Population Pyramids and Gender

[marginlized]

I was googling around demographics and populations when I discovered https://populationpyramid.net/

The graphics are excellent and the data source is United Nation's Population Division. So apparently accurate.
As background, I offer Wikipedia's definition: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Population_pyramid
And the Economist has this great overview of changing demographics: http://tinyurl.com/lu3nddj

Fascinating comparing countries, etc., etc.

The reason I'm posting this: look at Saudi Arabia, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, and Kuwait. They are quite the anomalies.
Especially when gender imbalances in China or India grab all the headlines, but those don't really register in these charts.

Of course, the Arab Oil countries have smaller populations, but what egregious imbalances. And also not true of other Arab countries like Syria, Iraq, etc. What is going on?

[SheilaT]

1. Very interesting.

Not too long ago I read something -- it may have been an entire book -- which claimed that our fears of world overpopulation are vastly overblown, given that many first world countries have a contracting population. Essentially the only reason the U.S. has a growing population is because of immigration. So this author's thesis was basically, Not to worry. We will soon be allowing many more people in from the countries with growing populations because we'll need them to do a lot of the work that needs to be done.

I think he rather overstates his case, because the declining populations in a relatively small number of countries does seem to be more than offset by those with growing populations. And most demographers see almost no stopping, at best a slowing down of world population.

I'm of the opinion that this planet is already vastly overpopulated, and that there will eventually be a population crash. When it happens and what form it will take I can only make various guesses, but I don't know if it will happen soon enough, or be on a large enough scale, to keep us from totally destroying our planet, making it unlivable.

Added on edit: I just played around a bit more, and discovered that site allows you to project the population pyramids all the way to 2099, and it does project a declining population.

[valerief]

2. It's quite interesting looking at Saudi Arabia in 1950 and now.

Thanks for the link.

[marginlized]

3. SA's gender imbalance begins to show in 1970

It's tempting to think of amniocentesis. But if that were the case, the imbalance would start at the bottom of the pyramid. And the pyramid shows relative gender symmetry up to about 15-20 yrs. Then the "bulge" starts.

The similar "bulge" in Qatar's pyramid starts back in 1955. Well before amniocentesis was developed. And at about 10 years of age.

Oman's appears in 1975. Kuwait's is actually more extreme back in the 1950s.

Ok. My explanation is that working age men are immigrating INTO these countries. And their populations are so small to begin with that immigrant laborers distort these national charts.

[pansypoo53219]

4. but you have to go farther back, what were the ratios when women regularly died due to birth, plague

wars.

[MisterP]

5. a lot of that is migrant labor

ironically many of them South Asian, many literally enslaved