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Gender in the United States |
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Gender
Analysis
Additional
Findings on Gender
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According
to Census 2000, 281.4 million people were counted in the United States
— 143.4 million of whom were female and 138.1 million male.1
The former made up 50.9 percent of the population, compared with 51.3
percent in 1990.
Information on gender was derived from a question which was asked
of all people. A question on the sex of individuals was included
in all censuses since the first one in 1790.
This report, part of a series that analyzes
population and housing data collected by Census 2000, presents the
number who are male and female in regions, States, counties, and
places of 100,000 or more and highlights comparisons with data from
the 1990 census.2
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Gender Analysis |
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The male population
continued to grow slightly faster than the female population.
Between 1990 and 2000, the male population grew slightly
faster (13.9 percent) than the female population (12.5 percent). The
excess of the female to male population dropped to 5.3 million in
2000, compared with 6.2 million in 1990. This resulted in the male-female
ratio (the number who were male times 100 divided by the number who
were female) increasing from 95.1 in 1990 to 96.3 in 2000.
![Male - Female by decade chart](IMAGES/gender-fig2.gif)
The Male - Female Ratio: 1900 - 2000
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Census 2000
Summary File 1; 1990 Census of Population.The decline in the male-female ratio until 1980 resulted mainly
from the relatively greater reduction in female mortality rates.
The male-female ratio reversed its downward trend between 1980 and
1990 as male death rates declined faster than female rates and as
immigration brought in more men.
Figure 2 shows how male-female ratios fluctuated for every decade
since 1900. From 1900 to 1940, the male-female ratio was above
100, but beginning in 1950, it fell below. Between 1980 and 2000,
the male-female ratio gradually increased.
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The male-female
ratio declined with age after age 24.
![chart of male to female ratio by age groups](IMAGES/gender-fig3.gif)
The Male - Female Ratio by Selected Age Groups:
1990 - 2000
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Census 2000 Summary
File 1; 1990 Census of Population.
Up to age 24, the male-female ratios
were about 105, reflecting the fact that more boys than girls are
born every year and that boys continue to outnumber girls through
early childhood and young adulthood. The male-female ratio dropped
gradually in the working age groups, from 105.1 in the age group 15
to 24 years to 92.2 for the age group 55 to 64 (see Figure 3).3
Among older adults, the male-female ratio fell rapidly, as women increasingly
outnumbered men at older ages and by the age group 85 and over, the
male-female ratio was 40.7.
Male-female ratios increased from 1990 to 2000.
Figure 3 also illustrates changes in the sex composition
by age between 1990 and 2000. In 1990, the number who were male
about equaled the number who were female (a ratio of 99.9) in the
age group 25 to 34. In 2000, the male-female ratio in the age group
25 to 34 increased to 101.8. The age at which the number was almost
equal shifted closer to the age group 35 to 44 in 2000. The largest
increases in the male-female ratios from 1990 to 2000 occurred in
the age group 55 and over. In 2000, the ratio was 92.2 in the age
group 55 to 64 compared with 89.4 in 1990. In the age group 65 to
74, the ratio was 82.3 in 2000 compared with 78.1 in 1990. The greatest
increase in the male-female ratio was in the age group 75 to 84,
where the ratio increased from 59.9 in 1990 to 65.2 in 2000.
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The
relative size of the male and female populations varied by geographic
region.4
Table 1 (click
here to view Table 1) shows that among regions in 2000, the
Northeast had the lowest male-female ratio — 93.5. The Midwest
and South had male-female ratios in 2000 of 96.1 and 95.9, respectively.
The West had the highest male-female ratio, at 99.6, approaching
parity between the sexes. The regional male-female ratios in 2000
follow the same pattern as in 1990.
At the State level in 2000, those who
were female were more numerous than those who were male in all but
seven States: Alaska led the States with the highest male-female
ratio (107.0), followed by Nevada (103.9), Colorado (101.4), Wyoming
(101.2), Hawaii (101.0), Idaho (101.0), and Utah (100.4). All of
these States were in the West. In contrast, the lowest male-female
ratios were recorded in Rhode Island (92.5), Massachusetts (93.0),
and the District of Columbia (89.0).5
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Over the decade,
five States in the West grew at a faster rate than the other States,
with the male population growing slightly faster than the female population.
Over the decade, the West experienced he fastest population
growth at 19.7 percent followed by the South with 17.3 percent. In
the West, the male and female populations grew at about the same rate,
19.8 percent and 19.7 percent, respectively. In the South, the male
population grew by 18.2 percent and the female population by 16.4
percent (see Table
1).
In the five States with the highest percent increase in total population
(Nevada, Arizona, Colorado, Utah, and Idaho), the male population
grew faster than the female population between 1990 and 2000. In the
fastest growing State of Nevada, the male population grew by 66.4
percent and the female population by 66.1 percent. In the second fastest
growing State of Arizona, the male and female populations grew by
41.4 percent and 38.6 percent, respectively. Between 1990 and 2000,
the male population grew faster than the female population in 42 additional
States.
There were only three States (Alaska, California, and Hawaii)
where the female population grew at a faster rate than the male
population. In Alaska, the female population grew by 16 percent
compared with 12 percent for the male population.
In California, the rate of growth was 14 percent for the female
population and 13 percent for the male population. In Hawaii, the
rate of growth for the female and male populations were 11 percent
and 8 percent, respectively.
The only decline in total population over the decade was in the
District of Columbia. The population in the District of Columbia
declined by 6 percent with the male population declining by 5 percent
and the female population by 7 percent.
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![Male to 100 females map of the comterminous United States](IMAGES/gender-fig4.gif)
National
Atlas of the United States®
Source: U.S. Census Database, 2000
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The female
population outnumbered the male population in most counties in 2000.
At the county level, the female population outnumbered the
male population in most counties. Of the 3,141 counties and equivalent
areas, the number of counties with a greater female population was
2,305 representing 73 percent of all counties and equivalent areas.
About 42 percent or 1,315 counties and equivalent areas had male-female
ratios below the U.S. male-female ratio of 96.3.
The counties with low male-female ratios were concentrated in the
Northeast and South. Most States in these regions predominantly
had counties with low male-female ratios, except for a few counties
in upstate New York and the Florida panhandle. The female population
exceeded the male population in all counties in Maine, New Hampshire,
Massachusetts, and Delaware. The female population also exceeded
the male population in most counties in Vermont, Rhode Island, New
Jersey, Alabama, Mississippi, and South Carolina.
In contrast, counties with high male-female ratios were primarily
in the West. All counties in Nevada, Alaska, and Hawaii had male-female
ratios above 100. Other States with the majority of their counties
with high male-female ratios were Idaho, Oregon, and Colorado.
Among the ten places of 100,000 or more with the highest
male-female ratios, half were in California.
Seven of the places of 100,000
or more with the highest male-female ratios were in the West and
three were in the South (see Table 2). Five of these places were
in California: Salinas, Santa Ana, Sunnyvale, Costa Mesa, and Oxnard.
Salinas, California had the highest male-female ratio (113.7), followed
by Fort Lauderdale, Florida (110.0) and Paradise, Nevada (109.1).6
Of the 245 places with a population of 100,000 or more, the male
population exceeded the female population in 44 places.7
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![chart of ten places with highest male to female ratio](IMAGES/gender-tbl2.gif)
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Eight of the places of 100,000 or more with the lowest
male-female ratios were in the South.
Eight of the places of 100,000 or more with the lowest
male-female ratios were in the South. They were New Orleans, Louisiana;
Mobile, Alabama; Baltimore, Maryland; Shreveport, Louisiana; Pembroke
Pines, Florida; Richmond, Virginia; Jackson, Mississippi; and Birmingham,
Alabama. One place was in the Midwest (Gary, Indiana) and one place
was in the Northeast (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania), as shown in
Table 3. Gary, Indiana had the lowest male-female ratio with 84.6,
followed by Birmingham, Alabama (85.7); Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
(86.8); and Jackson, Mississippi (86.9).
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The male-female
ratios of the ten most populous cities varied.
Table 4 illustrates the male-female ratio for the ten largest
cities in 2000. Of the ten largest cities in 2000, the male population
exceeded the female population in three cities: Phoenix, San Diego,
and Dallas. The male and female populations were about equal in Los
Angeles and Houston. Philadelphia and Detroit had the lowest male-female
ratios, at 86.8 and 89.1, respectively. |
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![chart of male to female ratio 1n the ten largest cities](IMAGES/gender-tbl4.gif)
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Additional Findings on Gender |
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At what age
were there almost twice as many women as men?
At age 85, there were about twice as many women as men in
2000 (485,320 compared with 244,874, respectively). This break-point
is 2 years older than in 1990, when there were twice as many women
than men at age 83.
What are the counties with the highest and lowest male-female
ratios?
In 2000, Crowley County, Colorado led the counties with
the highest ratio at 205.4, followed by West Feliciana Parish,
Louisiana (191.1), and Aleutians-East Borough, Alaska (184.8).
In contrast, the county equivalents with the lowest ratio
were independent cities in Virginia. They included: Clifton Forge
city (78.9), Franklin city (79.2), and Williamsburg city (81.4).
All of these counties or county equivalents had populations less
than 16,000.
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Endnotes
1 The
text of this report discusses data for the United States, including
the 50 States and the District of Columbia. Data for the Commonwealth
of Puerto Rico
are shown in Table
1.
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2 1990 populations shown in this report
were originally published in 1990 census reports and do not include
subsequent revisions resulting from boundary or other changes.
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3 Note that comparisons of census
counts can be affected by differences in the completeness of census
coverage between groups being compared. For example, men are usually
covered less completely in the census than women, which would lower
the male-female ratio calculated from census data. The male-female
difference in net coverage tends to be greatest for adults under
age 65, particularly for Blacks or African Americans.
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4 The Northeast region includes Connecticut,
Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania,
Rhode Island, and Vermont. The Midwest includes Illinois, Indiana,
Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota,
Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin. The South includes Alabama,
Arkansas, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Florida,
Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina,
Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and West
Virginia. The West includes Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado,
Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington,
and Wyoming.
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5 Washington, DC is treated as a State
equivalent for statistical purposes.
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6 Paradise, Nevada is a census designated
place and is not legally incorporated.
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7 Census 2000 showed 245 places in
the United States with 100,000 or more population. They included
238 incorporated places (including 4 city-county consolidations)
and 7 census designated places that were not legally incorporated.
For a list of these places by State, see
www.census.gov/population/www/cen2000/phc-t6.html.
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By Denise I. Smith
and Renee E. Spraggins
Adapted from U.S. Census Bureau, Gender:
2000, in Census 2000 Brief Series.
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