Chicago demographics Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Chicago demographics - Assignment Example It is evident that the problem of teen pregnancy is the biggest health issue in Chicago and this necessitates measures to help address this issue. Thus this paper will look at the Chicago demographics, the services offered and their effectiveness; it will then develop a marketing plan for a service/ program to address the problem of teen pregnancy in Chicago. Chicago Demographics Population and ethnic composition Chicago is the largest city in Illinois a state in the US. According to the US census bureau it has nearly 2.7 million residents and this makes it the most populous city in the Midwestern United states and is also ranked the third most populous state in the United States after New York and Los Angeles that are considered the most populated areas (Mackun & Wilson, 2011). Chicago is the headquarters of Cook County (City of Chicago, 2011) which is the second most populous county in the US coming after Los Angeles and California. Chicago is one of the first cities in the world w ith a fast growing population. Its population has continued to grow every year and this can be attributed to the many services that are available to cater for people’s needs in this city. According to the US census Bureau there were 2,695,598 people with a total of 1,045,560 households residing within the city of Chicago (CB, 2010). It is estimated that more than half of the population of the state of Illinois stay in Chicago metropolitan area. The city’s racial composition is 45.0% whites with 31.7% non-Hispanic whites (Forman & Krysan, 2008), 32.9% African American, 5.5% Asian (City Data, 2010). It has a Hispanic population of 28.9%. The population percentage from 2000-2010 stood at -6.9%. Persons under the age of 5 years are 6.5%, under 18 years are, 23.1%, persons 65 years and over are 10.3%, while the female persons percentage is at 51.5% (CB, 2010). The age distribution include below 10 are 15.2% 10s are 13.8% 20s at 18.0%, 30s at 16.6%, 40s at 13.5%, 50s 9.2 %, 60s 6.3% and above 70 at 7.4% (Zllow, 2011). Fig. 1 Races in Chicago Source: http://igpa.uillinois.edu/cas/media/pubs/Forman_Krysan_2008.pdf Education In the Education sector, the percentage of high school graduates in Chicago aged 25 and over stands at 78%, those with a bachelor’s degree or higher and who are 25 years and over stand at 31.7% (CB, 2010). The public schools are governed by Chicago public schools (CPS) while the private schools are run by two religious groups the Catholics and the Lutheran. A look at the marital statuses of people in Chicago reveal 28.27% married, 49.47% never married, 12.69% separated, 3.99% widowed and 5.57% divorced. The median household income 2005-2009 was $46.781 (Sperlings, 2010). Fig.1. Marital Status in Chicago: source: www.census.gov Health Characteristics and problems There exists a wealth of information about the heath characteristics of people in Chicago. Childhood obesity is one of the most prevalent health crisis in Chicago such that the rate of obesity among Chicago children aged 3-7 is very high estimated to be twice the national average for children in the same age group. Adult obesity is most seen in the minority communities (Whitman,