How to Construct a Population Pyramid with PowerPoint

Step-by-Step Population Pyramid Construction with PowerPoint 2007
Data Required: Population distribution for males and females in five-year age groups.
A. Get Population Numbers from the UN Population Division Website
1. Go to the web page of the UN Population Division:
http://www.un.org/esa/population/unpop.htm
2. Choose World Population Prospects: The 2008 Revision — Data Online.
3. Choose Panel 2 Detailed Data.
4. Choose Population by five-year age group and sex in the Select Variables box.
5. Choose the country you want in the Select Country/Region box.
6. Choose medium variant in the Select Variant box.
7. Choose 2010 in both the Select Start Year and Select End Year boxes.
8. Choose Download as .CSV File. This will open the chart in an Excel file.
9. Choose Save, and specify where you want to save the file in your computer. If you get a
warning message concerning the file extension, click OK.
10. Choose Open.
B. Prepare a Data File in Excel 2007
You will have to do some “cleaning up” in Excel before you move the file into PowerPoint. All
the steps described here are carried out using the ribbon under the Home tab.
1. Using the Delete button in the Cells group to the right of the ribbon, delete the following four
columns: Country, Variable, Variant, and Year. Three columns remain: Sex, Age, and Value.
You do this by selecting the columns, clicking on Delete in the Cells group, and selecting
Delete Sheet Columns.
2. Select the three remaining columns. In the Editing group, select Sort and Filter Filter. A
small drop-down arrow will appear at the top of each column.
3. Click on the drop-down arrow in the Sex column, deselect Select All, and select Male. All the
male population in different age groups will be selected.
4. Insert a new worksheet. by going to the Cells group and choosing Insert Insert Sheet.
5. Go back to the original worksheet and select the two columns for age groups and the values
for males, copy them, and paste them at the beginning of the new worksheet. In the column
heads, change Value to Male.
6. Go back to the original worksheet, click on the drop down arrow in the Sex column, deselect
Male, and select Female. All the female population in different age groups is now selected.
7. Copy the one column with the values for females and paste it in the new worksheet to the right
of the column with the values for males. Change the column head from Value to Female.
8. Using a formula, create a new column with the values for males preceded by a minus sign (–).
9. Now you have four columns—the age groups, the male populations in those age groups, the
female populations in those age groups, and the male populations in those age groups
preceeded by a minus sign—ready to copy into PowerPoint.

C. Create a Pyramid in PowerPoint 2007
1. Open a PowerPoint presentation under the Home tab in Normal/Slide view, and either go to
the slide where you want a population pyramid or create a new slide.
2. If the slide is not already in Title and Content layout, click on the Layout button in the Slides
group and choose Title and Content from the popup menu.
3. If your presentation has a Theme or Template that includes background graphics, you will
probably want to turn these off on this slide to make room for your population pyramid:
• Select the Design tab above the Ribbon.
• Click on the box marked Hide Background Graphics in the Background group at the right
of the Ribbon.
4. Click back on the Home tab and click on the chart icon in the middle of the slide (Hint: Look
for a little picture of a vertical bar chart.).
5. In the popup menu, click on the first option in the group of horizontal Bar charts.
6. A chart with placeholder data will appear on the left and a related datasheet will open on the
right in Excel. In the datasheet, copy all the filled cells (not entire columns) from your Excel
file. This includes cells in four columns: the age groups (in the leftmost column), the values
for males, the values for females, and the values for males with minus signs. Select the filled
cells and press Control C. Then go to the Excel datasheet for your PowerPoint slide, place the
cursor in the top left cell, and press Control V.
7. Hide the column for males by selecting it, going to the Cells group, and selecting Format.
From the popup menu, click on the arrow to the right of Hide & Unhide and select Hide
Columns.
8. Make sure the columns for men and women the rows for all age groups are displayed in
your chart (this can be tricky). You can display and hide columns and rows by clicking and
dragging on the line around the cells in the datasheet.
9. Hide and display the Excel spreadsheet linked to your chart: Enlarge the view of your
chart by clicking on the Maximize button at the top right of the PowerPoint screen. Go back to
the Excel spreadsheet by selecting to the Chart Tools: Design tab above the ribbon and
clicking on Edit Data in the Data group.
10. Get rid of the spaces between bars: In your chart, right click on any one of the bars and click
on Format Data Series at the bottom of the popup menu that appears. Drag the arrows to make
Series Overlap 100% (all the way right) and Gap Width 0% (all the way left). Click Close.
11. Get rid of the minus sign on the X-axis:
a. Under the Chart Tools: Layout tab, click on Axes in the Axes group.
b. Hold the cursor over Primary Horizontal Axis and click on More Primary Horizontal Axis
Options at the bottom of the popup menu.
c. In the Format Axis popup menu, go to the list at the left and click on Number.
d. Click on Custom and in the box under Format Code key in #,###;#,###. Click Add and
Close.
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12. Move the labels on the Y-axis to the left-hand side of the graph: Under the Chart Tools:
Layout tab, click on Axes in the Axes group.
a. Hold the cursor over Primary Vertical Axis and click on More Primary Vertical Axis
Options at the bottom of the popup menu.
b. In the Format Axis popup menu, go to the Axis Options pane on the right and click on the
arrow to the right of box next to Axis labels.
c. Select Low and click on Close.
13. Remove the legend box and gridlines: Click once on the legend box and press delete. Click
once on one of the gridlines and press delete.
14. Remove any border or fill around the Plot Area: If there is a border around the chart:
a. Go to the Background group under the Chart Tools: Layout tab and click on Plot Area.
b. Click on None to remove and plot area fill.
c. Click on More Plot Area Options.
d. In the popup menu, click on Border Color and select No line and Close.
15. Change the fonts of your labels: If your age-group labels are too large, only every other one
will be displayed. Change all your labels to Ariel and make them just small enough so that
they all appear.
a. Click once in the Chart Area, but not in the Plot Area.
b. Select the Home tab above the ribbon..
c. In the Font group, select Ariel and choose a size.
16. Make your chart taller and/or remove oldest age groups if you’re having trouble getting
all the labels to appear. You can make your chart taller by clicking and dragging on a corner.
You can also remove the oldest age groups if they are very small and not relevant to your
presentation topic. Go to the Excel file linked to your chart, click on the line around the filled
cells and drag it up to remove the last few rows from your chart.
17. Add a title below the X axis:
a. Go to the Labels group under the Chart Tools: Layout tab and click on Axis Titles.
b. Hold the cursor over Primary Horizontal Axis Title and click on Title Below Axis in the
popup menu.
c. A box will appear under the horizontal axis with the words “Axis Title”.
d. Click and drag over the text in the box and key in “Thousands”.
18. Change the color of specific bars in the
chart to tell your story:
a. Click on the bar(s) you wish to
recolor, press the right mouse key, and
choose Format Data Point from the
bottom of the popup menu.
b. Select Fill from the list at the left of
the next popup menu.
c. From the list at the right, select Solid
Fill, click on the Color box, and
choose a color.
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95–99
90–94
85–89
80–84
75–79
70–74
65–69
60–64
55–59
50–54
45–49
40–44
35–39
30–34
25–29
20–24
15–19
10–14
5–9
0–4
U.S. baby boomers approach retirement age
Men
Women
12,500 10,000 7,500 5,000 2,500 2,500 5,000 7,500 10,000 12,500 15,000
Thousands

19. Add “Men” and “Women”:
Key in “Men” and “Women” in
text boxes, position the boxes at
the left and right of the
pyramid, and group them with
the chart.
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