Band 8+: The table below gives information related to population growth, average birth per woman, and life expectancy at birth in countries with different income levels in 2002 and 2004. Summarise the information making comparisons where relevant.

The table compares population growth, the average number of births per woman, and life expectancy at birth in high, middle and low income countries in 2002 and 2004.

Overall, population growth and average number of births either fell slightly or remained unchanged in all three groups, while life expectancy at birth rose by a similar amount in each. In addition, low income countries had the highest population growth and birth rate and the lowest life expectancy, whereas high income countries showed the opposite.

Population growth was highest in low income countries, declining from 2.0% to 1.8%. High income countries fell slightly from 0.8% to 0.7%, while middle income countries stayed at 0.9%. Births per woman decreased from 3.9 to 3.7 in low income and from 2.2 to 2.1 in middle income countries, but remained at 1.7 in high income ones.

Life expectancy rose from 78.0 to 78.7 in high, from 69.1 to 70.0 in middle and from 58.1 to 58.8 in low income countries. However, people in low income countries lived about 20 years less than those in high income countries.