GENDER STATISTICS

The world’s populations are in varying stages of a demographic transition from high to low rates of mortality and fertility (Bongaarts, 2009). In this process, the age structure gradually shifts toward older ages. Fertility is the principal component driving population dynamics, the other two being mortality and migration. A youth bulge results when decreases in fertility reduce the share of children in the population at a relatively fast rate while the proportion of elderly is still relatively small. Nations undergoing this transition can capitalise on the resulting high labour supply and low dependency rates.