Distribution of Age Groups According to Population 



The proportion of the population in school is reasonably uniform 

 among districts grouped according to population (Table 13). However, 

 there is a slight tendency for the proportion of the citizenry under five 

 years of age to increase as population increases, and for those in the age 

 group of 65 and over to decline, on the average. On the other hand, 

 scatter diagrams comparing the number of persons under fifteen and 

 under twenty-five years of age with total population for each district 

 indicate a much smaller deviation from a regression line of best fit for 

 districts having a population vinder 500 than for the more densely 

 populated districts. 



Table 13. Relation Between Total Population of School Districts 

 and the Distribution of Population According to Selected Age Groups.* 



Percent of population in each age group for districts 

 grouped by total population. 



Under 500 to 1,000 to 1,500 to 2,000 to 



500 999 1,499 1,999 2,499 



Number of districts 53 45 33 9** 12 



Percent of population 



in public schools 22.5 22.4 22.9 21.5 22.5 



Age Groups 



Under 5 



5 to 14 



15 to 24 



25 to 64 



65 and over 



Under 15 



Under 25 40.8 42.7 42.4 43.6 43.5 



* Computed from 1960 census. 

 ** Excludes two districts for which the census includes college students. 



It might be assumed that small districts declining in population 

 would have a much smaller proportion of their citizens in the younger 

 age groups than districts experiencing an increase in population. The 

 ninety-eight districts having a population under 1,000 in 1960 were 

 examined to determine this relationship (Table 14). Although the 

 relationship is not significant, there is some tendency for small districts 

 declining in population to have a somewhat smaller proportion of their 

 population under fifteen years of age and a somewhat larger proportion 

 sixty-five and over. By adding the percentages for the first three columns 

 it is noted that districts declining twenty percent or more have 36,9 per- 

 cent of population under twenty-five years of age compared to 44.6 

 percent for districts which increased twenty percent or more in popula- 

 tion. By adding the last two columns to include all over twenty-four 



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