30: Age Structure

Question 1

What is total fertility rate?

Answer 1

number of children born to an average woman in a population during her entire reproductive life

Question 2

What is replacement fertility rate?

Answer 2

number of births at which people are just replacing themselves to keep population constant

Question 3

What is the replacement fertility rate in more developed countries?

Answer 3

2.1 per couple (a little more than 2 because children die)

Question 4

What is happening to total fertility rates around the world?

Answer 4

it is going down everywhere in the world but in many countries, they are still above RFR or replacement level fertility

Question 5

What would happen to the population size in a population where TFR is above RFR?

Answer 5

the population will grow because people are having more children than the number needed just to replace themselves

Question 6

If we reach a replacement level fertility rate of 2.1, the population will keep growing for at least another 50 years. Why?

Answer 6

because of the age structure of the population

Question 7

What is age structure?

Answer 7

proportion of the population at each age level
- gives an idea of the percentage or number of male and females pre-reproductive, reproductive, post-reproductive age

Question 8

What is a population pyramid?

Answer 8

represents the age structure of a population

Question 9

What is the x-axis of a population pyramid?

Answer 9

population in millions, sometimes in percentages or absolute numbers

Question 10

What is the y-axis of a population pyramid?

Answer 10

the different ages in the population

Question 11

What is a rapid growth population pyramid?

Answer 11

wide base (Christmas tree)
- ex: Afghanistan

Question 12

What is a no growth population pyramid?

Answer 12

very narrow base
- ex: Italy, Germany, Japan

Question 13

What is a slow growth population pyramid?

Answer 13

rectangle straight at the bottom
- ex: United States

Question 14

What is the population pyramid in the US?

Answer 14

slow growth
- bump in people ages 60-64, would now be 75
- caused by baby boom (increase in total fertility rates immediately after WWII)

Question 15

What happens if a country reaches replacement-level fertility rate of 2.1, but there are a lot of people in reproductive age?

Answer 15

the population keeps growing for a while (so many couples having kids in future so population will keep growing)
- ex: Malaysia

Question 16

What peculiarity do you notice in the pyramid from Ouray County, Colorado, 2015? How can that observation be explained?

Answer 16

large elder population; Ouray County, Colorado is a place of residence for many retirees.