Demographic Cycle And Trends

Question 1

What is a demography?

Answer 1

This is a study of a countries population in terms of its size, composition, behaviour and distribution.

Question 2

What do trends or distribution mean?

Answer 2

This refers to the rural- urban or dense/ sparse scattering of the population.

Question 3

What is demographic size?

Answer 3

This implies the magnitude or quantity constituting the population, determining the size is usually carried out by Census.

Question 4

What is Census?

Answer 4

A process that involves counting a certain population at a given time.

Question 5

What is demographic composition?

Answer 5

This referees to the populations specific variables in terms of age, sex, occupation, religion, literacy and so on.

Question 6

What is the most important part of the population composition?

Answer 6

Age and sex which enable us to identify the quality of the population.

Question 7

What is demographic behaviour?

Answer 7

This is the growth of a population from one decade to another often deduced by population graphs.

Question 8

What is the demographic cycle ?

Answer 8

This is a five stage transition that populations of a given geographical region experience.

Question 9

What does the demographic cycle explain?

Answer 9

It explains the movement of populations experiencing high mortality and birth rates to experiencing low mortality and birth rates.

Question 10

What are the 5 stages of population change?

Answer 10

Stage 1 High fluctuating

Stage 2 early expanding

Stage 3 late expanding

Stage 4 low stationary

Stage 5 declining

Question 11

What constitutes stage 1?

Answer 11

birth rate and death rate are both high population growth is slow and fluctuating

REASONS
High Birth rate is high as a result of
Lack of family planning
High infant mortality rate
Need for workers in agriculture Religious beliefs
Children as economic asset

Death rate is high due to:
High levels of disease
Famine
Lack of clean water and sanitation

Question 12

What constitutes stage 2?

Answer 12

Birth rate remains high
Death rate is falling
Population begins to rise steadily

Reasons :

Death rate is falling due to:
Improved healthcare (vaccines eg small pox vaccine)
improved sanitation
Improved food production and storage Improved transport for food Decreased infant mortality rates

Question 13

What constitutes stage 3?

Answer 13

Birth rates starts to fall
Death rate continues to fall

Reasons:
Family planning available
Higher infant mortality rate
Increased mechanization reduces need for workers.
Increased living standard of living Changing status of women

Question 14

What constitutes stage 4?

Answer 14

Birth and death rates are much lower, resulting in steady population growth.

Question 15

What constitutes stage 5?

Answer 15

Birth rate is lower than the death rate fall of the population.

Question 16

What are demographic tends concerned with?

Answer 16

This is concerned with political, economic and social trends which make a dynamic context for the functioning of cities, towns and metropolitan area.

Question 17

Give an example of trends

Answer 17

Practical examples of demographic trends include : wealth index, housing and sanitation, population age and employment

Question 18

What is wealth index?

Answer 18

This is defined as the measure of a households cumulative living standard.

Question 19

How do you calculate wealth index?

Answer 19

It is calculated by using easy to collect data on a household’s ownership assets such as televisions, vehicles and materials used for construction.

Question 20

What do we look at under housing and sanitation?

Answer 20

This studies the trends in access to safe water and sanitation facilities in specific area.

Question 21

What are some factors faced in housing and sanitation?

Answer 21

This can be affected by different factors such as soil type and porosity, groundwater level hydraulics and distance to surface water.

Question 22

What is population age?

Answer 22

This refers to the age structure of a population at a defined time.
The broad base of the pyramid indicates that Zambia’s population is largely
young. Almost half (48%) of the population is under age 15. This kind of distribution is characteristic of developing countries with high fertility and low life expectancy.

Question 23

Employment?

Answer 23

This shows the trends of employment between men and women as well as in general

Men are more likely (75%) to be currently employed than women (45%).

Trends: The percentage of women who are currently employed decreased from 46% in 1996 to 45% in 2018.

Among men, however, the percentage increased from 62% to 75% over the same period.