Explain the distribution of Age-Sex.

Age-Sex Distribution:

In a population the individuals vary in age and functional aspects are highly dependent on age e.g. women can bear children only up to a certain age or that older people have higher mortality rates as compared to younger people. The age-sex distribution in India reveals that

• Birth rates have been high in the recent past and the population mainly comprises of young people. Since these people are capable of reproduction the population could be expected to rise sharply.
• The number of people approaching old age is small and so number of deaths over a period would be small. Thus when births take place at a high pace and deaths are relatively low, the population could attain a high growth rate.

The rate of infant mortality along with death rate provides important information to statisticians and is given by:

Infant Mortality (%)

= (No. of Infant Deaths / No. of Live Births) X 100

Similarly, along with birth rates the Total Fertility Rates (TFR) and replacement level are important to be studied. The TFR is the total number of children a woman can be expected to bear in a given population if birth rate is constant. The replacement level is the number of children a couple must bear to replace themselves. However, with the presence of these factors also it is difficult for a demographer to future population trend. This is because the rates get influenced by war, famine, migration, disasters etc.