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.
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.
On an average, the world population reflects a sex ratio of 990
females per 1000 males.
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.
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
A triangular shaped pyramid with a wide base and is typical of
less developed countries.
These have larger populations in lower age groups due to high
birth rates.
Constant Population- age-sex pyramid is bell shaped and
tapered towards the top. This shows birth and death rates are
almost equal leading to a near constant population.
Declining Populations
THE pyramid has a narrow base and a tapered top showing low
birth and death rates.
The population growth in developed countries is usually zero or
negative.
RURAL URBAN COMPOSITION
The division of population into rural and urban is based on the
residence. This division is necessary because rural and urban life styles differ from each other in terms of their livelihood and social
conditions.
The age-sex-occupational structure, density of population and
level of development vary between rural and urban areas.
The criteria for differentiating rural and urban population varies
from country to country.
In general terms rural areas are those where people are engaged
in primary activities and urban areas are those when majority of
the working population is engaged in non-primary activities.
Literacy
Proportion of literate population of a country in an indicator of its
socio-economic development as it reveals the standard of living,
social status of females, availability of educational facilities and
policies of government. Level of economic development is
both a cause and consequence of literacy.
Occupational Structure
The working population (i.e. women and men of the age group –
15 to 59) take part in various occupations ranging from
agriculture, forestry, fishing, manufacturing construction,
commercial transport, services, communication and other
unclassified services.
Agriculture, forestry, fishing and mining are classified as primary
activities manufacturing as secondary, transport, communication
and other services as tertiary and the jobs related to research and
developing ideas as quaternary activities.
The proportion of working population engaged in these four
sectors is a good indicator of the levels of economic development
of a nation.
This is because only a developed
economy with industries and
infrastructure can accommodate more workers in the secondary,
tertiary and quaternary sector.
infrastructure can accommodate more workers in the secondary,
tertiary and quaternary sector.
If the economy is still in the primitive stages, then the proportion of
people engaged in primary activities world be high as it involves
extraction of natural resources.