Consequences of population structureFast growing populations

Developing countries like Malawi have different population structures as can be seen in the diagram below:

There is a relatively high number of people under the age of 20 and a low number of people over the age of 60.

This is because many babies are being born and few people live to old age. This means that:

• there is more need for schools and school teachers
• literacy rates are low due to inadequate educational provision
• there is widespread poverty as the population outstrips resources
• there is a lack of services, housing and jobs

The percentage of people aged 15-64 is dropping and the percentage of those aged 0-14 is increasing. This change has been rapid as the table shows. This means Malawi’s dependant population is growing as the working population declines.