Population Pyramids, Gender Imbalance, and Disease Economics

Population Pyramid Description (2000)

Question: Describe the population pyramid of the country in the year 2000.

Answer Guidelines

• The pyramid exhibits a broad base, a youthful structure, or a broad base and a narrow top.
• It has a tapering or concave shape, showing a significant decline in numbers for each successive age group.
• Further observation or quantification is necessary for the award of full marks, such as: gender differences, fewer 0–4 year old children, similar sizes for 0–19 age groups (or some recent regression), or identifying a high youthful dependency ratio.

Reasons for Gender Imbalances (2025)

Question: Suggest reasons for the gender imbalances in the population pyramid in the year 2025.

Answer Guidelines

The strongest responses are likely to suggest several different reasons for gender imbalances. Males outnumber females in the child, youthful, and working age groups.

• For the 0–19 age groups: Possible reasons for the higher number of males include the number of male babies born and female infanticide (although this is not common in Africa).
• For the working age population (20–65): The relative lack of females may be due to high rates of maternal mortality, perhaps worsened by poor nutrition; a disease (such as HIV/AIDS) causing higher mortality among females than males; and/or migration.
• For age groups over 65 years: Females outnumber males, partly because female life expectancy is usually higher than male life expectancy, and perhaps also because of the loss of males through war or migration during an earlier time period.

Economic Impacts of a Disease

Question: Explain three economic impacts of a disease that you have studied.

Answer Guidelines

The economic impacts involved will depend on the disease selected, but credit should only be given for economic impacts, not social or demographic impacts that are unrelated to economics.

In the case of HIV/AIDS, possible impacts, among others, might include:

• Loss of people in the working age groups, therefore increasing dependency ratios and reducing economic output.
• Reduced productivity for sufferers, leading to a reduction in economic output.
• An increased burden on individual and family finances owing to the costs of medical care, pharmaceutical products, and funerals.
• The early entry into the workforce of children orphaned by the disease.

In each case, marks are awarded for a distinct economic impact, provided it is well-developed and explicitly economic.