Higher Geography - Describing and explaining population pyramids

Summary

This tutorial instructs on answering exam questions about population structure using Malawi's population pyramid as an example. It emphasizes the importance of describing the age categories and their population sizes, making comparisons, and noting significant changes. The second part focuses on explaining the numbers, attributing high birth rates to factors like agriculture and large families, high infant mortality due to lack of vaccination, and low life expectancy linked to inadequate healthcare. The approach varies for developed countries, where reasons for low birth rates and high life expectancies are discussed.

Takeaways

• 📊 To describe a population pyramid, identify the most common age group and provide an estimate of the population in that category.
• 🔍 Compare different age groups to highlight any significant differences in population size.
• 📉 Note any noticeable changes in population numbers between adjacent age groups, such as a drop in the 30-35 age category.
• 👥 Mention any gender differences in population, such as more females in the 70-74 age group compared to males.
• 🌱 For developing countries like Malawi, high birth rates can be attributed to factors like agriculture requiring a large workforce.
• 🧬 Explain high infant mortality rates with reasons such as lack of vaccination programs.
• 🏥 Point out low life expectancies and high death rates by mentioning limited access to healthcare.
• 🌐 Understand that population pyramids in developed countries will have different structures, with fewer young people and more elderly.
• 📈 In developed countries, provide reasons for low birth rates and high life expectancies, contrasting with developing nations.
• ✍️ When explaining a population pyramid, aim for a range of reasons that account for the observed demographic trends.

Q & A

What is the main focus of the tutorial described in the transcript?

The tutorial focuses on how to answer exam questions related to describing and explaining population structures, using the population pyramid of Malawi as an example.

What are the two parts of the exam question discussed in the transcript?

The two parts of the exam question are to describe the population structure and to explain it.

How does one describe the population structure of a country like Malawi?

To describe the population structure, one should make statements about different age categories, give amounts of people in those categories, and contrast them with others, identifying the most common age group, comparing it with adjacent age groups, and noting any significant changes or gender differences.

What is an example of a descriptive statement for the zero to four age category in Malawi's population pyramid?

The most common age group is found in the zero to four age category, with approximately 3.5 million people.

Why is it important to compare adjacent age groups when describing a population pyramid?

Comparing adjacent age groups helps to highlight changes in population size across different age brackets, which can indicate trends such as high birth rates or infant mortality rates.

What is a notable change in the population pyramid of Malawi that can be pointed out in a descriptive statement?

There is a big drop in the 30 to 35 age category with only roughly two million people, compared to the age group below (30-34) with roughly 2.4 million.

How can one explain the high number of children in the population pyramid of a developing country like Malawi?

One can explain the high number of children by pointing to factors such as high birth rates, which could be due to a large workforce demand in agriculture, as is common in developing countries.

What might account for a drop-off in population between the zero to four and five to nine age groups in Malawi?

A drop-off in population between these age groups could be due to high levels of infant mortality, possibly caused by a lack of vaccination programs or inadequate healthcare.

How does the tutorial suggest explaining the low number of people in the oldest age categories of Malawi's population pyramid?

The tutorial suggests explaining the low number of people in the oldest age categories by pointing to low life expectancies and high death rates, which could be due to limited access to healthcare.

What would be the approach to explaining a population pyramid of a developed country like the United Kingdom?

For a developed country, the approach would involve explaining low birth rates and high life expectancies, which could be due to factors such as better healthcare, lower demand for child labor, and social policies.

What is the significance of making at least four or five descriptive statements when answering a population pyramid question?

Making at least four or five descriptive statements ensures that the response covers key aspects of the population structure, such as the most common age group, notable changes, and gender differences, which are essential for a comprehensive description.

Outlines

00:00

🌟 Describing Population Structure in Exams

This section of the tutorial focuses on how to describe the population structure, using Malawi as a developing country example. The process involves making statements about different age categories, providing rough estimates of population numbers, and contrasting these with other age groups. Key points include identifying the most common age group, making comparisons to adjacent age groups, and noting any significant changes or gender differences within the pyramid. The example given is the zero to four age category in Malawi, which is the most common with approximately 3.5 million people. The tutorial advises not to be overly precise with numbers but to focus on accurately identifying and comparing age groups. It also suggests looking for noticeable changes, such as the drop in the 35 to 39 age category compared to the 30 to 34 age group.

05:01

📚 Explaining Population Pyramids

The second part of the tutorial addresses how to explain the numbers in different age categories of a population pyramid, specifically for Malawi. It emphasizes the need to provide reasons for the observed population structure, such as high birth rates due to the agricultural nature of the workforce and the need for large families to provide labor. The tutorial also points out the importance of explaining high infant mortality rates, which can be attributed to factors like a lack of vaccination programs. Additionally, it discusses the low life expectancy and high death rates in the oldest age groups, suggesting reasons like limited access to healthcare as contributing factors. The section concludes by contrasting these factors with what might be expected in a developed country like the United Kingdom, where the focus would shift to explaining low birth rates and high life expectancies.

Keywords

💡Population Pyramid

A population pyramid, also known as an age-gender-pyramid, is a graphical representation of the age and sex distribution of a population. It is a useful tool for understanding the demographic structure of a country, which can indicate factors such as birth rates, death rates, and the potential workforce. In the video, the population pyramid of Malawi is used as an example to illustrate how to describe and explain the demographic trends, such as a large number of children indicating high birth rates.

💡Describing

Describing in the context of the video refers to the process of making observations and providing details about the population structure as seen in the pyramid. This involves identifying the most common age groups, comparing different age categories, and noting any significant changes or patterns. For example, the script describes the most common age group in Malawi as being zero to four years old.

💡Explaining

Explaining in the video involves providing reasons and justifications for the observed demographic patterns. This could include factors influencing high or low birth rates, infant mortality rates, and life expectancies. The video explains the large number of children in Malawi's population pyramid as a result of high birth rates due to the agricultural nature of the workforce.

💡Developing Country

A developing country is a nation with a lower level of material well-being and lack of certain economic sectors, which typically results in a younger population with high birth rates. Malawi is used as an example of a developing country in the video, where the population pyramid shows a broad base indicating a large number of young people, which is typical for such nations.

💡Age Categories

Age categories are the different age groups into which a population is divided in a pyramid. These categories are essential for analyzing the demographic structure and can highlight trends such as a youthful or aging population. The video script discusses specific age categories like zero to four and five to nine, noting the differences in population numbers within these groups.

💡Gender Difference

Gender difference in the context of the video refers to the variation in population numbers between males and females within the same age category. The script notes a higher number of females in the older age categories in Malawi, which could suggest differences in life expectancy or mortality rates between genders.

💡Infant Mortality

Infant mortality refers to the death of children under one year of age. The video explains a noticeable drop in the population between the zero to four and the five to nine age categories as a reflection of high infant mortality rates in Malawi, which could be due to factors like inadequate healthcare or vaccination programs.

💡Life Expectancy

Life expectancy is a statistical measure of the average time an organism is expected to live, based on the year of its birth. The video uses the term to explain the small number of people in the oldest age categories of Malawi's population pyramid, suggesting a low life expectancy possibly due to limited access to healthcare.

💡Agriculture

Agriculture is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. In the video, it is mentioned as a reason for high birth rates in Malawi, as families may have more children to provide additional labor for non-mechanized farming.

💡Healthcare

Healthcare refers to the maintenance or improvement of health via the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of disease. The video script suggests that limited access to healthcare in Malawi contributes to high infant mortality rates and a low life expectancy, impacting the population structure.

💡Developed World Country

A developed world country, in contrast to a developing country, typically has a higher level of economic development, healthcare, and education. The video contrasts Malawi with a developed country like the United Kingdom, where the population pyramid would show a narrower base with fewer young people and a wider top, indicating an older population with low birth rates and high life expectancies.

Highlights

Tutorial focuses on answering exam questions about population structure, using Malawi's population pyramid as an example.

Describe the population structure by making statements about different age categories and their population amounts.

Contrast the population amounts in different age categories to identify the most common age group.

Estimate the population in the zero to four age category as the most common in Malawi, with approximately 3.5 million people.

Compare the most common age group to the next age group up to highlight differences.

Note a significant drop in the 30 to 35 age category, indicating a change in population structure.

Highlight any noticeable gender differences in the population, such as more females in the 70 to 74 age group.

For developed countries, expect a different population pyramid structure with fewer young people and a wider top.

Explain the numbers in different age categories by providing reasons, such as high birth rates in Malawi.

Cite the non-mechanized agriculture in Malawi as a reason for large families and high birth rates.

Explain the drop-off between zero to four and five to nine age groups with high infant mortality rates.

Mention the lack of vaccination programs contributing to high infant mortality in Malawi.

Point out the few people in the oldest age groups as a reflection of low life expectancy and high death rates.

Highlight the lack of healthcare access in Malawi as a reason for low life expectancy.

For developed countries, focus on explaining low birth rates and high life expectancies.

In an explanation question, aim for six to eight reasons for the differences in population numbers across age groups.

Transcripts

okay in this tutorial we're going to

review how to answer exam questions that

have a focus

on describing and explaining

the population structure

and for this example we're going to use

a population pyramid of a developing

country which in this case is malawi

so there's two parts to this question

that you can see

on the page the first part is to

describe

the population structure and the second

part is to explain

now these two could be separate

questions in their own right where you

are just asked to describe or you're

just asked to explain

and i'll look at both parts to this

question

describing a population structure of any

population pyramid whether it is malawi

or another developing world country or a

developed world country like the united

kingdom involves the same process

you need to make a number of statements

about different age categories

and give amounts of people in those

different age categories and contrast

them with others

so the approach to describing if it was

this particular question would look

something like this

the most common age group is found in

the zero to four age category

with approximately

three and a half million

now that's the first statement that

would get you a mark

why because first of all you've

identified the females as being roughly

1.7

and the male side roughly 1.7 if you

have those two sides together you end up

with about 3.5 million people in malawi

in this age group now you don't have to

be exactly precise but as long as you

are

roughly estimating the amount

reasonably accurately and more

importantly you've identified the male

and the female and put them together

then you've got the accurate

identification of how many people are in

this age group more importantly you've

identified that it's the most common

next thing you might want to do is then

compare it to the one age group up

because this is a useful comparison so

you could then say the age group above

the zero to four the five to nines is

smaller

with only 3.3 million

now that's a once again a rough estimate

calculate of this category

and this category

now you don't want to move your whole

way up the pyramid because this is an 8

mark question you're probably going to

be looking to get four or five marks

based on descriptive statements

you might look to notice anything in the

pyramid where there is a noticeable

change in this case the 35 to 39 has

quite a dramatic difference to the 30 to

34

so we could say there is a big drop

in the 30 to 35 age category with only

roughly two million now that two million

comes from female and male added

together

compared to the age below the 30-34

where there is roughly 2.4 million

okay other key uh suggestions depending

on the pyramid that you're looking at if

you do notice a gender difference so for

example we can see in the 70 to 74 age

group in malawi that there is more

people

in the female age categories than the

male

now it's quite difficult to work out

exactly that difference but you could

say 0.1 million in the 17 to 74 age

group whereas of roughly 0.2 million

in the female age group so it if you do

spot a notable age difference that would

certainly help you pick up one of your

marks

now this is a typical period of malawi

if it's a developed country it's gonna

have a very different structure with the

base being much narrower with fewer

people in the younger age categories the

top of the pyramid is much like to be

much wider it really doesn't however

matter as long as you make four or five

statements

identifying key changes where you notice

something changing noticeably

identifying the most of something and if

there's a particular area where there's

a lot less of something then also

pointing that out as i did with the male

and the female

okay that takes care of the describe the

explain

now that requires you to give reasons

for

the numbers in the different age

categories now because this is malawi

we're dealing with a developing world

country and it's very clear to see that

we have a large number of children in

the older age group so any point that

explains high birth rates in the case of

malawi would be getting you a mark so

for example if you said that most people

in malawi work in agriculture and as

this is non-mechanized in malawi it's

likely they're having large families in

order to provide a workforce to work in

agriculture that would be one mark there

was a range of different areas that you

should have learned when you were

revising this

that will help you explain the high

birth rates

next thing you can do is generally with

countries in the developing world is

often a notable drop-off between zero to

four and the five to nine now this

reflects high levels of infant mortality

and as long as you can explain one or

two reasons for why there's high infant

mortality then you'll also pick up marks

so for example you could say due to a

lack of vaccination programs in

countries like malawi many young die in

the first few years of life which helps

explain why there's a sudden drop in the

age group above the zero to four

the final part to successfully

explaining this population pyramid is

the very few people in the oldest

ages now this reflects a low life

expectancy and reasonably high death

rates

so anything that can help explain that

will get you marks so for example you

could say

there are very few in the oldest age

groups for example the 7074 and this

reflects the lack of health care or

limited access to health care for people

living in malawi and when they get

unwell they're unlikely to be treated or

receive medicine

now all of those are explained factors

which are offering reasons for

high birth rates high infant mortality

rates and low life expectancies

second thing that you have to consider

is if your pyramid's not malawi if it is

a developed world country

for example the united kingdom

your point is going to be very different

in that situation you are going to be

look to give reasons for the low birth

rates

and the reasons for the high life

expectancies

okay so it's well worth noting down in

this case uh four or five marks but if

this was uh simply an explained question

you'd be looking for possibly six to

eight

reasons for the differences in the

number of young children

relatively less in the those age groups

and very few in the old age groups or

indeed if it's the uk the opposite of

that