I was recently listening to Tell Me Something I Don’t Know, a podcast hosted by economist and writer Stephen Dubner. One of the guests talked about immigration and its relationship to population growth, which got me thinking – how do economists, data scientists, and others forecast future populations?
An article from Pew Research breaks it down nicely into four factors:
- Fertility rates (how many babies are being born at a given time)
- Mortality rates (how many people are dying at a given time)
- Age profiles (how many and at what age are people currently)
- Migration (how many people have moved into or out of the area you are predicting population for)
Below are a series of maps looking at these four factors. What do these maps tell you about the future of this area? What other indicators could play a role in population change in a given area? Hit us up with your thoughts in the comments section below!