NCERT Class 12 Geography Population Composition

Population Composition

People of any country are diverse in many respects. Each person is unique in her/his own way. People can be distinguished by their age, sex and their place of residence. Some of the other distinguishing attributes of the population are occupation, education and life expectancy.

SEX COMPOSITION

The number of women and men in a country is an important demographic characteristic. The ratio between the number of women and men in the population is called the Sex Ratio. In some countries it is calculated by using the formula: The sex ratio is an important information about the status of women in a country. In regions where gender discrimination is rampant, the sex ratio is bound to be unfavourable to women. Such areas are those where the practice of female foeticide, female infanticide and domestic violence against women are prevalent. One of the reasons could be lower socio-economic status of women in these areas. You must remember that more women in the population does not mean they have a better status. It could be that the men might have migrated to other areas for employment.

On an average, the world population reflects a sex ratio of 990 females per 1000 males. The highest sex ratio in the world has been recorded in Latvia which is 1187 females per 1000 males. In contrast, the lowest sex ratio occurs in U.A.E. which is 468 females per 1000 males.

The world pattern of sex ratio does not exhibit variations in the developed regions of the world. The sex ratio is favourable for females in 139 countries of the world and unfavourable for them in the remaining 72 countries listed by the United Nations.

In general, Asia has a low sex ratio. Countries like China, India, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Afghanistan have a lower sex ratio. On the other extreme is greater part of Europe (including Russia) where males are in minority. A deficit of males in the populations of many European countries is attributed to better status of women, and an excessively male-dominated out-migration to different parts of the world in the past.

Age Structure

Age structure represents the number of people of different age groups. This is an important indicator of population composition, since a large size of population in the age group of 15- 59 indicates a large working population. A greater proportion of population above 60 years represents an ageing population which requires more expenditure on health care facilities. Similarly high proportion of young population would mean that the region has a high birth rate and the population is youthful.

Age-Sex Pyramid

The age-sex structure of a population refers to the number of females and males in different age groups. A population pyramid is used to show the age-sex structure of the population.

The shape of the population pyramid reflects the characteristics of the population. The left side shows the percentage of males while the right side shows the percentage of women in each age group.

Expanding Populations

The age-sex pyramid of Nigeria as you can see is a triangular shaped pyramid with a widebase and is typical of less developed countries. These have larger populations in lower age groups due to high birth rates. If you construct the pyramids for Bangladesh and Mexico, it would look the same.

EXERCISES

1. Choose the right answer from the four alternatives given below.

    (i) Which one of the following has caused the sex ratio of the United Arab Emirates to be low?

         (a) Selective migration of male working population

         (b) High birth rate of males

         (c) Low birth rate of females

         (d) High out migration of females

    (ii) Which one of the following figures represents the working age group of the population?

         (a) 15 to 65 years                                                          (c) 15 to 66 years

         (b) 15 to 64 years                                                          (d) 15 to 59 years

    (iii) Which one of the following countries has the highest sex ratio in the world?

         (a) Latvia                                                                      (c) Japan

         (b) United Arab Emirates                                                 (d) France

2. Answer the following questions in about 30 words.

    (i) What do you understand by population composition?

    (ii) What is the significance of age-structure?

    (iii) How is sex-ratio measured?

3. Answer the following questions in not more than 150 words.

    (i) Describe the rural-urban composition of the population.

    (ii) Discuss the factors responsible for imbalances in the sex-age found in different parts of the world and occupational structure.

Please refer to attached file for NCERT Class 12 Geography Population Composition