Pick out the main features of this bar chart for your overview, write your report on a 20-minute timer, then compare it with a band-8 model answer.
You should spend about 20 minutes on this task.
The chart below shows the proportion of the population in three age groups in Japan and India in 2020.
Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.
Write at least 150 words.
| Category | Japan | India |
|---|---|---|
| 0–14 | 12% | 26% |
| 15–64 | 59% | 67% |
| 65+ | 29% | 7% |
GoPrep wrote this practice question in the style of the exam. It is not an official IELTS question.
An overview names the main trends or differences in one or two sentences, without numbers. These are the features a strong answer picks out:
Spend the first few minutes planning, then write.
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The bar chart compares the proportion of the population in three age groups, 0–14, 15–64 and 65 and over, in Japan and India in 2020.
Overall, the two countries have very different age structures. Japan has a much older population, whereas India is considerably younger, and in both cases people of working age form the largest group.
The 15–64 group made up the biggest share in both countries, at 59% in Japan and 67% in India, a difference of only 8 percentage points. The most significant contrast lay in the other two categories.
Children aged 0–14 accounted for 26% of the Indian population, more than double the Japanese figure of 12%. By contrast, older people were far more numerous in Japan, where those aged 65 and over represented 29% of the population. In India this group made up just 7%, so Japan's proportion was more than four times higher.
Interestingly, in Japan there were more than twice as many people aged 65 and over as children under 15, while in India children outnumbered older people by almost four to one.
| Phrase | Meaning |
|---|---|
| age structure | the mix of ages in a population |
| aged 65 and over | elderly people |
| working-age population | people of 15–64 |
| a youthful population | many young people |
| ageing population | a population with many old people |
| make up | form a proportion |
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