Distribution of Age

Age distribution in a country determines potential for future growth, hence an increased in population. As a result, age distribution has significant government policy implications. For instance, a population of young people will need sufficient number of schools as well as, enough jobs to accommodate them. A rapid growth of a country is influenced by three demographic processes which include mortality, fertility and migration. Study shows that the United States of America population is believed to have risen steadily from 3.2% in the 1970s to around 3.5% in the 1990s.

However a steady decline in the growth rate is believed to have been in progress in the 1990s as a result of economic crisis. Research has shown that over ten billion people exist on earth today and an increase of about ninety million people occurs annually (Howden & Meyer, 2011). Today, most countries use population pyramids as the most effective way to depict age distribution of a population, because of clear images they present. Increase in population leads to various environmental issues and social problems.

It is therefore evident that, if the population of a country is growing rapidly, the age distribution of that country will also change. Age distribution is the percentage of the total population, or the population of each sex, at each age level. Focusing on the population of a country, age distribution is one of the basic ways to understand population change over time. Understanding age distribution yields insights into changing phenomena and highlights future social as well as, economic challenges. The graph below represents age distribution vs. percentage of population.

Age 55+ 50 45 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 Percentage of population Explanations The increasing proportion of the aged persons is accompanied by steady declines in the proportion of young persons. As the population size of the population grows, the most profound change which is projected to occur is age distribution or population ageing. Population ageing is usually characterized by an upwards shift in the age structure, and therefore, the proportion of younger declines as the proportion of older people increases (Howden & Meyer, 2011).

The relative increase in the proportion of older people in the population is accompanied by a sharply increasing number of older people as shown in the above graph. In addition, rapid population growth of a country leads to change of age distribution. When there is an increase in population, the resources available in place becomes limited. Therefore, a growth in population seldom will lead.