Demographic statistics
Encyclopedia
Among the kinds of data that national leaders need are the demographic
Demography
Demography is the statistical study of human population. It can be a very general science that can be applied to any kind of dynamic human population, that is, one that changes over time or space...

 statistics
of their population. Records of births, deaths, marriages, immigration and emigration and a regular census of population provide information that is key to making sound decisions about national policy.

A useful summary of such data is the population pyramid
Population pyramid
A population pyramid, also called an age structure diagram, is a graphical illustration that shows the distribution of various age groups in a population , which forms the shape of a pyramid when the population is growing...

. It provides data about the sex and age distribution of the population in an accessible graphical format.

Another summary is called the life table
Life table
In actuarial science, a life table is a table which shows, for each age, what the probability is that a person of that age will die before his or her next birthday...

. For a cohort of persons born in the same year, it traces and projects their life experiences from birth to death. For a given cohort, the proportion expected to survive each year (or decade in an abridged life table) is presented in tabular or graphical form.

The ratio of males to females by age indicates the consequences of differing mortality rates on the sexes. Thus, while values above one are common for newborns, the ratio dwindles until it is well below one for the older population.

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The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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