STEP 2: Consider how population number are used
Start by thinking about: what aspects of society use population numbers?
Population numbers are vitally important in how societies and countries for a number of things: the number of schools and teachers needed, higher education, road building,
government services, etc. For example, cities use population numbers and information on housing to know where new roads need to be built. School districts use those same
numbers for people under 18 to plan for opening or closing schools. In the criminal justice system, population numbers are used to estimate the size of a police force, prison
building/closing, and needed juvenile justice facilities, for instance.
STEP 3: Discuss the impact of inaccurate population numbers
Now that you have thought about how countries use population numbers and statistics, like those seen in the video, pick the county from the video and discuss, would
happen in that country if some of those population estimates were off?
How would that impact schools, roads, city governments, criminal justice organizations, and any other civic organization, for example (you don't have to talk about
them, just a few elements of society you think may be impacted)?
What do you think would happen to those elements if the population estimates were "overestimated" or "underestimated"?