Old Dependents Case Study

1921:

Young dependents:

This graph is fairly linear. It is to be presumed that this was a time of population growth. It appears that more children were being born, than were dying. The young dependents were the main part of the economy.

Economically active:

This population pyramid is quite simple, there are more economically active people than old dependents and less than the young dependents. They are mostly supporting the young dependents, and forming an economy as the population grows. Around age 27, there is a small dip in the population of males. This is mostly a side effect of WWI, it ended around 3 years ago (when they were 24). That war took a lot of lives from the young men fighting in it causing the dip.

Old dependents:

In this population

Describe how the shapes of the pyramids changed over the years?

^^See above^^

Generally, the graphs got wider as the population grew. Also, more of the population was over 75 each year, indicating that health care got better.

2. What do these changes in shape tell you about the overall age distribution and family size of Canada’s population over these years?

In the past, most people were younger, nowadays it is more evenly spread but the middle-aged are a majority. Family sizes have gone down over the years. In the past the lines below the previous lines were always bigger, meaning that the population was growing (more children). Nowadays, the lower bars are smaller than the ones above them, indicating that the family sizes have gone down.

3. Population pyramids are dynamic graphics in the sense that next year’s pyramid is just this year pyramid with everyone being one year older. In which bar were you in 2014? In which bar will be on 2056? How old will you be then? Where will your children’s bars likely be in 2056?

In 2014, I was in the 10-14 bar and was a young dependent. In 2056, I will be in the 55-59 bar and will be 57. My children will be about 27 and in the 25-29 bar (In Canada, the average age of mother at first birth is 28.5, and the average age difference between husband and wife is 2-3