Demographic Issues

Question 1

16. What contributes to falling death rates?

Answer 1

When a country is developing, people living longer, healthier people.

Question 2

17. Why might death rates increase?

Answer 2

War, disease

Question 3

18. What is natural increase?

Answer 3

the rate of natural increase (RNI) is the crude birth rate minus the crude death rate of a population.

Question 4

19. Identify three factors which might affect the infant mortality rate.

Answer 4

Health care
Sanitation
Education

Question 5

20. At approximately what level is the world’s population likely to stabilize?

Answer 5

10 billion (Global population growth, box by box)

Question 6

21. Explain the Demographic Transition Model.

Answer 6

An attempt to summarize an observed relationship between population growth and economic development. Traces the changing levels of human fertility and mortality presumably associated with industrialization and urbanization.

Question 7

22. What are the characteristics of Phase 1 on the demographic transition model?

Answer 7

Ex. Somalia
Pre-industrial societies, mostly rural environments
Death rate is high and fluctuates
Birth rate is high
Fertility and infant mortality are high
Life expectancy is low
Population growth is low

Question 8

23. What is projected to happen in Phases 4 & 5 and why?

Answer 8

Death rates decrease and birth rates decrease, eventually leading to a light bulb shape. Not good because a small youthful population can not support the economy and the elderly effectively.

Question 9

24. Which ‘country’ / regions has/have the highest rate of a) life expectancy b) natural increase?

Answer 9

Life expectancy: Japan

Natural Increase:

Question 10

25. Why do you think the birth rate has declined in most western nations?

Answer 10

Focus on education
Family planning
Careers before family
Less need for many children to work on farms

Question 11

26. Which parts of the world have the lowest birth rates and why? Why might this be a problem?

Answer 11

Japan

Not enough of the population to support the economy in the future (small workforce) and many elders to care for

Question 12

27. Identify the world’s most populous countries.

Answer 12

1. China
2. India
3. United States
4. Indonesia
5. Brazil
6. Pakistan
7. Nigeria
8. Bangladesh
9. Russia
10. Japan

Question 13

28. Why are governments concerned about aging populations?

Answer 13

Japan
Not enough of the population to support the economy in the future (small workforce) and many elders to care for (similar to 26)

Question 14

29. What is the world’s current population and what is it predicted to stabilize at?

Answer 14

Current population: About 7 billion

stabilize at: 10 billion

Question 15

30. Give examples of treatment of women as second-class citizens in some cultures.

Answer 15

In India, daughters are seen as somebody else’s because they must be married off. The are dispensable, and a financial burden. India has a very patriarchal society, and women do not even have control of their own reproductive rights.

Question 16

31. Explain some of the difficulties associated with promoting family planning initiatives.

Answer 16

What family planning promotes may be against culture

Can be expensive

Question 17

32. What makes a person a refugee?

Answer 17

Refugees are defined in international law as those who are outside of their own countries and unwilling or unable to return because they have a well-founded fear of persecution based on their race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion

Question 18

33. Explain the problems in dealing with refugee populations.

Answer 18

Cultural acceptance of them

Initial costs are high (investing in their health care, travel, and accommodations)

Question 19

34. Which areas have been generating the most refugees recently?

Answer 19

Iraq
Afghanistan
Syria
Iran

Question 20

35. Which countries have been receiving the most refugees and why?

Answer 20

Pakistan hosts the most refugees with 1.7 million. Eighty percent of the world’s refugees are hosted in developing countries. Many refugees have been going to Europe, especially Germany due to the high amounts of refugees they are willing to accept.

Question 21

36. Why do China and India’s population have more males than females?

Answer 21

Male children are preferred over female children due to the lack of acceptance of women in society.
In India, millions of females are aborted because they are “better dead than to be born”.

Question 22

37. What might contribute to a population with more females than males? Give an example.

Answer 22

Women living longer. **expand

Question 23

38. What role do gatekeepers play in India?

Answer 23

Mother-in-law and husband. It is their decision on whether or not the wife should keep having babies.

Question 24

39. Explain ‘honour killings’ / ‘bride burnings’.

Answer 24

An honor killing or shame killing[1] is the homicide of a member of a family by other members, due to the perpetrators’ belief that the victim has brought shame or dishonor upon the family, or has violated the principles of a community or a religion, usually for reasons such as refusing to enter an arranged marriage, being in a relationship that is disapproved by their family, having sex outside marriage, becoming the victim of rape, dressing in ways which are deemed inappropriate, engaging in non-heterosexual relations or renouncing a faith.

Bride Burnings: women who didn’t have a son are burned with Kerosene to “teach them a lesson”, or because their dowry wasn’t enough for the groom’s family.

Question 25

40. What are the benefits of educating women? Who has been in the news for her advocacy of this and why?

Answer 25

More job opportunities, greater societal acceptance for women. Malala Yousafzai

Question 26

41. What are some of the factors that can cause a baby boom?

Answer 26

1. End of war - prosperity and union

2. Abortion ban

Question 27

42. How can countries adapt to an aging population?

Answer 27

Adjust government spending and put a great focus on caring for the elderly
Encourage reproduction (baby bonus)

Question 28

43. Describe and explain Japan’s population pyramid.

Answer 28

Inverted triangle, many elderly and few children

Question 29

44. China’s one child policy – why was it implemented and why might it be criticized?

Answer 29

Implemented to reduce population growth. Criticized because it caused:
sex selection (many males)
against chinese tradition of large families
not following policy caused a tax (10% of earnings) or fine (20-50% of family income)
“Golden boy” spoiled generation with bad social skills

Question 30

45. How might Canada increase its population to 100 million by 2100?

Answer 30

More immigration
Encouragement to reproduce (larger baby bonuses)
Influence to make culture put “starting a family” as a priority

Question 31

46. Why are human trafficking, arms trafficking and drug trafficking so hard to combat?

Answer 31

Large industries, heavily protected.

Question 32

47. Why have host mothers become accepted by some Canadians?

Answer 32

More time to focus on personal life

Question 33

48. Contrast lifestyle and infectious diseases, using an example for each:

Answer 33

Lifestyle: A disease associated with the way a person or group of people lives.

Infectious: diseases are caused by pathogenic microorganisms, such as bacteria, viruses, parasites or fungi; the diseases can be spread, directly or indirectly, from one person to another

Question 34

49. Give an example of how geography is used in the tracking and managing of global pandemics?

Answer 34

To see where the disease is spreading to prevent further spreading of the global pandemics

Question 35

50. How has the spread of HIV/AIDS hindered the development of countries within Africa?

Answer 35

Money has to be directed to preventing/treating HIV/AIDS instead of other areas
People dying from HIV/AIDS means that the workforce is becoming smaller
Lack of education
92% of children under 15 in Africa have HIV, and they are the future workforce