Sex and age are the basic characteristics or the biological attributes, of any demographic group and affect not only its demographic but also its social, economic and political structure, for they influence birth and death rate, internal and international migration, marital status composition, manpower, the gross national product, planning regarding educational and medical services and housing etc.

This point may be further established with illustrations. From the sex-age distribution of any population, estimates of school-age population may be made and on that basis, one may arrive at an estimate of the number of educational institutions, teachers, playgrounds, text­books, etc., which will be needed.

Similarly, estimates of the number of voters, entrants in the labour force, etc., may also be made. Even in the field of social welfare, the planning of social services for instance, for mothers and children, for the aged, etc. has to be based on the sex-age distribution of the population.

This type of data is also required before any promotional campaigns can be carried out in certain parts of the country, with a view to determining the needs of consumers in quantitative terms.

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Surprisingly enough, the attitude of society towards children, the youth and elderly people is affected by the sex-age distribution of the population.

Population data are invariably classified by sex and age and then made available to data users. All data on fertility, mortality, migration, marital status, and economic characteristics are first presented separately for males and females and are cross-classified according to age.

Sex and age are also very important because they are the “visible, indisputable and convenient indicators of social status.” Each individual is ascribed a certain status in society on the basis of sex and age. Similarly, his/her expected role in the family and society is associated with sex and age.

These are culturally determined and vary from one culture to another. Even within the same culture, they may undergo changes over a period of time.

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It is well-known, for instance, that in the traditional Hindu family, status is accorded on the basis of sex and age; men are more important than women and older persons are more important than younger persons.

In the West, before the industrial revolution, the roles of men and women were well defined and described from birth onwards, in no uncertain terms (“man for the plough and woman for the hearth”).

Today, however, the situation has changed considerably and many women take to gainful employment though men have not taken to housekeeping. This has happened in the large cities of developing countries as well.

In oriental societies the elders continue to be looked up to as storehouses of experience and wisdom, and therefore as advisers and consultants.

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Western societies, however, are marked by “the youth cult” and a “youth- oriented culture” and have little place for the aged, though they have provided elaborate services for their material comforts.

Several instances of how the roles and the status of individuals affect the demographic situation will be cited in the sections that follow.

Sex Structure

Sex is an easily identifiable characteristic and its dichotomous nature presents few problems for classification. The data on sex are also easily obtained.

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For the study of the sex-structure of any population, the following two measures are generally adopted: (1) the percentage of males in the population or masculinity proportion, and (2) the sex ratio. Of these two measures, the latter is more frequently used in the study of population.

The sex ratio of a population may either be expressed as the number of males per 100 females or as the number of females per 100 males.

The present discussion on sex-structure will be based on the former definition of sex ratio, for this is the one that is followed the world over, though the Indian census has preferred to follow the latter definition.

When the sex ratio is defined as the number of males per 100 females, the sex ratio above 100 indicates a high sex ratio, while that below 100 is considered to be a low sex ratio.

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The sex ratio of the total population at a point of time is known as “the overall sex ratio.” According to the 1991 Census in India, the overall sex ratio of the total population was 107.9, that is, there were 107.9 males for every 100 females in India in 1991.

Generally, the over-all sex ratios of the populations of most countries fall within the narrow range of about 95 to 105. Any over-all sex ratio outside this range is considered to be extreme, and is the result of some unusual circumstances, such as heavy war casualties and/or excessive immigration or emigration.

In the most recent available data on sex ratios of some selected developing and developed countries are presented. It may be seen that, in general, the overall sex ratios of the developing countries are on the higher side, while those of the developed countries are below 100.

The sex ratio of the Germany is below 90, while those of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Iran and China have values which exceed 105.