1. Population change

Question 1

Diffusion

Answer 1

the spread of a phenomenon over time and space.

Question 2

Carrying capacity

Answer 2

the largest population that the resources of a given environment can support.

Question 3

Demography

Answer 3

the scientific study of human populations.

Question 4

Population momentum

Answer 4

the tendency for population growth to continue beyond the time that replacement level fertility has been achieved, because of a relatively high concentration of people in the child-bearing years. This situation is due to past high fertility rates which results in a large number of young people.

Question 5

Demographic transition

Answer 5

the historical shift of birth and death rates from high to low levels in a population.

Question 6

Crude birth rate (generally referred to as the ‘birth rate’)

Answer 6

the number of births per 1000 population in a given years. It is only a very broad indicator as it does not take into account the age and gender distribution of the population.

Question 7

Crude death rate (generally referred to as the ‘death rate’)

Answer 7

the number of deaths per 1000 population in a given years. Again it is only a broad indicator as it is heavily influenced by the age structure of the population.

Question 8

Rate of natural change

Answer 8

the difference between the birth rate and the death rate.

Question 9

Census

Answer 9

and official periodic count of a population including such information as age, gender, occupation and ethnic origin.

Question 10

Natural decrease

Answer 10

when the number of births is lower than the number of deaths.

Question 11

Immigration

Answer 11

the migration of people into a country from one or a number of other countries.

Question 12

Emigration

Answer 12

the migration of people from a country to one or a number of other countries.

Question 13

Net migration

Answer 13

the difference between immigration and emigration for a particular country.

Question 14

Fertility rate

Answer 14

the number of live births per 1000 women aged 15-49 years in a given year.

Question 15

Total fertility rate

Answer 15

the average number of children that would be born alive to a woman (or group of women) during her lifetime, if she were to pass through her child-bearing years conforming to the age-specific fertility rates of a given year.

Question 16

Replacement level fertility

Answer 16

the level at which each generation has just enough children to replace themselves in the population. Although the level varies for different populations, a total fertility rate of 2.12 children is usually considered as replacement level.

Question 17

Infant mortality rate

Answer 17

the number of deaths of infants under 1 year of age per 1000 live births in a given year.

Question 18

Child mortality rate

Answer 18

the number of deaths of children under 5 years of age per 1000 live births in a given year.

Question 19

Life expectancy

Answer 19

(at birth) the average number of years a person may expect to live when born, assuming past trends continue.

Question 20

Population structure

Answer 20

the composition of a population, the most important elements of which are age and sex.

Question 21

Population pyramid

Answer 21

a bar chart, arranged vertically, that shows the distribution of a population by age and gender.

Question 22

Sex ratio

Answer 22

the number of males per 100 females in a population.

Question 23

Population projection

Answer 23

the prediction of future populations based on the present age-gender structure, and with present rates of fertility, mortality and migration.