7 - Fertility, Population and Development

Question 1

2050 population

Answer 1

9.6b

Question 2

2010 population

Answer 2

6.892b

Question 3

Structure of world’s population

Answer 3

• Geographic region
• Fertility and mortality trends
• Rate of population increase
• Birth rates, death rates
• Total fertility rates
• Age structure and dependency burdens

Question 4

2050 population growth coming from

Answer 4

Africa

15% –> 22%

Question 5

Rate of population increase

Answer 5

The growth rate of a population, calculated as the natural increase after adjusting for immigration and emigration

Question 6

Natural increase

Answer 6

Difference between the birth rate and the death rate of a given population

Question 7

Net international migration

Answer 7

The excess of persons migrating into a country over those who emigrate from that country

Question 8

Crude birth rate

Answer 8

The number of children born alive each year per 1,000 population

Question 9

Crude death rate

Answer 9

Number of deaths per year per 1000 people

- Fallen significantly in recent years

Question 10

Total fertility rate (TFR)

Answer 10

Number of children that would be born to a woman if she were to live to the end of her childbearing years and bear children in accordance with the prevailing age-specific fertility rates

Question 11

Life expectancy at birth

Answer 11

Number of years a newborn child would live if subjected to the mortality risks prevailing for the population at the time of the child’s birth

• about 12 years greater in developed countries
• gap fallen significantly in recent years

Question 12

Under 5 mortality rate

Answer 12

Deaths among children between birth and 5 years of age per 1,000 live births
- significant progress made

Question 13

Youth dependency ratio

Answer 13

The proportion of young people under age 15 to the working population aged 16 to 64 in a country

Question 14

Momentum of population growth

Answer 14

Phenomenon whereby population continues to increase even after a fall in birth rates because the large existing youthful population expands the population’s base of potential parents

Question 15

Two reasons for momentum of population growth

Answer 15

1) high birth rates cannot be altered overnight

2) age structure of developing countries’ population

Question 16

Demographic transitions:

Answer 16

Process - fertility rates decline to low and stable levels

Pre-industrial society –> modernization –> falling fertility rates

Question 17

Pre-industrial society: “high growth potential stage”

Answer 17

stable/slow growing populations since high birth rates but also high deaths rates

Question 18

Modernisation ‘transitional growth stage’

Answer 18

better public health, diets, incomes, incomes

reductions in mortality and rising life expectancies. Fall in death rates NOT immediately accompanied by falling fertility rates. Leads to rapid population growth

Question 19

Falling fertility rates “incipient decline stage”

Answer 19

falling birth rates, falling death rates leading to little or no population growth

Question 20

Birth rates in developing world considerably higher

Answer 20

• women tend to marry earlier
• more families for given population size
• more years in which to have children

Question 21

1950s/60s death rates fell much more quickly since:

Answer 21

imported effective modern medicine

Question 22

Malthusian population trap

Answer 22

the idea that rising population and diminishing returns to fixed factors (land) result in low levels of living (population trap)

• as population increases each person has less land to work with
• marginal contribution to food production falls

Question 23

Malthus critique:

Answer 23

• Ignores the role and impact of technological progress
• no empirical evidence to support relationship between population growth and levels per capita income
• per capita income is not the principal determinant of population

Question 24

Household theory of fertility

Answer 24

• fertility as a rational response: maximize utility
  
  • first 2 or 3 children “consumer goods”
  • additional children “investment goods”

Question 25

Fertility may be lowered with:

Answer 25

• improved women’s education
• female nonagricultural wage employment
• rise in family income levels
• reduction in infant mortality, better health care
• lowered prices and better information on contraceptives
• subsidy benefits

Question 26

Real problem not population growth but rather:

Answer 26

• underdevelopment
• world resource depletion and environmental destruction
• population distribution
• subordination of women

Question 27

Population growth real problem:

Answer 27

• poverty
• adverse impact on education
• adverse impact on health
• food constraints

Question 28

Consensus:

Answer 28

• population is not the primary cause of lower living levels

- rapid population increase likely to exacerbate various issues

Question 29

Policy approaches

Answer 29

• attend to underlying socioeconomic conditions that impact development
• family planning programs should provide education and technological means to regulate fertility
• Address gender bias, causes of boy preference

Question 30

What developing countries can do:

Answer 30

• Persuasion through education
• Family planning programs
• Address incentives for having children
• Raise socioeconomic status of women
• Increase employment opportunities for women

Question 31

What developed countries can do:

Answer 31

• Adress resource use inequities

- More open migration policies