MDC and LDC Populations Worksheet
Demography is the statistical study of human populations, especially with reference to size, density, distribution, and vital statistics (relating to births, deaths, marriages, health and disease, etc). In making population projections for different countries, demographers look at the profile of the countries’ residents. They ask: What are the ages of the people? How many are men? How many are women? Using this information, they construct “population pyramids” (a.k.a. age histograms) like the ones the class will use in this activity. These graphs illustrate the configuration of a country’s population as shaped by 70 to 80 years of economic, political and natural events.
Procedure:
You will find information about the populations of two counties; the Unites States and one other county picked from a list on the last page.
Note you will collect this data and must upload it to the Q&A forum on the class web page BY FRIDAY
Counties Assigned = USA and ____________________________
Log onto the web and go to International Data Base (IDB) part of the www.census.gov site
(The url is http://www.census.gov/population/international/data/idb/informationGateway.php )
Select “Demographic Overview” in the select report drop down menu on the left.
Select the country from the drop down menu on the right and click submit at the bottom of the
page.
Use the data to answer the questions on this page below.
Use your browser to go back one page and change the “select report” drop down menu to
“Population Pyramid Graph”. (Make sure you still have the correct country listed)
Right click on the graph so you can copy it and then past it at the end of this worksheet.
Repeat for your second country.
Using the information from the internet for this year, fill out the tables for both of your countries
| UNITED STATES | fill in country name | |
| What is the Crude Birth Rate? | ||
| What is the Crude Death Rate? | ||
| What is the life expectancy at birth? | ||
| What is the infant mortality rate? | ||
| What is the Total Fertility Rate (FTR)? | ||
| What is the growth rate today? | ||
| What is the doubling time for the population?
(You will have to work this out so look at the population lecture!) Show your math work!
|
Still on the International Data Base (IDB) site
(The url is http://www.census.gov/population/international/data/idb/informationGateway.php )
Select “Population By Five Year Age Groups” in the Select Report drop down menu on the left.
Select the country from the drop down menu on the right and click submit at the bottom of the
page.
Add up the numbers in the “both sexes population” column to find the values needed in the table below. Once you have the population size of each category you can calculate the % of the population made up by that age group using the following calculation:
(Population size for the age group ÷ total population size) X 100 = % of population
Calculate this information and add the results to complete the table below.
Repeat your for second country
| UNITED STATES | fill in country name | ||||
| Age Group | Population size for both Sexes | % of population | Population size for both Sexes | % of population | |
| 0-14 | Pre-Reproductive | Pre-Reproductive | |||
| 15-44 | Reproductive | Reproductive | |||
| 45-80+ | Post-Reproductive | Post-Reproductive | |||
| TOTAL POPULATION SIZE | TOTAL POPULATION SIZE |
Upload ALL of the numbers (the data on page one and page two for the worksheet) you found for your second country to the Q & A forum. You do not need to upload the numbers for the USA.
Once you have looked at all of the data collected by the class answer the following questions
Discussion Questions.
Use the Q&A forum to talk to your classmates and find the answers the following questions.
1. Which 2 countries have the fastest growth rate? Are they MDC’s or LDC’s?
2. Which 2 countries have the slowest growth rate? Are they MDC’s or LDC’s?
3. Which 2 countries have the highest TFR? Are they MDC’s or LDC’s?
4. Which 2 countries have the lowest TFR? Are they MDC’s or LDC’s?
5. Which 2 countries have the largest percentage of pre-reproductive individuals within their population? Are they MDC’s or LDC’s?
6. Which 2 countries have the largest percentage of post-reproductive individuals within their population? Are they MDC’s or LDC’s?
7. Which 2 countries have the longest life expectancy? Are they MDC’s or LDC’s?
8. Which 2 countries have the highest infant mortality rate? Are they MDC’s or LDC’s?
9. What is the relation between the following and population growth rate:
a) Infant mortality rate.
b) % Pre-reproductive individuals.
c) % Post reproductive individuals.
d) TFR
e) MDC’s and LDC’s.
Turn in this worksheet by the due date.
MDC LDC ICA Country List
| Angola
|
Haiti
|
| Australia
|
Japan
|
| Austria
|
Laos
|
| Bangladesh
|
New Zealand
|
| Botswana
|
Niger
|
| Burundi
|
Norway
|
| Cameroon
|
Rwanda
|
| Central African Republic
|
Sudan
|
| Chad
|
Sweden
|
| China
|
Switzerland
|
| Congo
|
Uganda
|
| Cote d’Ivoire
|
Yemen
|
| Denmark
|
Luxembourg
|
| Eritrea | Mozambique
|
| Finland
|
Korea North |