The age-sex pyramid, which is also called the age-sex pyramid, is a graphical representation of the demographic structure of the population of a particular region or state.
Age-sex pyramid
The age-sex pyramid is a convenient and visual way to demonstrate the relationship between different social groups of the population, widely used in demography. So, usually the age-sex pyramid is based on two main parameters: gender and age of a group of people. At the same time, it is possible to build such a figure for communities of various sizes: from a small settlement to an entire country or even the world.
The standard pyramid is an area divided vertically into two parts, one of which corresponds to the structure of the male population, the other to the female. For better visualization, these parts are usually given different colors, such as blue or blue for men, red or pink for women.
The horizontal division of the figure is made based on the age structure of the population. For the convenience of displaying, it is customary to combine the entire available population into age groups with an interval of 5 years. Thus, both the left and right parts of the pyramid, representing the male and female population, consist of horizontal dies, which are located one above the other. However, the bottom of the pyramid usually represents the youngest population, and the ages of the groups increase as you move up the chart.
Pyramid analysis
As a result, the age-sex pyramid makes it possible to clearly determine in which age groups there is a preponderance of the male population in relation to the female, at what ages this predominance is opposite, and in which the ratio of men and women is approximately the same.
As shown by numerous demographic studies, in most developed countries, similar trends are observed in this regard. Thus, as a rule, more boys are born than girls, therefore, in the younger age groups, that is, in the lower part of the pyramid, one can see a wider part of the “male” half of the diagram compared to the “female” one. By about the age of 30, this ratio usually levels off, and at the age of 40 and older, the number of women most often exceeds the number of men. Demographers tend to explain this structure of the pyramid by the lifestyle of men, which implies a higher mortality rate as a result of injuries, accidents, hard work, addiction to bad habits and other reasons.
At the same time, a comparison of several age-sex pyramids built for the same community can provide a useful opportunity to study its demographic structure in dynamics. This, in turn, makes it possible to determine the dominant trend of changes in the socio-demographic characteristics of the community - for example, it can be an aging population or, on the contrary, its rejuvenation.
