Core 1 Flashcards
Define trend
A general direction in which something is developing or changing
Define pattern
A repeating sequence of something
Define crude birth rate
Number of live births per 1,000 people in a population per year
Reasons for high birth rates
● primary based economy (more children are needed for labor)
● traditional female role (in some cultures, women’s jobs are only to have babies)
● lack of education (some women don’t know about contraceptives)
● need for children caring for elderly (some societies want the children to take care of the elderly in their old ages)
● large families (in some countries, having a large family is traditional)
● pro-natalist policies (the government wants to increase the birth rate)
● High IMR (infant mortality rate)
Reasons for low birth rates
● Availability of contraceptives (people have sex without unplanned babies)
● Good education (people know how to use contraceptives and what’s best for them)
● Low IMR/CMR (less infants and children dying means women don’t need to have more children to compensate for the children that they would’ve had if the IMR/CMRs were higher)
● By delaying marriage, the amount of time for the increasing in wealth for the child increases. This therefore will mean that by the time the child comes the money is more sufficient and there is no need for a couple to have more children to support themselves.
● Developed economy (instead of a primary-based economy where children are needed for labor, a secondary, tertiary, or even quaternary based economy doesn’t require children. Also, families make more money in their own jobs. This also makes children more expensive in society).
● Better care for dependents (children aren’t needed to care for their elders).
Define natural increase
The difference between the number of live births and the number of deaths during the year.
(crude birth rate minus crudge death rate)
Define crude death rate
Number of deaths per 1000 people in a population per year.
Reasons for high death rates
War Natural disasters like earthquakes, volcanoes, droughts and floods Disease Poor medical care Shortage of clean water and poor hygiene Unhealthy lifestyle
Reasons for low death rates
Improved medical care Immunisation programmes e.g. Small pox Clean and reliable water supply Improved diet (higher calorific intake and healthier diet) Improved sanitation and hygiene Improved exercise
Define infant mortality rate
Crude death rate of infants less than one year of age per 1000 live births a year.
Define child mortality rate
Crude death rate of children below the age of 5 per 1000 children.
Define general fertility rate
Number of births per 1000 from women aged 15-49 a year.
Define total fertility rate
Oxford: Average number of births per 1,000 women of childbearing age
IB past paper: Average number of children a woman has during her childbearing years/in her lifetime.
Factors affecting fertility rates
○ Urbanization (family planning and need or want of children)
○ Culture/traditions
○ Healthcare
○ Importance of children (are we assets or are we costly?)
○ Education/Employment opportunities for women
○ Infant Mortality Rate (a country may have a high TFR but their IMR may also be pretty high)
○ Average Age of marriage
○ Availability of abortions and contraceptives
Define age-specific birth rate
The number of birth per 1000 of population for a specific age group e.g. 20 to 25 year olds.
Define annual growth rate
(a-b)/b
where ‘a’ is the population at the end of a period
where ‘b’ is the population at the beginning of a period
Define standardized birth rate
A birth rate for a region on the basis that its age composition is the same throughout
the whole country.
Define life expectancy
Average number of years of life people in a population are expected to live.
Factors affecting life expectancy
○ Sex (women live 5 years longer than men)
○ Residence (depending on where you live, the life expectancy changes. eg. As you go East on London’s Jubilee Line, the life expectancy drops a year.
○ Occupation (some jobs are more dangerous compared to others duh.)
○ Nourishment (undernourished and over-nourished people have bad health and are more likely to die)
○ Accommodation (if you live in a slum or in poverty then there’s generally pretty bad health care)
○ Literacy (people who are illiterate don’t have good education and therefore don’t make the best possible life decisions in terms of health, occupation, housing, etc.
Outline some common characteristics of population pyramids
- A wide base suggests a high birth rate
- A narrowing base indicates a falling birth rate
- Straight/near vertical sides show a low death rate
- A concave slope suggests a high death rate
- Bulges in the slope indicate high rates of in-migration (ie. excess of both male/female could be baby boom; excess males 25-35 years old could be migrants looking for work; excess eldery could indicate a community of retired people)
- Deficits in the slope show out-migration or age-specific/sex-specific deaths (ie. epidemics, war)
Population Pyramid Case Study: Kenya
- chimney shaped population pyramid
- youthful population
- high death rate due to AIDS
- growth rate high
- since women need money, they go into prostitution, leading to AIDS/STI
- notice that the pyramid is skewed; more females die than males due to prostitution
Define doubling time
- The length of time it takes for a population to double in size, assuming its natural growth rate remains constant
- Calculated by dividing 72/growth rate
Define population projection
Predictions about future population based on trends in mortality, fertility and migration.
Why are population projections important?
- Can allocate resources better
- Target specific areas better e.g. medical / education
- Predict future crisis
- Advise NGOs on plans
Factors impacting population projections
- War - wars such as the one in Iraq/Syria can kill people leading to rising death rates, but it can also divide families leading to falling birth rates.
- Natural disaster - large scale disaster like the Indian Ocean Tsunami (26th December 2004) can raise death rates and again reduce the population in the reproductive age range.
- Disease - disease outbreaks like the recent Ebola outbreak in West Africa can increase death rates and reduce birth rates.
- New cures - recently there have been trials for malaria vaccines. If these are successful it will drastically reduce death rates. 5. Changes will be equally dramatic if cures are developed for HIV or cancer.
- Climate change - may increase the number of refugees and therefore divide families, but it may also reduce the amount of farmland which may lead to famine.
Stage 1 Demographic Transition Model
- aka high stationary
- high birth rate due to traditional society; need to offset deaths, children are seen as economic assets as they do work for the family, security for parents in their old age
- high death rate due to poor/lacking medical services, poor sanitation allows disease to spread
- small increase in population size (if any)
- examples: isolated regions of the Himalayas, Irian Jaya, central Africa and the interior of South America
Stage 2 Demographic Transition Model
- aka early expanding
- death rate rapidly falls due to improvements in medical services
- high birth rates remain because cultural factors leading to high birth rates remain unchanged (ie. families are used to having many children, children are still economic assets and offer security in old age)
- rapid increase in population size
- examples: Kenya, Paraguay, Afghanistan, Nepal and Ethiopia
Stage 3 Demographic Transition Model
- aka late expanding
- birth rates begin to fall, because farmers realize that large families are no longer necessary to compensate for a high death rate; availability of family planning services; parents favour materialistic goods over large families; women become more involved in the workforce
- death rate continues to decrease, but not as rapidly as in stage 2
- population continues to increase, but at a slower rate than in stage 2
- examples: Malaysia, Irael, China and Chile
Stage 4 Demographic Transition Model
- aka low stationary
- birth rates are low
- death rates are low
- population is stable or slowly increasing
- examples: Bulgaria, Latvia, Russia, Netherlands and the United Kingdom
Stage 5 Demographic Transition Model
- aka declining
- birth rates are very low
- death rates are low, but exceed birth rates
- population is gradually decreasing
- examples: Japan, Germany
Define population momentum
Population Momentum is tendency of population to grow despite falling in birth rate due to high concentrations of people in child-bearing years and improvements in healthcare leading to the older generations living longer.
Explain the impact of population momentum on population projections
○ May make it difficult to accurately predict the future population
○ When trying to come up with a population projection, it is important to look for any bulges in the pyramid which may suggest a future baby boom
○ Possible medical/technological improvements need to be considered as well
Dependency ratio
○ Dependent population is the population dependent on the economically active.
○ Calculated by dividing the number of dependents (aged zero to 14 and over the age of 65) by the total population, aged 15 to 64, expressed as a percentage
○ Very crude due to different ages of economically active in different countries/ regions and cultures.
○ Useful measure to compare countries or track changes
○ High proportion of elderly in MEDCs
○ High proportion of youth in LEDCs
○ Often displayed on a triangular graph (Three-variable data)
What are the two groups of dependents?
- Population below 15 (0-14 y.o)
2. Population above 65/retirement age
Aging ratio
○ Number of people aged 65+ for every 100 people aged 20-64
○ Europe - 23 of world’s 25 oldest countries
○ Acts as an indicator of the balance between the economically active and the older population they must support
○ Varies widely from 6 per 100 workers in Kenya to 33 in Italy and Japan
Advantages of a youthful population
- stronger workforce; stimulate economy
- large, cheap future workforce
- provides more schools, health care centres; can improve rest of population
- lower death rate
- youthful = healthy, less strain on healthcare system
- larger market for some goods
- greater innovation
Disadvantages of a youthful population
- more adults out of workforce to take care of children
- less skilled trainers to train new workers
- usually indicates poor health/health services
- specialised infrastructure required: schools, children’s hospitals, child care facilities, sport/recreation
- competitve future job market, difficult to find jobs
- strain of education facilities
- tends to higher crime rate
- high dependency ratio
Advantages of an aging population
- experienced workforce; can train new skilled workers
- larger market for some goods
- more higher educated people; improve education for rest of population
- indicates good health care system
- construction/employment market for retirement/health care facilities
- jobs created in aged care; ‘grey market’
Disadvantages of an aging population
- providing pensions = expensive for government/taxpayers
- specialized infrastructure required: health care, nusing homes, leisure facilities
- young workers employed to care for elderly not contributing to society (ie. depletion of labour force, deteriorating economy)
- economically reliant on small workforce = higher dependency ratio
- high death rate
- industries migrate overseas
- trade deficit
- reduced demand for goods from smaller working population
- falling demand for schools/teachers
Aging Population Case Study: Japan
● Japan has an aging population
● 25% of the 127 million people in Japan are over 60
Causes of aging population:
● high life expectancy (82.6)
● low fertility rate (1.39)
● traditional beliefs about overpopulation being bad
● high quality education leading to late marriages
● focus on career
● high cost of childcare and education
Consequences of aging population
● Japan has the highest proportion of old dependents (about 23%) and the lowest proportion of young dependents (about 13%) in the world.
● nearly 30% of government funding goes towards social welfare.
● population will shrink from 127 to 90 million by 2055 if conditions stay the same.
● “herbivore men” (men who have no interest in getting married)
Possible solutions
● Immigration (at least 10 million) to prevent future population and economic decline but Japanese are against the idea of multiculturalism.
● Long term care insurance for elderly based on need. This is funded mostly by taxes, and only 10% by users which is affordable.
Define anti-natalist policy
A policy that encourages families to have fewer children
Define pro-natalist policy
A policy that encourages families to have more children
Population Management Case Study: China
● antinatalist policy introduced in 1978
● one child policy limits families to having only one child
● was effective at reducing the population, leading to more space in the country and better quality of life for the one child they were allowed to have
● led to infanticide of female babies, high dependency ratio, little emperor syndrome and excess single men due to the unbalnaced ratio between male:female
Population Management Case Study: Singapore
● pro-natalist population policy
● belief that people are the most precious resource
● originally had an anti-natalist policy which was very successful; Singapore’s population growth is falling below replacement level
● in response to this new situation, a new pro-natalist policy (“New Population Policy”) was introduced in 1987
● target of the policy was young couples who were choosing to put their careers/leisure/personal interests above marriage and parenthood
● posters/advertisements places around buses, etc. encouraging people to have children
● before the policy, the fertility rate had fallen to 1.4; after the policy, it had risen to 2.0 (an improvement, but still below replacement rate)
● the policy targets intectually talented people; married couples should have 2 children, and university graduates should have 4 children
Population Management Case Study: Nigeria
● one reason for Nigeria’s high level of fertility is the very low level of contraceptive use
● at present, the average ideal family size desired by women in Nigeria is 6 children per woman
● in response to concerns about the consequences of such rapid increases in population, the Nigerian government adopted the National Policy on Population for Development, Unity, Progress and Self-Reliance in 1988
● the anti-natalist policy was designed to slow the rate of population growth and improve standards of living for the people
● the policy identifies several objectives, including:
1. promoting an awareness of population problems and the effects of rapid population growth
2. providing information on the benefits of small family size
3. making family planning services easily acessible to all couples at an affordable cost
● limited success due to communication issues (ie. people in the countryside) and cultural sensitities
Population Management Case Study: India
● one of the first in the world to have an anti-natalist population policy
● in 1952, incentives such as transistor radios were offered to men who volunteered to be sterilised by having a vasectomy
- campaign was partly successful, but men began to realize that sterilization was permanent and the batteries to transistor radios were not– therefore not a good deal
● during the 1970s, many men were sterilized against their wishes
- campaign was succesful in lowering birth rates, but gave population policies in India a bad reputation
● today, India’s population policy aims to reduce fertility rate by encouraging the use of contraceptives
- incentives such as new schools, provision of drinking water facilities, etc. are used to encourage people to achieve the targets
- large-scale family planning services are offered to support the population policy
- successes have been modest; in 1975, birth rate was 38.2 per 1000 people; in 2008, it lowered to 24 per 1000.
Define migration
The movement of people, involving a permanent (more than 1 year) change of residence. It can be internal or external (international) and voluntary or forced. It does not include temporary circulations such as commuting or tourism.
Define push factor
forces that repel a person from their place of residence
Define pull factor
forces that attract a person to new areas
Define restraining factors
forces that encourage a person to not move but to remain in their present area of residence
Causes of voluntary migration
Economic: ○ Opportunities for work (Polish workers to UK) ○ Higher pay (British doctors to the US) ○ Tax Avoidance (British rock stars to the US, or even British to Monaco) Education: ○ Better/cheaper schools Family ○ Family located in another country Lifestyle ○ Retirement to warmer climates ○ Social amenities (eg. Medical spas)
Causes of forced migation
○ Political (Racial discrimination in Zimbabwe, 1990s) ○ War (Chechnya) ○ Drought ○ Famine (Ethiopia in Sudan) ○ Disasters (Volcanic Eruptions) ○ Slavery (human trafficking) ○ Political instability
Barriers to migration
○ Political (Visas) ○ Lack of money / education / awareness ○ Disease ○ Racial Tension ○ Warzone areas
Causes of return migration
○ Earned sufficient money to return
○ Reunited with family
○ Government restrictions heightened
○ Causes of initial problems gone
Main trends in migration
● Globalization of migrant labor
● Acceleration of migration (happening more and more)
● Differentiation of migration into different types (more reasons)
● Feminization of migration as females become more emancipated/empowered.
Migration Case Study: Poland to the UK
Polish workers are emigrating to the UK in search for jobs
Consequences to Poland
+ BR lowered
+ remittances
+ new skills brought back to Poland
+ local job pressure brought down
- less economically active people in Poland
- brain drain; decrease in skilled people
- high dependency ratio; many elderly people but few workers
- economy relies on remittances, which is an unreliable source of income
Consequences to the UK
+ fills vacancies in job market; Polish workers do undesirable jobs
+ overall lower unemployment rates
+ cheap labour
+ new cultures introduced
- strain on local services (ie. hospitals, schools)
- resentment towards migrans (ie. increase in racism, crime)
- increase in young males causes an increase in social problems/crime
- Polish become more likely to get a job than British
Migration Case Study: Papua New Guinea
- There is internal migration in Papua New Guinea (rural-urban migration)
- there has been a significant increase in the number of people living in urban areas since 1960 due to several factors:
1. 20% of the growth was due to biological increase (births > deaths)
2. 7% of the growth was due to urban boundaries being expanded to take in surrounding villages
3. the rest/majority of the growth was due to rural-urban migration - over half of the the urban population were originally born in rural areas
- chain migration (one-way movement of people from vilages to small town, to larger towns, to cities) has become increasingly common
Push factors:
- pressure on land due to increasing population
- a desire to avoid traditional obligations and authority
- an extended adolescence, due to abolition of initiation ceremonies
- personal factors (ie. family problems/arguments)
- boredom with village life
Pull factors:
- a wish to acquire skills/education
- easy access to towns (ie. roads, air, shipping)
- desire to join urban resident kin
- belief that many more services are found in the towns
- perception of migration as a rite of passage into manhood
- opinions > reality most of the time (psychological motives)
- people are intrigued by the positive image of urban areas, but migration may actually bring them unemployment/poverty/misery
What are the economic impacts of migration to the migrants’ country of origin?
Benefits: ● reduced unemployment ● returning migrants bring back new skills ● remittances ● less pressure on resources (ie. land)
Costs:
● loss of young labour
● loss of skilled labour
● loss of investment follows the loss skilled labour
● out-migration causes a vicious cycle of decline
What are the social impacts of migration to the migrants’ country of origin?
Benefits:
● lower birth rates and reduced population pressure
● remitances may improve welfare and education
Costs:
● creates a culture of out-migration
● females left as head of household, mother, and main provider
● unbalanced population pyramid
● returning on retirement places a burden on services
What are the economic impacts of migration to the migrants’ destination?
Benefits:
● migrants often do undesirable jobs
● skilled workers gained at little cost
● some retirement costs transferred to the source country/country of origin
Costs: ● financial costs to educate children ● displacement of local labour ● money sent to country of origin; pension outflow ● increased pressure on resources
What are the social impacts of migration to the migrants’ destination?
Benefits:
● creation of multicultural societies
● cultural awareness/acceptance
● growth of ethnic retailing/restaurants
Costs: ● racism/discrimination/conflict ● male-dominated states (ie. oil-rich economies) ● loss of cultural identity ● creation of ghettos
Gender inequalities in culture/status
○ Women have less personal autonomy and less influence in decision making
○ Women have fewer resources
○ Religion reduces status of women
Gender inequalities in education
○ Educating girls reduces fertility, IMR and CMR, increases labor force participation, increases educational investment in children.
○ Men have higher literacy rates than women. (84.9% / 72.1%). In India, 70% of the illiterate population is female.
○ LEDC countries men are more likely to go to Higher Level schooling, females drop out.
○ MEDCs females outnumber males in university enrollment
Gender inequalities in birth ratios/family size
○ China 119 males to 100 females - by 2020 there will be 30 million extra males.
○ Family size relates to male births.
Gender inequalities in health/life expectancy
○ 5 years longer life expectancy in women than men.
○ 1600 women, 10000 newborn children die everyday (99% in developing world).
○ 61% HIV patients in Sub Saharan Africa are women.
○ 14 million teen girls are mothers every year (90% happens in LEDCs)
Gender inequalities in employment
○ NOT using womens skills costs Asia-Pacific region $41-46 billion.
○ ⅓ women in workforce Middle East. (47% in Singapore)
○ Glass Ceiling problem; unequal opportunities, women are underrepresented in management jobs
○ Women receive less wages for same work that men do.
○ Women have an increasing percentage of ‘status’ professions in LEDCs.
○ Women work ‘double days’ (taking care of family + professional work)
Gender inequalities in empowerment, legal rights and land tenure
○ In all regions women are underrepresented in power positions but in most regions this is improving.
○ Microcredit (Bangladesh) allows women to control their lives.
○ Women are discriminated against in regards to the legal system + owning land.
Gender inequalities in migration
○ Varied patterns, different genders migrate more in different places and benefit more.
○ Kenya 87% women in rural areas, 54% men.
Gender Inequality Case Study: Muslim/Islamic Countries
- according to Islam, men and women are equal but have different responsibilities
- however, different Muslim countries assign women varying degrees of rights with regards to marriage, divorce, civil rights, legal status, dress code, and education
- the Qur’an instructs all Muslims (men and women) to dress modestly
- almost all Iranian women choose to wear the chador (hijab) which most claim to be comfortable and liberating; however, in the West, it is seen as suppression of women
- it is important not to label Muslim socieities as looking down upon women; while women and men may be treated differently in Islamic societies, it depends on one’s point of view and the situation whether this necessarily means inferiority.
In Saudi Arabia:
- women are not allowed to leave their houses without a male relative such as their father, brother or husband
- women can only be in seggregated schools
- a male relative is permitted to kill his female relative for offences such as premarital or extramarital sex, refusing an arranged marriage, attempting to obtain a divorce, or simply talking with a man without permission
Gender Inequality Case Study: China
- for thousands of years, Chinese women lived under prolonged oppression/degration in a heirarchicical, male-dominated society
- women were considered inferior to men
- women had no political rights, were excluded from political/social life, were economically dependent on men, had no property or inheritance rights, had no social status, were forced to obey fathers/husbands/sons/male figure, were denied formal education, etc.
- when the Communists came to power in 1949, they promised to change the situation and great steps were taken to accept Chinese women as full equals of men
- today, Chinese women are more liberated than many other parts of the world; they occupy signfiicant senior positions in industry, education, commerce, and politics
- proves that long-term attitudes of gender inequalities can be largely overcome within a generation or two
- however, especially in rural areas, there are families who still prefer boys over girls
