Population Composition

Elements of Population Composition

Essentially, population composition involves everything and anything that can be labelled within society. The main elements of population composition are age, sex, and ethnicity. Let's break down each of these elements further:

Types of Population Composition

The data from the various characteristics of population composition can be presented in population pyramids. Age structure and sex ratio can be analyzed and mapped across a variety of scales to show patterns within populations.

Age and sex are the two most common elements that are combined in population pyramids. Ultimately, population pyramids are charts that show these factors and therefore show patterns of change within populations, including population growth and population decline.

Population Composition Examples

Within society, population composition is used in a variety of ways.

• Politics – to advise targeted campaigns.
• Science – in research questions and answers.
• Marketing – in advertisement.
• Government and policymakers – preparing for the future.

Population composition can also contribute to viewing any changes in the population. The various factors that makeup population composition (as stated above), can be monitored to see where the shifts in a population have occurred, if any. A worldwide Census is conducted in order to collect the data composition of a population. A Census includes a series of questions regarding yourself that are asked to the public. The data collected tells the government the overall composition of the population. This allows the government to check for any trends and any changes in trends when compared to the previous Census, which can help the government decide how to distribute funding and services across the nation.

Importance of Population Composition

Population composition can allow geographers to portray and analyze populations. As stated earlier, this can be done mostly through data regarding age, sex, and ethnicity, but how is this useful? What is the importance of population composition?

Firstly, it is key for all countries to know their population composition. This is because it can help to organize how much infrastructure and services (such as roads, schools, hospitals, homes, and jobs) the country needs. Essentially, the composition of a population is useful for the purpose of planning for its present needs, but also for future needs.

Age

Age is key in population composition because it has such a large impact on socioeconomic policies. It can allow the government to make decisions regarding the economy. The dependency ratio is used to indicate how much economic stress will occur in a country. Typically, youthful populations are less economically developed, whereas aging populations are more developed. This is because youthful populations have high fertility rates and consequently high numbers of children who do not work. Whereas, in more developed countries due to high-quality services, such as health care, there is a higher life expectancy which means people can remain in the workforce for longer.

Sex

Understanding gender across a population is important for development. This is because, in some countries, gender norms and patriarchal structure exists to the extent that opportunities and lifestyles are completely dependent upon gender. Referring to data regarding the sex ratio of a country can help to navigate social pressures and effects on different genders within a country. Typically, a country with a higher proportion of one gender is likely to suffer more due to these social pressures and factors.

Sex is generally the biological features of a person, which compromise of male and female. Whereas, gender is the expression and how the person identifies. Gender also includes societal norms and structures expected by people within the world.

Ethnicity

Gaining an understanding of ethnicity can help to combat any problems of inequality. Data regarding ethnicity can help identify issues in the economy, particularly in health care. This is because ethnicity can present socioeconomic positions of people, which can affect access to health care. Additionally, racism can affect health care access and quality. It is also important as it can influence sociopolitical factors, particularly in nations that are very ethnically diverse.

Fig 2. A Map Showing the Various Ethnic Groups of Sri Lanka.

Other Factors

The other factors that also contribute to population composition are also significant due to their influence of economic, political, and social factors. For example, education and marital status can impact the economy and politics. Distribution and density can affect the social relationships in society. And, wealth can impact the economy, society, and politics. Each of these elements of population composition does this in different ways. However, through the collection of population composition data, governments can plan ways in which the distribution of wealth, infrastructure, and services is received throughout a population. As well as monitoring the population in general in order to detect if population policies are required. This would be implemented if a population is considered too young, or too old, and therefore impacts the economy of the country.