1.2 Changing population and places

Question 1

Define demography

Answer 1

The study of population dynamics and changes.

Question 2

Key demographic terms

Answer 2

-Crude birth rate (CBR)

-Crude death rate (CDR)

-Natural increase (NI)

-Life expectancy

-Fertility rate

-Infant mortality rate

Question 3

Define crude birth rate (CBR)

Answer 3

The number of live births per 1,000 people per year in a region.

Question 4

Spacial and temporal variations in crude birth rate (CBR)

Answer 4

-In pre-industrial societies, the rate is around 45/1,000/year: today, only a few remaining isolated rainforest tribes have a CBR close to this figure.

-The European average is 11/1,000/year.

-The CBR becomes lower not only on account of falling fertility but also due to increasing life expectancy (which means a higher proportion of each 1,000 people are not of child-bearing age).

Question 5

Define crude death rate (CDR)

Answer 5

The number of deaths per 1,000 people per year in a region (a measure of mortality).

Question 6

Spacial and temporal variations in crude death rate (CDR)

Answer 6

-In pre-industrial societies, the rate is 40–50/1,000/year.

-Today, the European average is 10/1,000/year.

-The CDR can increase due to disasters or disease: in Haiti, in 2010, it rose from 8 to 32/1,000/year on account of a large earthquake.

Question 7

Define natural increase (NI)

Answer 7

-The difference between the CBR and CDR.

-It can be recorded either as the net change per 1,000 people or as a percentage.

Question 8

Spacial and temporal variations in natural increase (NI)

Answer 8

-It is rare for a country’s rate of NI to exceed 3 per cent per annum.

-Youthful migrant populations, such as those found in developing world megacities, have a high rate of NI due to the presence of a large proportion of fertile adults and relatively fewer older people.

Question 9

Define life expectancy

Answer 9

The average number of years a member of a particular society can expect to live.

Question 10

Spacial and temporal variations in life expectancy

Answer 10

-The average world life expectancy is now 71 (in 1960 it was 52).

-In most of Latin America and Asia, the figure is 70 years or higher.

-In 2015, the world’s lowest was 49 in Swaziland; the highest was 84 in Japan (South Korea is predicted to overtake Japan soon, however).

-In most countries, national averages obscure a difference between men and women of around six years (Japan’s female life expectancy is 87; for men it is 81).

Question 11

Define fertility rate

Answer 11

The average number of children a woman gives birth to during her lifetime.

Question 12

Spacial and temporal variations in fertility rate

Answer 12

-Today, most countries have an average fertility rate of three children or fewer, whereas in 1950 the world average was five.

-Fertility has fallen throughout Asia.

-Some sub-Saharan African countries still have a high rate of seven or eight.

Question 13

Define infant mortality rate

Answer 13

The number of deaths of infants under one year old per 1,000 live births per year.

Question 14

Spacial and temportal variations in infant mortality rate

Answer 14

-Globally, estimates of the average rate vary between 42 and 49.

-This uncertainty reflects the difficulties of recording the data in an accurate and consistent way in different states.

-Afghanistan had the world’s highest rate in 2015 (115 per 1,000).

Question 15

Graph showing falling fertility in Asia between 1950 and 2014

Answer 15

Question 16

What does the term ‘population structure’ refer to?

Answer 16

The division of a population into a series of groups according to age and gender.

Question 17

How is population structure shown?

Answer 17

As a population pyramid for a particular historical year.

Question 18

How do population pyramids work?

Answer 18

-People are divided into cohorts (age groups) placed either side of the vertical axis, with males on one side and females on the other.

-The size of each age group can be shown either as an actual number (in thousands or millions) or as a percentage of the total population.

Question 19

Define population structure

Answer 19

The make-up of a population in terms of age, gender, occupation, ethnicity or any other selected criterion.

Question 20

What is a population pyramid?

Answer 20

A type of bar chart used to show the proportion of males and females belonging to different cohorts (age groups) for a place or country.

Question 21

What do population pyramids allow us to see?

Answer 21

-How fertility rates and life expectancy have affected a country or smaller-scale place’s population structure.

-We may also be able to see what the effects of past migration, wars, disasters, economic recessions or epidemics have been on particular age groups, or men and women.

Question 22

Example of how population pyramids can show economic changes

Answer 22

-Most European population pyramids for 2015 show a dip in the number of people aged 40 compared with those aged 45: this reflects a global economic crisis in the early 1970s which led many couples to delay having children.

-As a result, fewer babies were being born in 1975 (the people aged 40 in 2015) compared with 1970 (the people aged 45 in 2015).

Question 23

When comparing the population pyramids of different countries, which important characteristics can be identified to offer clues about their relative levels of economic development?

Answer 23

-Concave sides

-A wide base

-Perpendicular sides

Question 24

What do concave sides indicate on a population pyramid?

Answer 24

-This can indicate low life expectancy and a very high death rate.

-This is because few individuals survive to move from one cohort to the next (but note that concave sides for a city’s population pyramid might be caused by youthful in-migration rather than high mortality).

Question 25

What does a wide base indicate on a population pyramid?

Answer 25

-A relatively high birth rate but low life expectancy.

-As a result, the pyramid narrows rapidly because large numbers of those born are not surviving to reach an older age.

Question 26

What do perpendicular sides indicate on a population pyramid?

Answer 26

-That the majority of those born survive to an old age.

-This indicates a middle- or high-income county.

Question 27

One common feature of most age-sex pyramids is more ___ surviving into the oldest cohorts.

Answer 27

Women than men

Question 28

A population pyramid with annotations that explain irregularities

Answer 28

Question 29

Contrasting population pyramids for a low-income and middle-income country

Answer 29

Question 30

What is the dependancy ratio?

Answer 30

-A shorthand measure that compares the proportion of a population that is economically ‘non-productive’ with the proportion that (in theory) generates wealth.

-In practical terms, the youngest and oldest cohorts are unproductive dependants whereas the middle-aged groups are wealth producers.

Question 31

What does the dependancy ratio express?

Answer 31

The relationship between the active and inactive segments of a society.

Question 32

What formula is used to calculate the dependancy ratio?

Answer 32

Question 33

What does a high dependancy ratio of around 60-70 suggest?

Answer 33

-A lack of balance.

-It indicates that there are relatively high numbers of dependants in comparison with working taxpayers.

Question 34

Why is the dependancy ratio changing in many HICs and emerging economies?

Answer 34

-Because the numbers of retired people is increasing.

-For instance, only 60 per cent of UK citizens are of working age.

Question 35

What do taxes on the wages of working people help pay for in the UK?

Answer 35

The state pensions of the 21 per cent who are retired; the costs of schooling the young; and healthcare costs for both dependent groups.

Question 36

In what country is dependancy predicted to become an even greater challenge?

Answer 36

Japan

Question 37

Graph showing the changing dependent population in Japan between 1950 and 2050 (projected)

Answer 37

Question 38

Why is the dependancy ratio a very crude and potentially unreliable measure?

Answer 38

-The age of 15 is a poor choice of dividing line for youthful dependency: in many countries, young people remain at school or college until later.

-The proportion of women who work and pay taxes that fund services for the elderly varies greatly between countries. This is not to say women who do not undertake salaried work should be classed as ‘dependent’. More often than not, unsalaried working-age women are playing an essential (if unpaid) social and economic role that involves looking after children and managing households.

-Many children in some middle- and low-income countries do not attend school. They work instead, despite United Nations actions to prevent this from happening.

-Many elderly people in developed countries actively create wealth. Many retired people own sizeable assets such as rental properties or company shares, which generate an income. Others continue to work

Question 39

What is the demographic transition model (DTM)?

Answer 39

A generalized attempt to establish linkages between a sequence of population changes occurring over time and the economic development of a country.

Question 40

What happens to CBR and CDR over the years as a country develops economically and the population changes?

Answer 40

They are both lowered. There are many possible reasons for this.

Question 41

What does the DTM show?

Answer 41

How a country’s population changes over time as it develops economically.

Question 42

Describe the different stages of the DTM

Answer 42

Stage 1: Stable small population with a high CBR and high CDR

Stage 2: Rising population with a high CBR and a decreasing CDR (e.g. Niger)

Stage 3: Rising population with a decreasing CBR and a further decreasing CDR (e.g. India)

Stage 4: Stable high population with a low CBR and a low CDR (e.g. USA)

Question 43

Fifth stage of the DTM

Answer 43

-In recent years, a fifth stage has emerged as additional changes to the CBR and CDR have been observed.

-Stage 5- Decreasing population with a CBR lower than the CDR

Question 44

Diagram showing the demographic transition model (DTM)

Answer 44

Question 45

Diagram showing the demographic transition model (DTM)

Answer 45

Question 46

Reasons why CBR falls over time as a country develops

Answer 46

-Emancipation of women

-Political changes

-Compulsory education

-State healthcare

-Secularization

-Materialistic society

-State welfare

-Decline of the family as a unit of production

-

Question 47

Reasons why CDR falls over time as a country develops

Answer 47

-Improved food supply

-Healthcare

-Hygiene, sanitation, and safety

Question 48

Explain why the emancipation of women is a reason for why CBR has fallen over time in many places

Answer 48

Over time, women become more independent and choose to limit their family size, especially if they have career ambitions.

Question 49

Explain why political changes are a reason for why CBR has fallen over time in many places

Answer 49

New laws increasing the age of marriage will reduce the number of births.

Question 50

Explain why compulsory education is a reason for why CBR has fallen over time in many places

Answer 50

Well-educated people understand fully what the consequences of an unwanted pregnancy might be for their lives and careers; they are also aware of the availability of contraception.

Question 51

Explain why state healthcare is a reason for why CBR has fallen over time in many places

Answer 51

Government programmes may try to reduce teenage pregnancy and disease transmission by encouraging use of contraception.

Question 52

Explain why secularization is a reason for why CBR has fallen over time in many places

Answer 52

In some countries, a weakening of religious beliefs has led to changing attitudes towards abortion and birth control.

Question 53

Explain why an increasingly materialistic is a reason for why CBR has fallen over time in many places

Answer 53

In a consumer society, the cost of raising a child grows because of the expense of purchasing clothing, toys, holidays and technology

Question 54

Explain why state welfare is a reason for why CBR has fallen over time in many places

Answer 54

In many countries, people no longer rely on children to care for them in old age because the state provides healthcare and pensions.

Question 55

Explain why the decline of the family as a unit of production is a reason for why CBR has fallen over time in many places

Answer 55

As countries develop, family life is no longer organized around subsistence farming. It may therefore make less economic sense to have many children.

Question 56

Explain why improved food supply is a reason for why CDR has fallen over time in many places

Answer 56

Agricultural revolutions may include (1) the intensification of farming and increased food yields on existing lands and (2) the extensification of production to make use of remoter areas as transport infrastructure improves.

Question 57

Example of how improved food supply is a reason for why CDR has fallen over time in many places

Answer 57

For instance, between 1650 and 1750, important changes were made to crop rotation systems in Europe, allowing additional food to be grown.

Question 58

Explain why healthcare is a reason for why CDR has fallen over time in many places

Answer 58

-Disease prevention and treatments have improved globally.

-Well-planned economies can provide comprehensive care (e.g. the UK’s National Health Service).

-Emergency services/ambulances can provide immediate help for injured people.

Question 59

Example of how healthcare is a reason for why CDR has fallen over time in many places

Answer 59

Immunization against polio has led to its eradication in many states; smallpox has vanished.

Question 60

Explain how hygiene, sanitation, and safety are reasons why CDR has fallen over time in many places

Answer 60

-When sewer systems were installed in nineteenth-century European cities, life expectancy rose.

-Globally, primary school education aims to raise public awareness of the means by which diseases are transmitted.

-Most countries have health and safety laws that regulate many aspects of everyday life, including: road safety and seat-belt use; rules about smoking and alcohol use; fire exits for buildings; safety tests for technology and toys.

-We belong to risk-averse societies.

Question 61

Which falls first in the DTM: the CBR or the CDR?

Answer 61

-The crude death rate falls first (as food supply improves and medicine becomes available).

-Only much later does the crude birth rate fall (when women finally begin to produce fewer children as a result of more progressive cultural, legislative and economic changes in society).

Question 62

Because the CDR falls before the CBR, there is a ___

Answer 62

Time lag between the economically induced fall in CDR and the later fall in CBR, which is governed by cultural and not merely economic changes.

Question 63

Why is it difficult to predict how long the time lag will be between the CDR and the CBR falling?

Answer 63

Different societies vary greatly in terms of their religious and cultural beliefs.

Question 64

Example of place where the demographic transition took a long time

Answer 64

Europe (the entire process took approximately 200 years to complete)

Question 65

Example of a place where the demographic transition was fast

Answer 65

Thailand and China have completed the entire transition more recently in just a few decades.

Question 66

DTM in Africa

Answer 66

-Currently, there is no way of knowing how long fertility will remain high in many African countries and regions.

-That will depend on how strong local resistance to cultural change remains.

-For this reason, population projections for Africa in 2100 range from 2.5 billion to 4 billion people.

-We can predict that all African states will most likely enter stage 3 of the DTM eventually; however, we cannot say when this will happen with much confidence.

Question 67

Case studies for 1.2

Answer 67

-Population change in the UK

-Population change in Bangladesh

-Dhaka- megacity growth

-Militia groups

-The political and environmental causes of Syria’s refugee crisis

Question 68

How did population change in the UK in the 20th century?

Answer 68

Birth rates and death rates fell in the UK during the twentieth century, continuing a trend that dates even further back to the early 1700s.

Question 69

What are the two important phases of population change that stand out during the 1900s?

Answer 69

Phase 1: Before the 1970s

Phase 2: Since the 1970s

Question 70

Why did population grow in the UK before the 1970s?

Answer 70

There was a positive, though gradually declining, rate of natural increase.

Question 71

Population change in the UK before the 1970s

Answer 71

-Population was still growing due to natural increase.

-The death rate had been falling since the 1800s, thanks to major improvements in food supply, health and hygiene.

-This trend continued during the early decades of the 1900s, bringing the death rate to its current low level by mid-century.

-However, it took until the 1970s, and the end of a post-Second World War ‘baby boom’, for the declining birth rate to reach the same low level as the death rate, finally bringing natural increase largely to a halt.

Question 72

When is the UK viewed as having entered stage 4 of the DTM?

Answer 72

Low growth in the 1930s means that the UK is widely viewed as having entered stage 4 then, rather than in the 1970s.

Question 73

How much did the population of the UK grow between 1901 and 1970?

Answer 73

The total population grew by 17 million.

Question 74

Graph showing changes in the CBR and CDR in the UK, 1700 to present

Answer 74

Question 75

In the UK in the 1980s and 1990s, population increased more ___

Answer 75

Slowly

Question 76

In the UK, what has caused the new population growth in recent years?

Answer 76

Immigration and people living longer (the number of over-80s will double from 3 to 6 million between 2010 and 2030).

Question 77

CDR and CBR in the UK since the 1970s

Answer 77

-Both the death rate and the birth rate have remained at a low and constant level.

-As a result, family sizes are small while life expectancy keeps creeping ever upwards, thanks to science and medicine.

-However, the birth rate began to creep upwards again a few years ago.

Question 78

Why has the birth rate began to creep upwards again a few years ago in the UK?

Answer 78

-This is partly on account of the very large numbers of migrant women of child-bearing age currently living in the UK (a third of all new births are registered to foreign nationals).

-Also, more older women who have postponed having children are now managing successfully to have children at a later age, thanks to improved fertility treatments.

Question 79

Summary of population growth in the UK since the 1970s

Answer 79

Total population grew by 10 million between 1971 and 2017, with migration and migrant births playing an increasingly important role.

Question 80

The UK’s population pyramid, 2001 (outline) and 2012

Answer 80

Question 81

Regional variations in the UK’s population structure

Answer 81

-Regionally, there are noticeable variations in the UK’s population structure, fertility rate and life expectancy.

-The highest life expectancy is found in the Isle of Purbeck, where women now live on average to the age of 87.

-In contrast, male life expectancy in the city of Glasgow is 72.

Question 82

What is the green revolution?

Answer 82

A period when the productivity of global agriculture increased greatly as a result of new technologies including fertilizers and selectively bred high-yield crops.

Question 83

Define replacement level

Answer 83

The fertility rate required to maintain a population at its current size.

Question 84

Overview of recent demographic changes in Bangladesh

Answer 84

-Bangladesh is well on the way to completing its demographic transition: the country is very close to entering stage 4 of the DTM.

-Between 1990 and 2010, life expectancy rose by 10 years, from 59 to 69 (the UK reached this figure in 1949).

Question 85

Why has life expectancy risen in Bangladesh in recent years?

Answer 85

-In part, this is due to improved healthcare and reduced infant mortality.

-Also, the famines which some Asian countries once suffered from have become a thing of the past, thanks largely to modern agricultural techniques and the green revolution.

Question 86

What has been the most striking demographic trend in Bangladesh?

Answer 86

The way that fertility has plummeted in just 30 year.

Question 87

Why have fertility rates fallen in Bangladesh?

Answer 87

Since independence in 1971, Bangladesh’s government has adopted policies that have helped bring this about without coercion.

Question 88

Examples of government policies in Bangladesh that helped bring about a decrease in fertility rate without coercion.

Answer 88

-Government employees and volunteers have worked tirelessly to distribute free contraceptive pills and advice across the entire country: in 1975, 8 per cent of women of child-bearing age were using contraception (or had partners who were); in 2010 the number was over 60 per cent.

-The proportion of girls who are schooled has increased over the same time period.

-Family planning, education and changing social attitudes have empowered women by giving them greater autonomy. As a result, more women have decided to follow careers and have delayed having children.

Question 89

What was the result of government policies in Bangladesh to reduce fertility rates?

Answer 89

-The result is a fertility rate that fell rapidly by 2.9 from 1975 to 1993.

Question 90

Graphs showing changes in fertility rate and life expectancy for Bangladesh

Answer 90

Question 91

Bangladesh’s population pyramid in 1950, 2010, and 2050 (projected). Age groups are shown as a percentage of the total population.

Answer 91

Question 92

Give an overview of the consequences of megacity growth

Answer 92

-Urban growth on a very large scale can help provide a wide range of work opportunities for new migrants and established megacity residents.

-However, it may give rise to potentially insurmountable social and environmental challenges too.

Question 93

Give two examples of developing world megacities

Answer 93

Mumbai and Karachi

Question 94

How will the aspirations of young people change as wealth grows in developing countries and emerging economies

Answer 94

More young rural people will develop aspirations beyond agriculture.

Question 95

What changes will continued growth of Mumbai, Karachi, and other megacities bring?

Answer 95

-Continued growth of these and other megacities is inevitable.

-As wealth grows in developing countries and emerging economies, more young rural folk will develop aspirations beyond agriculture.

-Continued arrivals of large numbers of new people threaten the sustainability of these places, however.

Question 96

Rapid megacity growth driven by rural-urban migration in Mumbai

Answer 96

-India’s Mumbai urban area is now home to around 23 million people, having more than doubled in size since 1970.

-People flock there from the impoverished rural states of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.

-Urban employment

-Dharavi is a slum housing area in Mumbai.

Question 97

Urban development in Mumbai

Answer 97

-Urban employment covers a range of sectors and skill levels. Global brands like Hilton and Starbucks are present in Mumbai.

-In retail areas, like Colaba Causeway, large numbers of people work selling goods to the country’s rising middle class.

Question 98

Dharavi slum housing area in Mumbai

Answer 98

-It has a buoyant economy: 5,000 people are employed in its plastics recycling industries.

-However, rising land prices across Mumbai mean there is great pressure to redevelop this and other slum areas.

Question 99

Rapid megacity growth driven by rural-urban migration in Karachi (city in Pakistan)

Answer 99

-Approximately 24 million people lived in Karachi in 2015, making it the most highly populated city in Pakistan and one of the world’s five most populous megacities (Tokyo is the largest).

-This colossal megacity is Pakistan’s centre of finance, industry and trade. People flock to the city for work from rural areas all over Pakistan, including the Sindh and Punjab provinces.

Question 100

Employment opportunities in Karachi

Answer 100

Once living there, rural–urban migrants can find formal or informal employment in a range of industrial sectors including shipping, banking, retailing and manufacturing.

Question 101

What are the three interrelated goals that city managers must pursue if they are to provide for sustainable urban living?

Answer 101

-Providing work and economic opportunities for millions of people

-Achieving long-term holistic environmental management (land, water, air)

-Safeguarding the quality of life of different groups of people (housing and schools)

Question 102

Examples of top-down strategies that can help deliver one or all of the goals that city managers must pursue if they are to provide for sustainable urban living

Answer 102

This includes robust policies for job creation, such as the establishment of Special Economic Zones (SEZs) where low tax rates are used to attract foreign investors and promote industrial growth.

Question 103

Costs and benefits of SEZs in Jakarta (Indonesia) and Shenzhen (China)

Answer 103

-EZs in Jakarta (Indonesia) and Shenzhen (China) have made these megacities magnets for investment and migration.

-However, they have also given rise to ‘overheating’ problems, including traffic congestion and air pollution (dubbed ‘airpocalypse’ in China).

Question 104

What is a Special Economic Zone (SEZ)?

Answer 104

A part of a city or country where business tax and trading laws are more liberal than those found in the rest of the state, for the purposes of stimulating investment and industrial activity.

Question 105

How has China accommodated rural-urban migration?

Answer 105

By planning and constructing new housing and cities on an enormous scale.

Question 106

Describe the presence of megacities in China

Answer 106

There are 6 megacities in China

Question 107

Struggles of housing policies in growing megacities

Answer 107

-Even the best-planned housing policies can struggle to match demand with supply in megacities where hundreds of thousands of new arrivals are added to the population annually.

-Housing shortages are especially acute in the African megacities of Lagos and Kinshasa, where many people live in slums.

Question 108

Diagram showing the three interconnected goals for sustainable megacity management

Answer 108

Question 109

Examples of bottom-up urban community development strategies that may also play an important role in megacity management

Answer 109

-Poor migrant communities in Lagos, Nigeria must take ‘bottom-up’ steps to improve their local environment and access to housing by themselves without much state support.

-As a result, squatter settlements have grown throughout Lagos.

-They are densely populated owing to the shortage of available housing and land.

Question 110

Slum settlement of Makoko in Lagos

Answer 110

-In the case of Makoko, a slum settlement on the edge of Lagos Lagoon, makeshift homes have been built above the water on stilts.

-People use materials like tin sheets and wooden planks.

-They have also reclaimed land from the lagoon using waste materials and sawdust to create new islands for building on.

-The population of Makoko is 86,000 people

Question 111

Where do most people in Makoko work?

Answer 111

-Most people make a living in the informal economy, including fishing.

-This goes back to Makoko’s origins as a fishing village outside Lagos: as the city grew it has been swallowed up in the urban area.

Question 112

What is Dhaka?

Answer 112

Capital of Bangladesh

Question 113

Statistic showing the rapid population growth in Dhaka, Bangladesh

Answer 113

-Between 1990 and 2005, the city doubled in size from 6 to 12 million.

Question 114

Overview of the challenges for Dhaka as a megacity

Answer 114

Half of Dhaka’s population lives in slums, many of which have grown in unsafe areas beside rail lines, along riverbanks, and in swampy and disease-ridden areas.

Question 115

Employment and job opportunities in Dhaka

Answer 115

-According to one report titled The Megacity of the Poor, about 70 percent of Dhaka’s households earn less than US$170 per month; many take home less than half that.

-Many migrants arriving in Dhaka will work for low pay in the country’s textile industry, which is its largest economic sector. Foreign TNCs have flocked to Dhaka in recent years.

Question 116

Health and safety concerns at workplaces in Bangladesh

Answer 116

There has been international concern over standards of health and safety at work in Bangladesh following the highly publicized collapse of the Rana Plaza factory in 2011, which led to the deaths of over one thousand workers.

Question 117

Why do rural migrants continue to come to Dhaka, even with all of its problems?

Answer 117

-They believe – rightly or wrongly – that life there will be an improvement on the village they have left behind.

-The Bhola district, for instance, is located in southern Bangladesh. This region is vulnerable to climate change.

-Migration is seen as a potential adaptation strategy to the heightened risk of flooding.

-Women migrate in especially large numbers: a distinct Bhola slum has developed in Dhaka.

Question 118

Explain how migration is seen as a potential adaptation strategy to the heightened risk of flooding in Bangladesh

Answer 118

-Some people have abandoned the area altogether. In other cases, families are attempting to relocate to higher or better-drained land.

-To meet the costs of moving, it becomes necessary for some household members to migrate to urban areas.

-There, they work and send money home as remittances to help their family adapt.

Question 119

What issues does Dhaka’s government have to be concerned with in addition to population and slum growth?

Answer 119

-Recently, the city has been a target for terrorists (in 2016, 20 people were shot dead in a restaurant).

-The city is also very vulnerable to flooding during the monsoon season (April–July). The 1988, 1998, and 2004 floods were particularly severe and brought large economic losses.

Question 120

Despite all the challenges in Dhaka, it is also the ___

Answer 120

Crucial growth engine for an emerging economy.

Question 121

Example of a conflict that generated a large number of internally displaced people

Answer 121

In 2016, the conflict in Syria, which started in 2011, had generated 5 million refugees and 6 million IDPs; half of those affected were children.

Question 122

What is a refugee?

Answer 122

A person who has been forced to leave his or her country in order to escape war, persecution, or natural disaster.

Question 123

What are internally displaced people (IDPs)?

Answer 123

People who have found shelter in another part of their country after being forced to flee their homes.

Question 124

Statistic about refugees and IDPs

Answer 124

-The global total of displaced people now exceeds 60 million.

-Of these, around 40 million are internally displaced and 20 million are refugees.

Question 125

What are the overarching causes of forced migration?

Answer 125

-Conflict

-Land grabbing

-Climate change

Question 126

Explain how conflict can be a cause of forced migration

Answer 126

-Between 1945 and 1970, most previously colonized African countries finally gained their freedom from European rule and became independent states.

-In the decades since then, widespread geopolitical instability within many of these newly independent countries has led to the widespread forced migration of people.

-Today, there are over 2 million refugees scattered across Africa.

-Large numbers are living in Chad, Kenya, and Sudan; significant source countries include Somalia, Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), and Angola.

Question 127

What is land grabbing?

Answer 127

An economic injustice that involves the acquisition of large areas of land in developing countries by domestic governments and individuals, and MNCs.

Question 128

Explain how land grabbing can be a cause of forced migration

Answer 128

-In some instances, the land is simply seized from vulnerable groups by powerful forces and not paid for.

-Indigenous groups, such as subsistence farming communities, may have no actual legal claim to their ancestral land.

-They sometimes lack the literacy and education needed to defend their rights in a court of law.

Question 129

Example of land grabbing

Answer 129

Amazonian rainforest tribes losing their land to logging companies.

Question 130

Explain how climate change can be a cause of forced migration

Answer 130

-Climate change acts to intensify rural poverty and conflict in some countries.

-Movers who might previously have been classed as economic migrants become refugees due to an increasingly hostile environment.

Question 131

Example of how climate change can cause forced migration (Horn of Africa)

Answer 131

Since 1990, millions of refugees have moved to escape drought in the Horn of Africa; many have moved from Somalia and Ethiopia into neighbouring Kenya.

Question 132

Define desertification

Answer 132

The intensification or extensification of arid, desert-like conditions.

Question 133

What different groups can face the consequences of forced migration?

Answer 133

-Migrants

-Neighboring countries

-HICs

Question 134

Forced to flee their homes, IDPs and refugees suffer ___ and ___ losses

Answer 134

Economic and social

Question 135

Example of economic losses that IDPs and refugees face

Answer 135

In many camps, adults are left unable to work; there are simply no opportunities to make a living.

Question 136

Example of social losses that IDPs and refugees face

Answer 136

-Children may cease to be schooled: this has highly damaging long-term impacts for these individuals and their societies. According to one estimate, half of all forced migrants are aged under 17 and as many as 90 percent no longer receive any education or satisfactory schooling.

-Life in refugee camps can be very tough for vulnerable groups, including the elderly, the very young, and women

-Psychological impacts

Question 137

Psychological problems that IDPs and refugees face

Answer 137

-Many refugees who have escaped horrific conditions continue to suffer trauma long afterward as a result.

-This includes large numbers of people who were forced to fight as child soldiers in Sierra Leone and DRC in the 1990s.

Question 138

Consequences of forced migration on neighbor states

Answer 138

-The majority of refugees do not attempt an ambitious long journey to a distant developed country. Instead, they travel no further than the nearest state neighboring their home country.

-For families with young children and sick, injured, or elderly relatives, it is easy to see why this is the case.

-This puts enormous pressure on states with the largest numbers of refugees, such as Turkey (where over 2 million Syrians now live).

Question 139

Example of refugees coming into Europe

Answer 139

-Since 2006, rising numbers of refugees from North Africa and the Middle East have attempted to reach Europe by crossing the Mediterranean in unsafe fishing boats.

-By 2016, an estimated one million people had attempted the crossing, including many refugees of varying faiths and ethnicities from Syria and poor, war-torn African nations like Somalia, Eritrea, and Ethiopia.

Question 140

What issues have arisen for European countries as a result of the mass movement of refugees and IDPs?

Answer 140

-Financial costs

-Social problems and acceptance

-EU coastguards struggling to deal with deaths

Question 141

Explain how EU coastguards struggle to deal with IDP and refugee deaths

Answer 141

-EU coastguards have struggled to prevent deaths at sea in the Mediterranean.

-Around 800 people died when a boat capsized in rough seas off the Italian coast near Lampedusa in April 2015.

-By the end of the same year, around 3,700 people had died in similar circumstances.

Question 142

Financial costs of IDPs and refugees for Europe

Answer 142

It is estimated to cost US$20,000 a year to cater to the needs of one recently arrived refugee who may be recovering from severe physical or psychological harm.

Question 143

Why do European countries take in refugees?

Answer 143

-All EU states – along with most other countries – are obliged to take in refugees, irrespective of whatever economic migration rules exist.

-This is because they have signed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), which guarantees all genuine refugees the right to seek and enjoy asylum from persecution.

Question 144

Social impacts of refugees on Europe

Answer 144

-Although the number of refugees granted asylum in 2015 amounted to less than 0.1 percent of the EU’s population, many European citizens are unhappy with what they view as a high number.

-It has become an emotive and increasingly divisive issue that divides communities and affects people’s voting behavior in elections.

-The debate intensified after a suicide bomber in the Paris attacks of December 2015 was identified as a Syrian refugee who had traveled to France via Greece.

Question 145

Positive impacts of forced migrants on HICs

Answer 145

In the longer term, many forced migrants will find employment and will contribute to the economy of the states that have granted them refuge.

Question 146

How does the UN provide protection to refugees?

Answer 146

-The Refugee Convention (1951) and Convention relating to Stateless Persons (1954)

-The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)

Question 147

The Refugee Convention (1951)

Answer 147

-The 1951 Refugee Convention is the key legal document that forms the basis of all UN work in support of refugees.

-Signed by 144 states, it defines the term ‘refugee’ and outlines the rights of refugees, as well as the legal obligations of states to protect them.

-The core principle is ‘non-refoulement’.

-This means that refugees should not be returned to a country where they face serious threats to their life or freedom.

-This is now a core rule of international law.

Question 148

The 1954 Convention relating to Stateless Persons

Answer 148

This was designed to ensure that stateless people enjoy a minimum set of human rights. It established human rights and minimum standards of treatment for stateless people, including the right to education, employment, and housing.

Question 149

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)

Answer 149

-UNHCR serves as the ‘guardian’ of the 1951 Refugee Convention and other associated international laws and agreements.

-It has a mandate to protect refugees, stateless people, and people displaced internally.

-On a daily basis, it helps millions of people worldwide at a cost of around US$5 billion annually.

-UNHCR works often with the UN’s World Health Organization (WHO) to provide camps, shelter, food, and medicine to people who have fled the conflict.

-UNHCR also monitors compliance with the international refugee system.

Question 150

Describe the presence of militia groups since 2000

Answer 150

-Since 2000, destabilizing militia groups have arisen in numerous local contexts, including al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula and the Taliban in Afghanistan.

-Daesh (or IS) wages its so-called jihad against all other religions.

-Its soldiers have pursued a strategy of annihilating minority communities including Christian Assyrians, Kurds, Shabaks, Turkmens, and Yazidis.

-Many people have become refugees.

Question 151

What is a militia group?

Answer 151

-An armed non-official or informal military force raised by members of civil society.

-Militia groups may be characterized as either freedom fighters or terrorists in varying political contexts, or by different observers.

Question 152

Example of a militia group

Answer 152

-Boko Haram

-The Boko Haram militia group has gained notoriety on account of its brutal actions in Borno state in Nigeria and in neighboring Niger.

-‘Boko Haram’ translates loosely as ‘Western education is forbidden’.

-The militants are strongly opposed to what they see as the spread of Western culture, among which they include the culture of gender equality.

Question 153

Examples of action by Boko Haram

Answer 153

-In 2014, 200 Nigerian schoolgirls were abducted by the Boko Haram militant group.

-Other targets have included the police, students, the media, churchgoers, and ordinary civilians.

Question 154

What is life like for people who have found shelter in UN IDP camps? (as a result of the Boko Haram militia group)

Answer 154

-Life remains tough for people to even when they have found shelter in United Nations IDP camps.

-Human Rights Watch is a civil society organization (CSO) that has documented the rape of women and girls living in IDP camps in Maiduguri, in northeast Nigeria.

-Camp dwellers also live in constant fear of further attacks from Boko Haram.

Question 155

In recent years, ___ has become the world’s largest source region for refugees.

Answer 155

The Middle East

Question 156

Political causes of Syria’s refugee crisis

Answer 156

-The current crisis in Syria began when rebel groups demanded the resignation of Syria’s ruling President Bashar al-Assad in 2011.

-The EU and USA initially supported some rebels but by 2015 found themselves bombing Daesh in Syria, effectively acting alongside Assad’s forces. Russia and Saudi Arabia have provided funding for rival armies of groups, fuelling the conflict further.

Question 157

Where have Syrian refugees fled to since the crisis began?

Answer 157

The majority have fled to Turkey, Lebanon, and Jordan (rather than EU states)

Question 158

Environmental causes of Syria’s refugee crisis

Answer 158

-US security analysts based at the Pentagon have in part attributed Syria’s refugee crisis to desertification.

-From 2006 to 2011, large areas of Syria suffered an extreme drought that, according to scientists, was exacerbated by climate change.

-The drought lead to increased poverty and relocation to urban areas.

-In turn, rising unemployment in cities triggered unrest and conflict.

Question 159

How were young girls affected by China’s one-child policy?

Answer 159

Young girls in China were abandoned in nurseries due to the prefernce for having boys as a result of the One-Child Policy, which has led to them having no legal status and a lack of opportunities for education, healthcare, etc.

Question 160

How may different groups of people be affected by pro-natalist policies?

Answer 160

-Parents have increased parental leave

-Children get better education due to government pension

-Children are given better food, clothes, etc. due to checks given to parents

-Women can enter the workplace

Question 161

Explain why some countries need to introduce policies for their aging population + give an example (UK & Japan)

Answer 161

-There may be concerns about the number of government funds available to pay state pensions, so a country might raise the retirement age to save money.

-For example, this is the reason why the UK has increased the retirement age from 65 to 66, with further increases to 67 and 68 planned for the future.

-There may be a lack of care workers for the large proportion of elderly people, requiring a change in policy.

-In Japan, robots called “carebots” have been introduced to take care of and comfort elderly people.

Question 162

Social incentives to increase fertility rates (pro-natalist policy)

Answer 162

-In 2019, Hungary put in place a series of measures designed to raise the fertility rate.

-One of these was the plan to construct 21,000 day-care centers by 2022, in the hope of improving parents’ access to nurseries for their children.

Question 163

Arguments for and against the statement that governments in HICs are more successful at enforcing population policies than governments in LIC

Answer 163

-HICs have a greater capability of offering financial incentives than LICs. LICs that struggle with high infertility rates often find it difficult to introduce strategies such as family planning due to a lack of funding or the necessity to change cultural norms.

-Generally, though, HICs have not been successful in achieving their desired outcomes of increased fertility rates. South Korea’s financial incentives, for instance, have not enticed people to have children.

-Some LICs have been successful at reducing fertility rates via population policies, but instead through policies that provide equal access to education for girls.

Question 164

What does the DTM show?

Answer 164

How a country’s population changes over time as it develops economically.