(September 04, 2008) Thanks for patiently wading through the descriptions of Population Pyramids over the past week. I am struggling to make the idea simple enough for popular consumption. I think that population distribution maps have the potential to be very useful tools in the development of Recruiting Strategy, among other things.

Now that we have the fundamentals under our belts, let’s talk about the basic shapes. (If the image isn’t visible, click here to see it in a separate window)

For starters, it looks like there are six types of population distribution:

A. Pyramid
This is how societies have typically looked. The foundation of hierarchical thinking. Lots of young people, not too many elders. India, China and some of Africa still look like this.

B. House
This is the transition state. The population is aging, the elders are getting more elderly. A bulge is coming up from the bottom. This is what the baby boom impact looked like as the boomers entered their 30s.

C. Silo
The “mature” culture. Life expectancy extensions and reduced birthrates level the playing field. There are as many elders as youngsters. 080825 Population I