Population Pyramid Maker
Paste five-year age groups with the number or share of males and females and get a population pyramid: males to the left, females to the right, youngest at the base. Switch to a second population to lay its outline over the first, and read the age structure — under-15 and over-65 shares, dependency ratios, sex ratio and median age — underneath. Download the chart as SVG or PNG. Runs entirely in your browser — free, no sign-up.
Five-year groups such as 0–4, 5–9 … 85+, youngest or oldest first. A first line of words names the columns. Separate cells with commas, tabs or semicolons.
Show the data as a table
| Age group | Male | Female |
|---|---|---|
| 0–4 | 2.59 % | 2.47 % |
| 5–9 | 2.76 % | 2.62 % |
| 10–14 | 2.88 % | 2.74 % |
| 15–19 | 2.99 % | 2.84 % |
| 20–24 | 3.35 % | 3.21 % |
| 25–29 | 3.48 % | 3.4 % |
| 30–34 | 3.47 % | 3.42 % |
| 35–39 | 3.35 % | 3.32 % |
| 40–44 | 3.34 % | 3.35 % |
| 45–49 | 3.53 % | 3.58 % |
| 50–54 | 3.65 % | 3.72 % |
| 55–59 | 3.48 % | 3.61 % |
| 60–64 | 3.03 % | 3.22 % |
| 65–69 | 2.54 % | 2.82 % |
| 70–74 | 1.93 % | 2.25 % |
| 75–79 | 1.35 % | 1.78 % |
| 80–84 | 0.86 % | 1.34 % |
| 85+ | 0.54 % | 1.2 % |
Age structure
| Figure | Country A |
|---|---|
| Total population | 95,650 |
| Under 15 | 16.1 % |
| Aged 15–64 | 67.3 % |
| Aged 65 and over | 16.6 % |
| Dependency ratio (per 100 aged 15–64) | 48.5 |
| Youth dependency ratio | 23.9 |
| Old-age dependency ratio | 24.7 |
| Sex ratio (males per 100 females) | 96.5 |
| Median age (years) | 40.8 |
Labels and style
Takes the title out of the image and the gridlines out of the plot, and sets the figure number in bold and the title in italics above the chart — the APA 7 layout.
How to Use the Population Pyramid Maker
- 1. Enter the data. One age group per line: the group, the males, the females —
15–19, 2860, 2720. Youngest-first or oldest-first both work, and a header line such asAge group, Men, Womennames the sides. Spreadsheet columns paste straight in. - 2. Say what the values are. Choose Numbers of people or Percentages of the population. With counts you can draw the pyramid as numbers or convert it to percent of the whole population.
- 3. Compare if you like. Tick the comparison box and paste a second population with the same age groups. It is drawn as an outline over the first, as percent of each population, so countries of different size can be compared fairly.
- 4. Label and export. Edit the title and axis titles, pick a color, show the values if needed, switch on APA style for a paper, and download an SVG or PNG.
How to Read a Population Pyramid
A population pyramid is two back-to-back bar charts. The vertical axis lists age groups, youngest at the bottom, usually in five-year steps. The horizontal axis counts people (or, more usefully for comparing countries, the percentage of the whole population), with males to the left of the centre line and females to the right. The width of each bar is the size of that age and sex group, so the outline shows the age structure at a glance.
- A wide base narrowing quickly (like the outline in the example) means many children and few older people — high birth rates and a young population, typical of fast-growing countries.
- Roughly vertical sides mean each age group is about the same size: a stationary population with low birth and death rates.
- A narrow base and bulge in the middle or top is an ageing population, where the babies of an earlier baby boom are now older and fewer children are being born.
- Notches and bulges point to history — wars, famines, epidemics and baby booms leave dents and swellings that move up the pyramid as the cohorts age.
- Women outnumber men at the top almost everywhere, because women live longer on average.
The Age-Structure Figures
The table under the chart uses the standard definitions. Dependency ratio = (people aged 0–14 plus people aged 65 and over) ÷ people aged 15–64 × 100; its two parts are the youth and old-age dependency ratios. It counts how many people of typically non-working age each 100 people of working age support, which is a rough economic indicator and not a measure of who actually works. Sex ratio is the number of males per 100 females. Median age is the age that splits the population into two equal halves; from grouped data it is found by interpolating within the group where the cumulative share passes 50 %: median = L + ((N/2 − F) ÷ f) × w, where L is the group's lower limit, N the total, F the cumulative number before the group, f the number in the group and w its width.
The two illustrative countries in the tool (not real places)
Country A: 16.1 % under 15, 67.3 % aged 15–64, 16.6 % aged 65 and over. Dependency ratio 48.5, sex ratio 96.5 males per 100 females, median age 40.8 years.
Country B: 39.6 % under 15, 56.6 % aged 15–64, 3.8 % aged 65 and over. Dependency ratio 76.7, mostly children; median age 19.9 years.
Country A's pyramid has the barrel shape of an ageing population; Country B's has the wide base of a young one.
Median age needs a closed top group to interpolate in: if the median falls in an open-ended group such as 85+, the tool says the figure is unavailable instead of guessing. The age-band figures need labels that begin with the age (0–4, 5–9, 85+); with other labels the pyramid is still drawn but the table has no age-band rows.
Frequently Asked Questions
- What is a population pyramid?
- A population pyramid is a chart of a population's age and sex structure: horizontal bars for each age group, males on the left, females on the right, youngest at the bottom. Its shape tells you about birth rates, life expectancy and past events.
- Should I use counts or percentages?
- Use counts to show the size of a single population. Use percentages whenever you compare populations of different size, such as two countries, because then the shapes are comparable. The tool converts counts to percent of the whole population for you.
- How do you calculate the dependency ratio?
- Add the people aged 0–14 and the people aged 65 and over, divide by the number aged 15–64 and multiply by 100. A ratio of 50 means 50 dependants for every 100 people of working age.
- How do you find the median age from age groups?
- Find the group in which the cumulative total passes half the population, then interpolate: lower limit + ((half of the total − people before the group) ÷ people in the group) × group width. The calculator does this for five-year groups and reports when the median is in an open-ended top group.
- Why are the age groups five years wide?
- Five-year groups are the standard for official population data from the United Nations and national statistics offices: they are fine enough to show the shape of the age structure but coarse enough to be reliable. The tool accepts other widths for the picture, but the age-band figures assume groups that start at 0, 5, 10 and so on.
- Where can I find population data by age and sex?
- National statistics offices and census bureaus publish it, as do the United Nations World Population Prospects and the US Census Bureau International Database, which give five-year age groups by sex for most countries. Cite the source and the year of your data.