Band 9: The pie charts below give information about world population in 1900 and 2000. Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.

The two pie charts illustrate the distribution of the world’s population by region in 1900 and 2000.

Overall, the greatest increases were observed in Africa, the Middle East, and Latin America, while North America and Others remained stable. In contrast, Asia and especially Europe experienced declines over the century.

It is clear that Africa experienced a considerable rise, increasing from 4% in 1900 to 10% in 2000. A similar pattern was seen in the Middle East and North Africa, which accounted for 6% in 2000 compared with none in 1900. Latin America made up 3% in 1900 and expanded to 8% a century later, when the category was described as Latin America and the Caribbean.

By contrast, North America remained unchanged at 5% across both years, and the category of Others also showed no variation, staying constant at 3% in 1900 and 2000. Asia, although still the largest region overall, declined from 60% in 1900 to 54% in 2000. Europe, including Russia, recorded the sharpest decrease, dropping from 25% to 14% over the same period.