The Importance of Data on the Age and Sex Structure of the Population

The distribution of the population by sex and age is one of the most important demographic groupings. The study of theage and sex structure occupies an important place in demographicstatistics. In the first place, indices of the population'sage and sex structure play an important part in thesystem of indices of the plan for the development of the economicand cultural life of our socialist society. They are usedby planning agencies for assessing the attained level of developmentof the economy and culture of the nation and of its individualregions, for verifying the course of fulfillment of plans, as well as for current and long-term planning. These factorsengender the need to have data on the changing distribution ofthe population by sex and age, as well as similar data calculatedfor the future.