IELTS Writing Task 1: pie charts

Several people have asked me about the pie chart question in Cambridge IELTS book 9 (page 76). Click here to see the pie charts, then consider the following questions:

1. Which country has the older population?
2. What trend do both countries have in common?
3. In a 4-paragraph essay, what would each paragraph be about?

I'll continue with this question next week.

Comments

[Zahraa]

Italy has the most older residents in 2000 and 2050.
Both countries have the same mature habitants which from 15-59 years for both years 2000 and 2050.

[Peter]

Dear Simon,

Happy New Year!

I came across the following topic for writing task 2 of general training.

Some think fashion has become too important for young people that this has a negative impact on young people and society. To extent do you agree or disagree?

Unfortunately, my writing results did not appear to be good as expected. I am wondering where I made the mistakes. According to the topic, should I present the opinion on whether fashion has become too important to young people OR just focus on whether its impacts are negative or positive???

Thank you very much.

[minguyen]

Dear Simon,
Happy New Year! And here are my answers:
1. Italy has a larger proportion of elderly.
2. Both countries have an increase in the elderly population.
3. 1st paragraph: paraphrase the question
2nd paragraph: overview, includes ideas in 2 first answers above
3rd paragraph: answer 1 in more details
4th paragraph: answer 2 in more details

[Cindy]

Hi simon,

Happy New Year!!I would like to ask you something about writing task 1:

I have told by my IELTS tutor that the difference of using "in" and "by" to describe years is that "in" is for past or present years while "by" is for future years. Is it correct?

[Nid]

Hi Simon,

Happy New Year!
I have my general IELTS on Jan 18th.
Can you please provide an exercise, on Extended multiple choice listening questions. They are very confusing as the choices are more as compaired to usual multiple choice questions. For instance matching A-G from question with 1 -8 (Answers)

[raja]

1. Italy has more older people in both years.
2. It is interesting that 15-59 yrs population of Yemen in 2000 is similar to projected population of Italy in 2050. And proportion of same age group of italy in 2000 is aalmost similar to projected population of Yemen.
3. Introduction , overview , compare both both countryside in 2000, and 2050

[Aria]

HI Simon and Happy New Year
1- Italy has more elderly people (almost 8 times higher than Yemen)
2- for both countries less population in age group of 15-59 years is predicted.
3- A and B: in one para: "paraphrasing of title" and an overview noting that " Italy has older population"
C: second para: comparison of the increasing slopes in people of 60 years and older between Italy and Yemen.
D: Third para: comparison of predicted number of the youngest age group of 0-14 years old during these period in both countries, with more more significant slop in Yemen.

[Sheen]

Hi Simon,

Happy new year. Your website is so helpful to me and it is the best present for my new year.
I got one question about the writing section. I have heard that for writing, we need to use formal words, such as children instead of kids, while for speaking ,informal words are preferred. Do you think it's correct?

[Viviane]

Hi, Simon!

Happy 2014!

Please, I'd like to ask you if it is acceptable to include an deduction, something that is not mentioned in the picture, just to try to explain why it is being predicted a raise in the amount of elderly people in 2050.

Can I do this in IELTS exam? Or should I focus on only the information in the chart?

Thanks!

[Nick]

Hi,Simon !
happy new year!;)
I'm going to the ielts test on Jaunary 18,2014.
i'm wondering if you have some predictions of the test ?
I feel stressful

[sjm]

Happy New Year All

Peter - you need to respond to the whole question here so you should address both parts. Remember that the test mainly looks at the quality of your language (errors, vocabulary, organisation) so you could have had problems there

Cindy - kind of. However you can use 'in' for the future and also 'by' for the past as well. If you use 'by' for the past we usually use past perfect eg: 'By 1950 the number had quadrupled to 40.'

Viviane - Don't make 'deductions' in Task 1 Academic or try to explain the information. It's not relevant. Just describe what you see.

[Ting]

Hi Simon,

Happy New Year!
I am a student from Taiwan, and here I would like to thank you for providing such a great website to everyone here.I did not buy any textbook for ielts writing and speaking, and only studied your website carefully.

Today I received my result: writing band 7 / speaking band 7.5 (overall band 7)

This was my first time to take ielts, and I am very happy that I passed it!

Thank you so much! This website is really helpful.I am really appreciated it. Thanks again:)

Have a nice weekend!

[ziaul huda]

My introduction-and paraphrase of the question.
The pie charts list the information on different age groups of Yemen and Italy in the year 2000 and predictions for 2050.
It is clear that by far Italy has the largest number of aged people. It is also noticeable that both the nations have a marked increase in the number of elderly people of 15-59 years old.

[Simon]

FROM SIMON:

If you asked a question above, please see sjm's answers - I agree with them. Thanks again sjm.

...

Quick answers to my questions in the lesson:

1) Italy.
2) Both populations are expected to get older (they will have higher proportions of older people in 2050).
3) Introduction, overview, details, details (we need to make a decision about how to group the details into 2 separate paragraphs).

[Shalky]

Hi, Simon and everyone. I'm new in this site. Thank you Simon for your very useful site.

I wrote an essay about these charts, but I'm not sure about how I separated my paragraphs.

The charts illustrate information about the ages of the population of Yemen and Italy and predictions for 2050.

Half of the population by 2000 in Yemen is young people which is 0-14 years. However, Italy had more older population in 2000. Yemen had 46,3% older population in 2000 and this is significantly less in Italy which is 61,6& by the same time. However, it is expected to increase until 57,3% in Yemen by 2050 which will take more than half population.

Young people which are 0-14 years is expected to decrease from 50,1% to 37% in Yemen in 2050. It is predicted to be only 11,5% in Italy by 2050. The population which is 60+years will increase almost twice from 24,1% to 42,3% in Italy by 2050. It will sufficiently more than in Yemen which is expected to be only 5,7%.

It is clear to see from charts that older 57,3% and young 37% will be more in Yemen than in Italy in 2050. Italy will have the population which is 60+ years 42,3% more than in Yemen.

[Shalky]

Hi, Simon once again.

In my essay in the end I didn't put that both populations are expected to get older.

Is it OK or no?

[Seinn]

Hi simon and everyone,
Happy new year!
I would like to ask the difference between usage of 'in' and 'by' for the future like the past .

[Nid]

Hey Nick..
On Jan 18 are you giving general or academic? I will be sitting general exam on 18th Jan. Please share some sources of sample tests...

[Chiao]

Hi, Simon,

I found a hard line graph.

I think it has too many characteristics needed to be mentioned, and that confuses me which one should be in the essay

Can you give me some hint about this?

Here is the graph:

http://thesocietypages.org/graphicsociology/files/2012/11/aging-americans-line-graph.png

Thank you very much

[soye]

Hi Nick,
I have my academic IELTS on 18 January.
I have not done any preparation

[Xuan Lan]

Dear Simon,

This is my answer

The allocated four pie charts illustrate the aging distribution in Yemen and Italy population in 2000 as well as estimate its growth in 2050.

As can be seen obviously from the graphs, the number of Yemen’s residents in working ages has been progressively higher throughout the years at a startling pace, while the reverse is true to Italian.

In 2000, Yemen’s children and juveniles, aging under 14 years old, accounted for a little less than a half of population (50.1%), followed by people in workforce (46.3%). The least group was the elderly with only 3.6%, corresponding to one in ten of 15 to 59-year-old domestic people. Italian population structure showed a relatively different picture with an overwhelming majority aging from 15 to 59 years old. Next comes over 60 year-old residents which made up about a quarter of the total of indigenous people, higher than the remaining group – teenagers and children - by 10%

In 2050, the reverse background of population’s distribution is projected to happen in two above countries. The largest group of people in Yemen and the latter are forecasted to be the 15 to 59 year olds group at 57.3% and under 14 year-old one at 37%. Observing Italian’s pie chart in 2050 does lead to a surprise when the elderly people more than doubled to be equal to working-age category at roughly 45%.

To summarize, there is a differently distinguishing trend and aging fluctuation in population structure of two nations in a period of 50 years duration from 2000 to 2050.

[Nguyen Tuan]

Hi Simon

In my view, we should groups the details by years (2000,2050)

[hasan]

how can i give correct answers in listening & reading as much as possible and also tell me some technique how to pick the right answers.....

[Leo]

Dear Simon,

Orgnization:
P1: what the figure means
P2: common trends for both of the countries
P3: In Yemon, how would the data change in the next 50 years
P4: In Italy, how would the data change in the next 50 years

(167 words)
The pie chart illustrates the accounted distribution of Yemond and Italy population in terms of the ages in 2000 and projectios for 2050.

The data indicate that the proportion of youth population would decrease and that of older people would increase in both countries according to the projection. It is also noticeable that currently, the proportion of older population in Italy, at 24.1%, considerably outweighs that in Yemon (only 3.6). The trend would also favor Italy rather than Yemon 50 years later. However, Yemon has a significantly large youth population currently, at 50.1% in compartion with Italy's figure (only 14.3%).

In Yemon, the porportion of adults would increase by 11% to 57.3% over the 50-years period. On the other hand, there would be a slight increase for the old population from 3.6% to 5.7%.

In Italy, the proportion of adults would drop considerably to 46.2% during the next 50 years. The proportion of elder people is 24.1% in 2000, while that in 2050 would account for 42.3%.

[G]

Dear Simon, here is answer:

The four pie charts illustrate the average ages of population in Yemen and Italy in 2000 as well as the predictions in 2050. Overall, the population in Yemen is younger than Italy all the times and both countries’ trend is going to be older by 2050.
Specifically, in 2000, approximately half of Yemen population was at 0-14 year group, which was roughly three times more than percentage of Italy (14.3%). Closely followed was the 15-59 –year-olds, accounted for 46.3%. And a mere 3.6% of Yemen population was people aged 60 and over. Meanwhile, 15-59 age group dominated in Italy with 61.6% and nearly a quarter was the old people at 60 and over.
Over a 5-decade period, Yemen was expected to be older with the decline of the youngest group to 37% and the expansion of 15-59 year-olds to 57.3%. The 60+ group was projected to go up slightly to 5.7%. Similarly, figures in Italy was estimated to be older but in a different way with the decrease in the percentage of people aged 0-14 and 15-59 with 11.5% and 46.2% respectively. Noticeably, the rate of Italian at the age of 60 and over was predicted to practically double by 2050 to 42.3%.

[Peter Pham]

Dear Simon, I'd like to pose my answer:

The pie charts depict the data of the distribution of population of Yemen and Italy base on ages in 2000 and a prediction for 2050. From a general perspective, while both countries are projected to increase the proportions of the oldest and middle groups, Yemen has a younger population.

Regarding Yemen, in 2000, pre-working-age group accounted for over half of the country's population why the retirement age group constituted only 3.6% and the working-age group stood at 46.3%. Afterwards, 0-14-year-old group is estimated to plunge to 37% while 15-59-year-old group grow to 57.3%, which makes it the largest proportion. THe figure of over-60 people is expected to grow to 5.7% and remain the smallest group.

Turning to Italy, in 2000, in contrast to Yemen, the youngest people accounted for only 14.3% which was the smallest group. On the contrary, working-age people was the biggest contributor with 61.6% and retirement-age people occupied nearly a quarter of the Italian population. The anticipation is that the proportion of 0-14-year-old group will fall to 11.5% and 15-59-year-old group drop to 46.2%. In contrast, the oldest group (plus-60-year-old people) is forecasted to witness a tremendous increase to 42.3% in 2050.