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
