Friday, November 7, 2008

Population Structures


The structure of a population describes the relative numbers of people with similar characteristics within a population, for example, age groups, sex, ethnicity. The structure of a population shows how the subgroups within it affect its composition and characteristics. For example, it shows the percentages making up the different age groups of the population.


Population structure changes over time as people age, but also because of births, deaths and migration. Changes to social, environmental and economic conditions can also influence population structure. For example, changes in migration reflect a number of these factors and have different effects on different age groups.


The interrelationship between population, society, economics and the environment defines a population’s future size and make-up.

Population size can refer to the total number of people living within a defined area, or it can refer to a group of people from a defined area who have similar characteristics (eg children aged 0 to 4 years, people of Asian ethnicities, people who live in two-bedroom houses, people who live in Mangere or in the Southland region).