I'm glad it has 'total' - but for this type of data, I'd prefer it it looked something more like [this](https://www.livepopulation.com/images/chart_sex_ratio_india....) where distribution and total size are both easily viewable

that has its benefits, but you also loose the ability to see the difference between men and women across the distribution. like the ratio at 70+ vs the ratio at 0-4

True - I tried to find an example where it was centered horizontally - but couldn't quickly. Ideally I would like this (ignore the terrible paint job and alpha channel messing things up):

https://imgur.com/B6enQhw

Where you see both volume, distribution, percent, as well as the trendline (white) where you can see how the distribution changes - how the total count changes, and easily understand any data point at any given spot.

That chart actually force me to look at the key multiple times. Perhaps I am tired but I kept wanting to use the top key "female" for the top line within the chart....strange.

The obvious way to make the charts easier to interpret would be to use pink and blue.

Who knows why the author used green and yellow - feels 'blue for a boy and pink for a girl' is outdated and sexist, or just likes green and yellow better, or they're the default from their charting program, or a chosen colour scheme for the blog. But there's no doubt (for readers in the English-speaking world and who knows how many countries) what would be clearer, to the point of hardly needing a key.