Getting Geographic:   Martha’s Study Corner
February 1, 2011
Constructing/Interpreting Population Pyramids Vol. 1: #11
 
 
Human populations are an important part of the
study of geography. Not only are people unevenly
distributed on Earth; they also vary greatly in
terms of age and sex distribution. Some countries,
such as Ethiopia, have a young population,
meaning that a high percentage of the total
population is below the age of 15 years. Other
countries, such as Spain, have an aging
population, meaning that an increasing percentage
of the people are older than 65 years.
Understanding the distribution of population in
terms of age and sex is important in understanding  
a country’s well-being and the challenges it faces.
Constructing population pyramids
a) Distribute copies of the Activity #11 Handout
#1 and Handout #2.
b) Explain that a population pyramid (also called
an “age-sex graph”) is a special type of graph that
shows the distribution of a location’s population in
terms of age groups, called cohorts, and sex. Note
that it is best to construct population pyramids
using percentages rather than numbers since this
makes it possible to compare countries with
different size populations.  
Data from U.S. Census Bureau, International Data Base
c) Have half the class construct a pyramid for
Canada and the other half, a pyramid for Bolivia.
Beginning at the bottom of the graph, plot the b) Which age group is largest in each country?
percent of the population that is 0-4 years and How might this affect the quality of life in each
male. Shade this bar on the pyramid and repeat country? What challenges might this age
for females, using a different color. Repeat this distribution create for each country?
step for each age cohort until the pyramid is c) To learn more about interpreting population
complete. pyramids, visit Population Reference Bureau at
http://www.prb.org/ .
Interpreting population pyramids
d) Data for other countries, as well as for
a) Have students compare the pyramids for
states and even counties is available from the
Canada and Bolivia. How are they similar? How
U.S. Census Bureau at http://www.census.gov .
are they different?

 
 Activity #11 – Handout 1

Canada, 2010
Age Both Sexes Male Female Percent Percent Percent Sex
Population Population Population Both Sexes Male Female Ratio
Total 33759742 16751392 17008350 100 100 100 98.5
0-4 1724587 883748 840839 5.1 5.3 4.9 105.1
5-9 1744354 892543 851811 5.2 5.3 5 104.8
10-14 1891228 970935 920293 5.6 5.8 5.4 105.5
15-19 2228885 1145267 1083618 6.6 6.8 6.4 105.7
20-24 2265441 1164117 1101324 6.7 6.9 6.5 105.7
25-29 2282968 1169343 1113625 6.8 7 6.5 105
30-34 2217875 1132104 1085771 6.6 6.8 6.4 104.3
35-39 2194894 1114527 1080367 6.5 6.7 6.4 103.2
40-44 2340449 1172387 1168062 6.9 7 6.9 100.4
45-49 2725367 1371767 1353600 8.1 8.2 8 101.3
50-54 2612702 1308918 1303784 7.7 7.8 7.7 100.4
55-59 2294478 1136699 1157779 6.8 6.8 6.8 98.2
60-64 2005691 997109 1008582 5.9 6 5.9 98.9
65-69 1502701 732555 770146 4.5 4.4 4.5 95.1
70-74 1185970 554429 631541 3.5 3.3 3.7 87.8
75-79 1006178 444091 562087 3 2.7 3.3 79
80-84 768476 307948 460528 2.3 1.8 2.7 66.9
85-89 457723 161849 295874 1.4 1 1.7 54.7
90-94 217863 68302 149561 0.6 0.4 0.9 45.7
95-99 74836 19471 55365 0.2 0.1 0.3 35.2
100+ 17076 3283 13793 0.1 0 0.1 23.8

Bolivia, 2010
Age Both Sexes Male Female Percent Percent Percent Sex
Population Population Population Both Sexes Male Female Ratio
Total 9947418 4923112 5024306 100 100 100 98
0-4 1205157 614845 590312 12.1 12.5 11.7 104.2
5-9 1181417 601952 579465 11.9 12.2 11.5 103.9
10-14 1100476 559682 540794 11.1 11.4 10.8 103.5
15-19 1051300 533519 517781 10.6 10.8 10.3 103
20-24 983779 495749 488030 9.9 10.1 9.7 101.6
25-29 867649 433864 433785 8.7 8.8 8.6 100
30-34 717790 354823 362967 7.2 7.2 7.2 97.8
35-39 591534 285258 306276 5.9 5.8 6.1 93.1
40-44 479373 224303 255070 4.8 4.6 5.1 87.9
45-49 420252 196734 223518 4.2 4 4.4 88
50-54 365206 171693 193513 3.7 3.5 3.9 88.7
55-59 297678 140256 157422 3 2.8 3.1 89.1
60-64 233242 110192 123050 2.3 2.2 2.4 89.6
65-69 168092 77966 90126 1.7 1.6 1.8 86.5
70-74 111580 50064 61516 1.1 1 1.2 81.4
75-79 82828 36109 46719 0.8 0.7 0.9 77.3
80-84 55460 23165 32295 0.6 0.5 0.6 71.7
85-89 25328 9801 15527 0.3 0.2 0.3 63.1
90-94 7609 2636 4973 0.1 0.1 0.1 53
95-99 1512 460 1052 0 0 0 43.7
100+ 156 41 115 0 0 0 35.7

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, International Data Base, available at http://www.census.gov/ipc/www/idb/region.php

 Activity #11 – Handout 2

POPULATION PYRAMID
LOCATION: _____________________________ YEAR: ___________________

MALES FEMALES
95+
years
90-94
years
85-89
years
80-84
years
75-79
years
70-74
years
65-69
years
60-64
years
55-59
years
50-54
years
45-49
years
40-44
years
35-39
years
30-34
years
25-29
years
20-24
years
15-19
years
10-14
years
5-9
years
0-4
years
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

PERCENT

DATA SOURCE: