Academic Writing

The purpose of this paper is to examine selected United States demographics, and to compare them with those of two other nations with significantly different population age distributions. You will analyze some of the ways in which these factors impact the social, health, and economic realities of each nation. You will also compare the U.S. with these two countries by applying Modernization Theory to project how each demographic pattern might explain differences in the roles of older people in each country. Go to the homepage of the Population Reference Bureau website at [login to view URL] Click on “browse by Region/Country” in the bar on the right hand side of the page and choose the following three countries, one at a time: United States, China, and Ethiopia. You will find information about each of the countries outlined on their respective pages. Scrutinize this information and compare one country to the other (it will probably be easier to print them off and compare them in hard copy). Now, go to the U.S. Census Bureau international site [login to view URL] and retrieve the population pyramids for each one of the countries, and compare these as well. Then, in a 5-8 page paper: 1. Cut and paste the appropriate population pyramids from the US International Census site into your paper. Your pyramids should show the shape and proportion of various age groups within each population. 2. Identify factors from the statistics listed for each country that you believe are important in determining how people will age in these countries. The statistics listed include a wide variety of factors that clearly impact upon the life of all residents. Explain why you chose each of these factors, using your assigned readings, study notes, and other resources you may wish to add, for support 3. Compare the statistics on these selected factors for each of the three countries. Discuss differences and similarities among them. 4. Interpret your comparisons using Modernization Theory. 5. Picture yourself as a 65 year old living in these countries, and describe how you would see your personal future in each one.