ABSTRACT
The ages of various national populations in the world today are very different, and in many countries the present age distribution differs markedly from the past. The oldest populations in the world are found in Northwestern Europe. The youngest populations are found in the underdeveloped countries–those that have not incorporated modern industrial technology in their economies–the populations of Asia, Africa, and Latin America. The effect of fertility on the age distribution is the clearest when a population continuously subject to high fertility is compared to one continuously subject to low fertility. The age distributions of the industrialized countries on the one hand and of the preindustrial countries on the other are ironically mismatched with what each sort of country seems best equipped to accommodate. The industrialized countries have been able to reduce their birth rates without having their populations shrink drastically because they first reduced their death rates.
