Economics Principles & Practices

"Learning About an Occupation"

Introduction
Population trends are important to many groups. Politicians, for example, closely watch population shifts to see how voting patterns may change. Community leaders are interested because increases or decreases in local population impact services such as sanitation, education, crime prevention, and fire protection. Businesses use census data to help determine new plant locations, products and services, and sales territories.

Destination Title: The U.S. Census Bureau's IDB Population Pyramids

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Directions
For this activity, begin at the U.S. Census Bureau's International Database Population Pyramid Web site.

1			Select the United States from the country list. Select "Summary" for the type of output, and select a medium graph size. Select "Submit Query" and print a hard copy of your results. Examine each pyramid. What do you notice about the relationship between the left and right sides for each graph?
2			How does the population in the 15-19 age group change between the first graph and the last?
3			Use your browser's "Back" button to return to the first page. Select "General Information about the IDB" from the bottom of the page. What are the major types of data available in the IDB?
4			Select "Countries Ranked by Total Population." Enter the current year in the box. Select "Rank top 10 countries," and "Submit Query." What countries rank in the top 10 by population?