United States population. The percentage in each age group is given in 

 Table 20. It will be noted that the proportion in those age groups over 50 

 years of age is greater in New Hampshire than in the United States for 

 1950 and for the age groups 40 years and over in 1920. These higher pro- 

 portions of older people is of course compensated by a somewhat lower 

 proportion of the younger age groups in New Hampshire when compared 

 with the United States. 



This phenomenon could be explained either by the exodus of younger 

 people from New Hampshire or by the return of older people to live in re- 

 tirement, or by a combination of both. 



The median age in New Hampshire increased from 29.4 years in 1920 

 to 32.3 in 1950. 



Table 20. The Age Distribution of Population in New Hampshire 

 and the United States for 1920 and 1950 



Comparison of Age Distribution Between Rural-farm 

 and Urban Residents in New Hampshire — 1950 



A useful method of appreciating the age distribution of the State is 

 by means of an age-sex pyramid. Figure 4 is the pyramid for rural-farm 

 population in New Hampshire. A decided decrease in the age groups between 

 20 and 24 years indicates that it is in this age group that the greatest exodus 

 from farms occurs. In comparison, the age-sex pyramid for the urban popu- 

 lation of Figure 5 shows a coincidental increase in the age group 20 to 24, 

 followed by a steady decline in all age groups. 



There is no great difference in the proportion of males and females in 

 the urban population, except in the older groups where females predominate. 

 In the rural-farm population the number of males tends to exceed the num- 

 ber of females in those age groups over 14 years. 



15 



