country
Average life expectancy overall

Average life expectancy for men

Average life expectancy for women

Life expectancy ranking worldwide

% of population over 65

C Discuss the questions in your group.

1 How accurate were your predictions in A?
2 Which information did you find most surprising?
3 What are the reasons behind the variations in life expectancy? Use the ideas in the box to help you.

climate diet disease drinking water healthcare keeping fit political unrest wealth

4 Generally, women have a longer lifespan than men. Why do you think this is the case?
5 If populations continue to age, what changes do you think we will see in the future? Use the words in the box to
help you.

birth rate  government expenditure  nursing homes  retirement age  state pension  welfare system

Solutions 2nd edition  Upper-Intermediate © Oxford University Press • Photocopiable

 3C Ageing population

Aims  To engage students in a group research project. To

recycle vocabulary from the lesson. To give students the
opportunity to share findings, ideas and opinions.
Time  15 minutes
Materials  8 handouts for the class; students will need Internet
access to complete the fact file
• Divide the class into eight groups and give each group a
handout. Tell them to complete task A. You could follow
this up with a quick class vote to find out which countries
students think have the highest/lowest life expectancies and
where they think Poland sits in the list.
Answer Key
1 Japan 5 China
2 UK 6 Ukraine
3 Mexico 7 India
4 Poland 8 Zambia
• Assign a different country from A to each group. Tell them to
conduct some Internet research and complete the table. You
could direct them to these useful websites:
http://en.wikipedia.org (List of countries by life expectancy)
http://nationmaster.com (Category: People/People Stat:
Age structure 65 years and over)
• Each group in turn feeds back their findings to the class.
Encourage students to listen carefully and perhaps to take
notes, to facilitate the follow-on discussion.
• Read through the questions in task C as a class, ensuring that
students understand all of the vocabulary. Give them time to
discuss the questions in groups and then get some feedback
from the class on their ideas and opinions.

Solutions 2nd edition  Upper-Intermediate © Oxford University Press