What Is Age Pyramid? What are the Different Types of Age Pyramids

BY Team Aakash Byju's

A pyramid is a graphical representation that shows the relationship between different organisms at different trophic levels.

Pyramid in Ecology

The age pyramid or population pyramid is the graphical representation of the distribution of a population by age group and gender.

Age Pyramid

The age pyramid is also known as the age-sex pyramid. The age pyramid was first established in the U.S.A in 1874 for a population with a high birth and death rate.

Age Pyramid

The age pyramid contains horizontal histogram bar diagrams.

Structure of Age Pyramid

The length of the horizontal bar represents the number of individuals in the specific age group for the population illustrated.

Males are usually shown on the left side, and females are shown on the right side.

Age pyramids are categorized into three types.

Types of Age Pyramid

These include: - Expansive - Constrictive - Stationary pyramids.

The expansive pyramid shows a larger number of percentages of the population in the younger age groups, usually with each age group smaller in size or proportion than the one born before it.

Expansive Pyramid

It illustrates the lower percentage of young aged people. The birth rate is declining in the constrictive pyramid.

Constrictive Pyramid

A pyramid is called stationary when the share of the population remains constant in different age groups over a period of time.

Stationary Pyramid

It is used to visualize the particular population in an area and determine the overall age distribution of the population.

Importance of Age Pyramids

It is used to compare the differences between an area's male and female populations.

It also shows the number of children and elderly people in an area.