Question

Population pyramids are a type of bar chart that show the distribution of ages of a country's population. The distributions of ages of men and women for two countries, A and B, for the year 2015 are shown in the population pyramids below. The age-groups, in years, are listed in the center columns, and the proportions are shown on the horizontal axes. Each bar represents the proportion of the age-group in the population for that sex.

a. Is the proportion of the female population age 60 or older in country A greater than the proportion of the female population age 60 or older in country B? Justify your answer.
b. One of the two countries experienced an increase in the birth rate in the years 1946 to 1955 and another increase in the birth rate about 20 years later. Based on the graphs, which country experienced the described increases in birth rate? Justify your answer using information from the graphs.
c. For country A, in which age-group is the median age of the male population? Justify your answer.

Answer 1

a. The proportion of the female population age 60 or older in country A is greater than the proportion in country B. b. Country B experienced the described increases in birth rate. c. The median age of the male population in country A falls between the age groups of 40-44 and 45-49.

Step-by-step explanation:

a. In order to determine whether the proportion of the female population age 60 or older in country A is greater than the proportion in country B, we can compare the height of the bars representing the age group 60 and older for females in both countries. If the height of the bar for country A is greater than the height of the bar for country B, then the proportion of the female population age 60 or older in country A is indeed greater.

b. To determine which country experienced an increase in the birth rate in the years 1946 to 1955 and another increase in the birth rate about 20 years later, we can analyze the shape of the population pyramids. Look for a wider base, which indicates higher birth rates. Based on this information, we can determine that country B experienced the described increases in birth rate.

c. To find the median age of the male population in country A, we need to identify the age group where the cumulative percentage of the male population reaches 50%. By looking at the population pyramid for country A, we can see that the median age of the male population falls between the age groups of 40-44 and 45-49.