4.1 Natural Increase Flashcards
Growth of worlds population
- 1750 - estimated to have reached 500 million - due to technological improvements, improved carrying capacity of land
- 1999 - worlds population reached 6 billion - it had only taken 12 years for the worlds population to increased from 5 to 6 billion
- October 2011 - reached 7 billion - another 12 year gap from previous billion - population in 2011 was double of 1967
- 15 Nov 2022 - reached 8 million
What is exponential growth?
- geometric growth - means the population doubles at each stage of growth - 1:2:4:8:16 etc
- this contrasts arithmetic growth - where something grows by the same number each time - 1:2:3:4:5 etc
Population growth in LICs/HICs
- total pop + rate of growth are much higher in LICs than HICs
- high population growth was a feature in HICs in 19th + early 20th century - LICs only since 1950s
Global population growth rate figures
- highest global pop growth rate was in 1960 when it was 2.4% - population explosion
- by the late 1990s, growth rate had fallen to 1.8%
- population numbers didn’t peak until 1980s due to population momentum
What factors have affected population change?
- natural increase or decrease - difference between birth rates + death rates - most countries experience natural increase because of the excess of births over deaths
- crude birth rate (or just birth rate) - number of births per 1000 per year
- crude death rate (death rate) - number of feathers per 1000 per year
- fertility rate - number of live births per 1000 women aged 15-49 years per year
- infant mortality rate - number of deaths of infants under one year of age per 1000 live births per year
Why is crude birth rate only a broad indicator?
only a very broad indicator as it doesn’t take into account the age + sex distribution of the pop
How to calculate natural increase?
Birth rates - death rates
How to calculate population change?
Birth rates - death rates +/- migration
Main reasons given for reduced birth rates?
- more women in labour force - prioritise careers, educated - have other opportunities
- children survive
- family planning accessible
- children don’t need to work - out of cycle of poverty
What is population momentum?
Fewer people having children, but due to big base of population, the population still grows
How might high infant mortality rates influence fertility rates?
- when infant mortality rate are high in a country + many children die before reaching adulthood
- people feel a need to have lots of children to compensate for these expected deaths
How does education help lower fertility rates?
- people are more educated on the use of contraception + birth control
- more people may choose to priorities their careers over having children
- women make more informed choices
- knowledgeable on how to care for babies
How will women following their careers slow down population growth?
- knowledgeable of birth control, greater social awareness, more opportunity for employment -> decreases birth rates
- reducing likelihood of women marrying + increases marriageable age - thereby reducing the amount of children they have
What factors make birth rates vary around the world?
- demographic - mortality rates/infant mortality rates
- accessibility to education for women
- cultural reasons -> e.g. traditions of high reproduction in Africa, Roman Catholic + Muslims oppose artificial birth control
- economic - LICs/MICs -> differences in living standards/ opportunities
- political -> government intervention to control pop growth - pro-natal + anti-natal policies
- age of marriage
- accessibility to birth control
What is the link between development + fertility rates for LICs?
- children are viewed as economic assets because of the work they can do - e.g. farming the family land
- they are also expected to support their parents in old age
What is the link between development + fertility rates for HICs?
- the cost of children - dependency years is a major factor in deciding to start or extend a family, as people in HICs aren’t dependent on having children to work
- economic growth allows higher spending on health, housing, nutrition -> lowering infant mortality/ mortality rates -> reducing fertility rate
- many companies in HICs don’t want to lose valuable female workers -> provides workplace childcare + flexible working hours
Why is crude death rate a relatively weak measurement?
- very generalised measurement as it is heavily influenced by the age structure of the population, which doesn’t necessarily relate to quality of life
- crude death rate is greater in UK than Brazil due to ageing population but the quality of life is much better in the UK
- UK LE 81, DR 9/1000
- Brazil LE 75, DR 6/1000
Cause of deaths in LICs + HICs?
- greater percentage of infectious diseases causing deaths in less economically developed countries
- where as degenerative diseases are the biggest cause of deaths in HICs
- this is a phenomenon called ‘epidemiological transition’ - as countries develop, the ranking of major diseases tends to change from infectious to degenerative
What diseases are most common in LICs?
- choler, tuberculosis, malaria
- treatable through healthcare + medicine -> however access to this is limited in LICs
- e.g. Millenium Village Project in Malawi - 4 healthcare centres
- HIV can be treated if caught early with anti-viral drugs
- Malaria can be treated by medication
What diseases are common in HICs?
- degenerative diseases - relatively incurable
- still a lot of research to be done on causes for some diseases, making prevention + treatment more difficult
Why are death rates higher for women + children in LICs?
- having lots of children from a young age is damaging to a women’s life expectancy
- women take on childcare role + in LICs where there is food insecurity, mothers will prioritise feeding their children, leaving themselves malnourished
- infectious diseases spread quickly - e.g. Cholera
- food insecurity - poor nutrition, weakens immune system -> more likely to catch diseases
What is the difference between malnourishment + undernourishment?
Malnourishment -> lack of proper nutrition, weak immune system
Undernourishment -> a person is unable to acquire enough food to meet daily dietary requirement, will lead to death
How may diet lead to higher death rates?
- HICs have food security + better healthcare + therefore meet the dietary requirements to survive -> could possibly eat too much + not get necessary nutrients
- LICs don’t have food, with many reliant on the land they farm to provide an income for food -> therefore have poor nutrition + deficient immune systems
How does lack of clean water lead to high death rates?
- LICs don’t have enough access to clean water e.g sub Saharan Africa
- 2000 children under 1 die everyday from diarrhoea, dysentery + cholera
- infant mortality most sensitive indicator of this
Access to immunisation programmes in LICs?
- cost of immunisation programmes are very expensive
- accessibility -> difficult to set up/administer in rural areas
- availability of doctors -> doctors pay much greater in urban areas
What is WHO?
- world health organisation
- eradicated smallpox in 1980
How might migration affect diseases spreading?
- migrants might transfer diseases when in a new space
- the population may not be immune to the disease + it will spread quickly
How does war/civil disaster affect death rates?
- high scale - lots of deaths
- Ukraine/russia, Israel/palestine (Gaza strip)
What other factors might influence death rates?
- healthcare
- age structure
- pollution
- alcoholism, smoking, drug abuse
