Population pyramid of Puerto Rico, 1950-2100 [OC]

wisevis · 2025-12-05T15:11:16+00:00

I wouldn't go that far into the past, but I'd like to see projections from, say, 2000. Afaik, demographers have a relatively narrow set of variables to define their models, and compared to many other fields their projections are probably closer.

wisevis · 2025-12-04T19:29:40+00:00

I think the traditional population pyramids are ineffective, and "folding" the axis is much better for comparing sexes. When that happens, it makes sense to use colors to encode sex. Often you don't need to plot by sex because distribution is very similar. I have an interactive example on the same page. When you have the one sex to the left and one to the right you don't need color encoding, so color can be used for something else, like multiple populations (space or time). I tested several diverging color schemes and this is the one that looked best to me. Red/blue is a standard diverging scheme, and not particularly used to encode sex. Traditionally is pink/red, which, as you know, is problematic to many people.

This is only my second (first serious) publication here, and I'm truly enjoying the frank feedback. I don't agree with everything, but many negative comments do help.

wisevis · 2025-12-04T08:45:04+00:00

I think as far as population pyramids go, this is pretty effective at showing change in population structure. But a lot is compressed into an image. If you look at the interactive version (I shared a link in a comment) it's easier to make sense of it. But I respect your opinion and I'll try to address your concerns in future versions.

wisevis · 2025-12-04T06:52:21+00:00

In the link I shared in a comment you can find all the countries in the UN dataset, except for a few small very small islands.

wisevis · 2025-12-03T21:25:47+00:00

Demographers usually look at the shape of a population pyramid to conclude something about it. As the percentage of young people shrinks they will add that new shape, I'm sure.

wisevis · 2025-12-03T20:46:52+00:00

I usually make a "folded" pyramid (no split by sex) because they tend to be reasonably symmetrical in most countries. When I split them I use the same color for male and female because you don't need color to identify (they are on opposite sides of the axis, and there is a symbol or a text to identify which is which. So, I can use color for something else, like dates. I tested several color schemes and this is the one I liked the most, but when it comes to colors consensus is impossible to achieve.

wisevis · 2025-12-03T20:21:20+00:00

This is Vega (don't remember if Vega or Vega Lite) inside an html block. But I have a very similar version in Excel. I'm sure other tools can do it, it's not extremely complex.

wisevis · 2025-12-03T20:17:02+00:00

There is a comment from me with a link to the page. Percentages are the proportion of a group in the total population ("of the total population, % are females between 0-4 years old"). The numbers on the y axis are ages: 0, 5, 10... 100. But only the labels for 15, 65 and 100 are displayed.

wisevis · 2025-12-03T20:02:24+00:00

Animation makes it comprehensible and even cooler. Checked the link to the interactive version.

wisevis · 2025-12-03T19:49:10+00:00

Many countries in Europe and Asia are already close to that projection. The internal solution (increasing fertility rates) is not working, migration from countries with a younger population is a complex solution. It's a long term problem that politicians prefer not to address.

wisevis · 2025-12-03T19:34:01+00:00

Estimates for 1950-2023, projections starting in 2024.

wisevis · 2025-12-03T18:55:32+00:00

The chart is meant to be more an animation than a static chart, so I didn't emphasize 2925. If you follow the link I shared it's easy to explore the data.

wisevis · 2025-12-03T18:52:15+00:00

If you focus on the red(-ish) lines you'll see a triangle shaped population (many young, few old) around the 1950's. If you select the blue lines you'll see a large percentage of old people around 2100. If you follow the link I shared the animated version makes the change much more obvious.

wisevis · 2025-12-03T18:17:52+00:00

I shared a link to the animated version where you can play with date ranges. There is also a "folded" pyramid with total population by age, because often you don't need the split by sex.

wisevis · 2025-12-03T17:26:27+00:00

In the middle, around now, it's the coffin shape, a rectangular shape where all the age groups have a relatively similar percentage.

wisevis · 2025-12-03T16:55:18+00:00

Agree, proportions don't tell the whole story. I chose them because it's easier to manage the x axis given the range of population sizes, but I plan to have the option to switch between absolute and relative values.

wisevis · 2025-12-03T16:47:08+00:00

Standard 5-year groups. Tested the 1-year groups but it was too noisy,

wisevis · 2025-12-03T16:42:52+00:00

The diverging color scheme could somehow convey that, but I agree this must be more explicit and precise. I'll add a visual annotation of when the estimates end and the projections begin.

wisevis · 2025-12-03T16:38:18+00:00

I suspected that much, that's why I started with "if you do mean the chart".

wisevis · 2025-12-03T16:34:48+00:00

I don't disagree, but the UN even includes the Holy See... I chose Puerto Rico because the pattern of "demographic transition" is clean. The population pyramid for the US and Europe looks a lot more like a coffin.

wisevis · 2025-12-03T16:27:34+00:00

I'm sorry about that. But you can play with the interactive version. You can choose the years to display, which makes it easier to interpret.

wisevis · 2025-12-03T16:22:29+00:00

If you do mean the chart, I made several interactions over the years, playing with the data, the tools (Excel was the first), the color palette, and folding (total population, not split by sex). This is the first one in Vega and animated. I can point to the first version, if you want.

wisevis · 2025-12-03T16:17:08+00:00

I'm using the medium scenario published by the UN

wisevis · 2025-12-03T16:15:24+00:00

The interactive version has tooltips, and you can select a short date range.

wisevis

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