5.4 population Flashcards
Define population
total number of people inhabiting a specific area.
3 main factors that impact population
Birth rates
Death rates
Net migration
Define birth rate
how is it expressed
average number of children born in a country each year compared to the total population of an economy
number of births for every 1000 people in the population
Define death rate
the number of people who die each year compared to every 1000 people of the population
Define net migration
measures the difference between the immigration and emigration to and from an economy.
2 cases of net migration
net inward migration
net outward migration
Adv and disadv of net inward migration
increase the working population of the economy
More taxes
cons:
pressure on governments finances as demand for housing, education and welfare increase.
GPD per capita may decrease
May have to spend more on welfare benefits
Adv disadv of net outward migration
Increase in income per capita (if the emigrants send money back home)
HDI may increase
cons:
Loss in taxes
Loss in skilled workers
Factors that influence birth rate
briefly explain each
Living standards - if poor then parents have more kids incase a few die since kids work to produce food, income, etc - birthrates increase. Vice versa
contraception + legalised abortion- reduced birth rates in developed countries - birthrates decrease
Customs - not fashionable to have large families now. birth rates decrease
Religion - some don’t allow the use of contraception and abortion so birth rates increase
Changes in female employment - women don’t want motherhood interfering with career - developed countries - birthrate has reduced
Marriage - people are marrying later - birthrate reduces
Why would people migrate
Living standards - migrate from lower to higher
Emploment/wages - seek better job opportunities.
Climate - Extreme climate countries face more emigration than others
What is overpopulation
A situation where there are too many people and too few resources
What is the dependency ratio
Measures the dependent population to total working population
dependent population/working population
What is the dependent population
Part of the population that is not included in the labour force and hence depends on the labour force to provide goods and services to fulfil their needs and wants.
Analyze a dependent ratio of x
Every working person is not only supporting himself, but also x other people who are not in work
Eg of people in dependent population
Elderly
Children
Stay at home spouses
Prisoners
What happens as dependent ratio increases
Standard of living decreases - One person’s income gets further divided to support the people dependent on him
Even if a person doesn’t have to support dependent population directly, how do they have to indriectly
Have to pay higher taxes so that govt can spend money to support dependent population
What happens if working population is unable to produce enough good and services for the dependent population
Govt will have to import goods which will lead to their BoP becoming unfavourable
What is unerpopulation
Situation where a coutnry doesnt have enoguh human resources to make the best use of its other man made and natural resources
How do govts combat underpopulation
Incentivize families to have children - income support, free childcare, employment policies for more time off, education, etc
May also incentivize the immigraiton of skilled labour
How can govts combat overpoplation
Increase productivity of resources - new tech
4 ways to analyze population structure
Age
Gender
Geographic
Occupational
Define age destribution
Percentage of population in each age group[
Consequences of an ageing population:
High dependence ratio
Increase in demand for products for old people including healthcare.
Opportunity cost - the government will have to spend more on housing, old age welfare schemes etc.
Old people are less mobile and so the economy will be slow to adapt to new technologies.
What do falling birth and deaht rates means
which type of economy
Higher avg age
developed
What do high birth and death rates mean
Lower avg age
Developing, under developed
Define gender distribution
balance of males and females
What is the sex ratio
no. of males to the no. of females
Define gender imbalance
excess of males or females
Some reasons for gender imbalance
Wars killing many young males
Violence towards females (honour killings, rapes)
Sex-specific immigration – more males immigrate to a country looking for work
Consequences of changes in gender dist
having more females will encourage birth rates to rise and increase population growth
more females in employment will increase productivity
more females in education and employment will increase living standards
a more balanced gender distribution can aid better social equality as social attitudes towards women in education and employment become progressive
What is a population pyramid
Diagram that displays the age and gender distribution of an economy.
How does occupation differ in developed vs developed and underdeveloped
Developed - service sector
Underdeveloped - primary sector
Developing - migration from primary to secondary and service
What is an optimal population
output of goods and services per head of the population is maximised
What are the effects of increasing population
Increases size of the real-estate market
Economic growth - high demand
Increased supply of labour
More pressure on scare resources (esp land)
More capital goods
Fall in rate of productivity - too many people working on limited resources means low productivity.
Shift of employment and output from the primary sector towards the services sector
Congestion of urban centres
