A newer version of this project is available. See below for other available versions.

Population Pyramid Data and R Script for the US, States, and Counties 1970 - 2017

Principal Investigator(s):  View help for Principal Investigator(s) Nathanael Rosenheim, Texas A&M University

Version:  View help for Version V1

Name File Type Size Last Modified
  ExampleOutput 01/06/2020 05:57:PM
  SupportFiles 01/06/2020 06:17:PM
PopPyramid_US_1970-2017_2019-10-31.R text/x-r-syntax 4.6 KB 01/06/2020 12:55:PM
PopPyramid_US_1970-2017_2019-10-31.csv text/csv 40.9 MB 01/06/2020 12:24:PM
PopPyramid_US_1970-2017_2019-10-31_codebook.pdf application/pdf 112.7 KB 01/06/2020 01:16:PM
PopPyramid_US_1970-2017_2019-10-31_codebook_sample.csv text/csv 2.4 KB 01/06/2020 12:24:PM
ReadMeFirst_Exploring-Population-Pyarmids-2020-01-06.pdf application/pdf 539.4 KB 01/06/2020 12:23:PM

Project Citation: 

Rosenheim, Nathanael. Population Pyramid Data and R Script for the US, States, and Counties 1970 - 2017. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2020-01-06. https://doi.org/10.3886/E117081V1

Project Description

Summary:  View help for Summary Population pyramids provide a way to visualize the age and sex composition of a geographic region, such as a nation, state, or county. A standard population pyramid has two bar charts or histograms, one for the male population and one for the female population. The two charts mirror each other and are divided into 5-year age cohorts. The shape of a population pyramid provide insights into a regions fertility, mortality, and migration patterns. When a region has high fertility and mortality, but low migration the visualization will look like a pyramid. In many regions fertility and mortality have decreased between 1970 and 2017, as people live longer and women have fewer children. With lower fertility and mortality population pyramids are shaped more like a pillar. When interpreting population pyramids for smaller areas (like counties) the most important force that shapes the pyramid is in- and out-migration. (Wang and vom Hofe, 2006, p. 65) For smaller regions population pyramids can have unique shapes.

This data archive provides the resources needed to generate population pyramids for the United States, individual states, and any county within the United States. Population pyramids usually require significant data cleaning and graph making skills to generate one pyramid. With this data archive the data cleaning has been completed and the R script provides reusable code to quickly generate graphs. The final output is an image file with six graphs on one page. The final layout makes it easy to compare changes in population age and sex composition for any state and any county in the US for 1970, 1980, 1990, 2000, 2010, and 2017.

Scope of Project

Subject Terms:  View help for Subject Terms Population; demographic characteristics; rstudio
Geographic Coverage:  View help for Geographic Coverage States, United States, Counties
Time Period(s):  View help for Time Period(s) 1970 – 2017 (1970, 1980, 1990, 2000, 2010, 2017)
Universe:  View help for Universe The United States, State level, and County Level Population totals by 5 year age cohorts and gender
Data Type(s):  View help for Data Type(s) census/enumeration data

Methodology

Unit(s) of Observation:  View help for Unit(s) of Observation Gender, Age Cohort, Year, County within state
Geographic Unit:  View help for Geographic Unit County

Related Publications

Download this project

Published Versions

V2 [2020-01-23]

V1 [2020-01-06]

Export Metadata

Dublin Core

DDI 2.5

Report a Problem

Found a serious problem with the data, such as disclosure risk or copyrighted content? Let us know.

This material is distributed exactly as it arrived from the data depositor. ICPSR has not checked or processed this material. Users should consult the investigator(s) if further information is desired.