Population pyramids are a useful tool for analyzing the population’s age and gender structure. The countries with the rapid population growth have more young people than elderly people. On the contrary, the countries with the slow population growth tend to have a large number of elderly people (Rowntree 23). Sometimes the population pyramids have a very unusual pattern which can be explained only by means of the analysis of the country’s past history and socio-economic development.
For instance, in Figure 1 one can see the population pyramid for Qatar in Southwest Asia. There are much more males than females in this country and the main reason to such unusual demographics is that Qatar is a very wealthy country that attracts thousands of labor immigrants from the nearby countries. Qatar relies on the export of oil and gas and has the 2nd highest GDP per capita in the world (OEC). Unsurprisingly, this small country needs a lot of workers that could work in the oil and gas industry for the low wages.
Figure 1 Qatar’s population pyramid
Source: United States Census Bureau
In the 1990-2000s Qatar’s population grew by approximately 10% a year and it is projected to grow in the next 25 years but at a slower pace. Now immigrants represent 94% of Qatar’s workforce and most of them come from India and Pakistan. Immigrants usually work at low-skilled positions – so perhaps this is the reason why the majority of the immigrants are males. The Qatari government declared several times that they will address the issues of excessive inflow of low-skilled immigrants and unbalanced demographic situation in the next 20 years (Chalabi).
One more country that has an unusual population pyramid is the People’s Republic of China. The pattern was influenced by the different birth control policies and decreased mortality due to the economic and social development in the country since 1950. In 1979, China introduced a “One-Child Policy” in order to slow down the population growth (Kaneda). This is why in Figure 2 one can see that below the 25-34 age cohort there is a reduction in the number of people due to the lower birth rates. Some other factors that influenced such a structure of the population pyramid are urbanization and increased standards of living caused by the economic development. Over half of Chinese population lives in the cities. The biggest cities in China are as follows: Shanghai (23 million), Beijing (19.5 million), Chongqing (13 million), Guangzhou (12 million), Shenzhen (11 million), and Tianjin (11million) (The Economist). In the future, China will face the problem common for the more developed countries – that is the ageing population which will need to be supported by the government and younger people.
Figure 2 China’s population pyramid
Source: United States Census Bureau
In terms of the ageing population, Hungary may serve as an example of a typical European country that has a high level of socio-economic development. In Figure 3 there are three Hungary’s population pyramids for the years 2000, 2025 and 2050 that show how sharply the demographic situation will change in Hungary.
Figure 3 Hungary’s population models in 2000, 2025 and 2050
Source: United States Census Bureau
In 2000, the largest population cohort in Hungary was the 20-25 year old people, and in 50 years there will not be as many young people as today, because the birth rates are already very low and the old-life expectancy keeps gradually growing. At the beginning of the XIX century almost half of Hungary’s population was under 20 years of age and there were much more children than the elderly people. The ratio was 6 children to 1 elderly person. Nowadays, there is almost the same number of children and elderly people, but in 2050 the number of elderly people will be twice the number of children (Hablicsek 2). This is a very typical scenario for a country that has already passed the preindustrial, transitional and industrial stages of the development (Rowntree 24). Now Hungary’s population is more or less stable, but its growth rate has been negative for several years in a row. In 2014, the population growth rate equaled to -0.32. The birth and death rates (per 1,000 people) equaled to 9 and 13 respectively in 2009 (tradingeconomics.com).
In conclusion, Qatar, China and Hungary have to address the demographic challenges which will be mounting up in the future. The population pyramids show that Qatar should think of the effective ways how to restrict the labor immigration and implement the family-friendly policies in order to stimulate the growth of the population and especially the number of females in Qatar. In turn, China and Hungary will have to deal with the complex issue of the ageing population. In China and Hungary, there will be more elderly people than children in 2050. It means that the governments of these two countries will need to search for the financial resources to support the elderly and attract the young foreigners in order to maintain the economic growth.
Works Cited
Chalabi, Mona. Qatar's migrants: how have they changed the country?
The Guardian. 26 September 2013. Web. 2 February 2016
Hablicsek, Laszlo. Demographics of Population Ageing in Hungary.
HCSO Demographic Research Institute. 20-21 February 2004. Web. 2 February 2016
Kaneda, Toshiko. China's Concern Over Population Aging and Health.
Population Reference Bureau. June 2006. Web. 2 February 2016
OEC. Qatar. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 2016. Web. 2 February 2016
Rowntree, L., Lewis, M., Wyckoff, W., Price, M. Globalization and
Diversity: Geography of a Changing World. Pearson Prentice Hall. 4 January 2013. Print.
The Economist. The great sprawl of China. 24 January 2015. Web. 2 February 2016
Trading Economics. Hungary: Birth and Death Rates. 2016. Web. 2 February 2016
United States Census Bureau. Population Pyramids for Qatar, China, Hungary.
2016. Web. 2 February 2016
