Line Chart-Birth Rates China and the USA

Vocabulary

What do the words in bold below mean? Take some notes on a piece of paper to aid your memory:

The line chart details birth rates for the United States and China from 1920 to 2000. Looking from an overall perspective, it is readily apparent that while birth rates in both nations followed similar trajectories and fell over the period, China’s decline was the most dramatic. The birth rate in the USA was higher for the majority of the period, with two brief exceptions in the first half of the century.

In 1920, the birth rate in the US stood at around 11%, 1% higher than that of China. The pattern for both nations was similar and erratic until around 1930 when there was a surge in China’s birth rate to 15% and a smaller rise in the US to 12%. Birth rates then dropped for the next 15 years, with China reaching a notable low of 5% and the USA dipping to 6%.

The birth rate in China quadrupled over the next few years to a high of 20%, which preceded a steady downturn with minor fluctuations and a data point at around 2% to end the period surveyed. Similarly, birth rates in the US rose, less significantly to approximately 14%, and thereafter experienced a more gradual slump to finish at 7% in 2000.