Geography - population& settlement Flashcards
What is overpopulation?
When there are too many people for the resources
What usually causes overpopulation?
rapid population growth
Where is overpopulation most likely to occur?
LEDCs such as Gambia, stage 2-3 of the DTM, as they have a high birth rate and falling death rates
What sort of population is it when there are high birth rates and low life expectancy?
A youthful population, it has a high dependancy ratio. Lots of people under 15 years old who are dependant on the working population
What are social issues with youthful, overpopulation in LEDCs?
Services like healthcare/education can’t cope, children have to work, not enough houses, food shortages, lack of houses = more illnesses from makeshift housing
What are economic issues with youthful, overpopulation in LEDCs?
There aren’t enough jobs, unemployment increases, Increased poverty as more people are born into already poor families
What are environmental issues with youthful, overpopulation in LEDCs?
Increased pollution and waste as more cars and more waste for landfill sites, More natural resources like trees are used up
What are two population policies that help to achieve sustainable development?
Birth control programmes and Immigration laws
What is sustainable development?
developing in a way that allows people today to get the things they need without stopping people in the future getting what they need
What is the case study for managing overpopulation?
China
Why does china have overpopulation?
Because it has the worlds largest population with over 1.3 billion people. In 1949 the population was only 540 million so people were encouraged to have more children to build a strong army and produce more food.
What was the result of having families have more children?
By 1970 the population increased to 830 million but the resources weren’t enough. Famine from 1958-1961, no access to things like water and electricity
What policy was introduced in 1970?
The late long and few policy
What is the late long and few policy?
It aimed to reduce natural population growth by encouraging people to have children later, leave longer gas between children and to have less children
Was this policy successful?
Yes, the fertility rate fell from 5.7 in 1970, to 2.9 in 1979. It helped to make development in China more sustainable.
The population continued to increase, what was the next policy put into place?
The one-child policy in 1979
What did the one child policy encourage people to do?
Only have one child
What benefits were given to couples that only had one child?
Longer maternity leave, better housing, free education. Couples that had more than one child didn’t get any benefits and were fined
How effective was the one child policy?
It prevented 400 million births and the fertility rate dropped from 2.9 in 1979 to about 1.8 in 2009
What is fertility rate?
The average number of a children a woman has in her lifetime
What do some people say about the effectiveness of the one child policy?
That the late, long and few policy was more effective and also Chinese people wanted less children as they became more wealthy
The one child policy also helped towards sustainable development, but what else did it cause?
An ageing population, there is a lower proportion of young people compared to older people, this causes man issues
What were some exceptions to the one child policy?
In some rural ares, a second child was allowed if the first is a girl or has a physical disability so they had children to work on the farm. Also if one of the parents had a disability or bother were only children they can have a second child so they could loo after the parents
What are social issues with an ageing population?
Healthcare services are stretched more, people become more stressed as they have less free time as it is spent looking after older parents, birth rate drops, people will have to retire later and the pension will drop as there are more older
What are economic issues with an ageing population?
Taxes increase to pay for older peoples pensions and for public healthcare, the economy would grow slower as less money is being spent on things to grow the economy
What are different strategies to cope with ageing population?
Encouraging larger to increase number of young people. Encouraging immigration of young people to increase working population?
What is the problem with these strategies?
They don’t help with sustainable development as they increase population size
What are sustainable strategies to cope with ageing populations?
Raising retirement age and raising taxes for working people
What is the case study for an ageing populations?
The Uk
What causes an ageing population?
Increasing life expectancy and dropping birth rate
What are some of the reasons that we have a ageing population?
People are living longer - better medicine and health care. Lots of babies born in the 1940s and 1960s, now they are retiring. Less babies born today
Problems caused by an ageing population?
More elderly people living in poverty, working population isn’t big enough to cover a decent pension. The government is struggling to pay the already low pension Health services are put under pressure
Strategies to influence population change in the uk?
Encourage women to have more children and make it more affordable to have children by tax credits supporting men and women who return to work after having children. Also encourage immigration of younger people
What are some more quick and sustainable strategies to cope with an ageing population?
Raise the retirement age so there are more people paying taxes and encourage people to take out private pensions
What is migration?
The movement of people from one are to another area
What is it called when people move into an area?
Immigration
What is it called when people exit an area?
Emigration
What is it called when people move to different countries?
Internation migration
What is it called when people move between different regions within a country?
Internal migration (country side to city = rural-urban migration)
What are the two main types of migrant?
Refugees and economic migrants
What is a refugee?
Someone who has been forced out of their country due to things like war, persecution and natural disasters
What is an economic migrant?
People who voluntarily move from poorer places to richer places for jobs/higher wages
What are push factors?
Negative things about where the person lives which makes them want to leave
What are examples of push factors?
Job shortage, low wages, poor standard of living, poor healthcare and education, persecution due to religion/political views, war, pollution, crime, natural disasters
What are pull factors?
Positive things about a place making people want to stay/move there
What are examples of pull factors?
More employment opportunities, higher wages, better standard of living, better healthcare and education, being free to worship as they like/join any political party, no war, safer/cleaner environment (no pollution/crime/natural disasters)
What are the positive impacts on the country people are leaving?
Less pressure on public services such as hospitals and schools and money is usually sent back to the country from the people that have left
What are the negative impacts on the country people are leaving?
Labour shortage as usually its the working age that emigrate leading to a higher proportion of older people left that don’t work and need care. Also to skills shortage as usually skilled and educated people leave
What are the positive impacts on the country people are moving to?
Bigger labour force as young people immigrate for work, they then pay taxes that help fund services
What are the negative impacts on the country people are moving to?
Locals and immigrants fight for jobs causing tension and conflict. Increased demand for services leading to overcrowding. Some money earned by immigrants is sent back to their previous country instead of being spent in their new country
There are different ways to manage international migration, what are points-based systems?
They let countries choose who they want to let in. People who want to move are given points for things like age, education, work experience and language, only those with enough points can move in (Australia, New Zealand and Canada
How are limits and targets used to manage international migration?
Limits and targets are set by countries so they don’t have too many or too few immigrants. These are set by the amount of jobs available and public opinion. Once the limit is reached, no one new can move in that year
What is the case study for international migration?
Economic migration from Poland to the Uk
Roughly how many polish people moved to the uk between 2004 and 2007?
More than half a million
What are the push factors from Poland?
High unemployment (19%), Low average wages (one third of EU wages) and housing shortages.
What are the pull factors to the UK?
Ease of migration as UK allowed unlimited migration from the EU in 2004, More work and higher wages and also a good exchange rate
What were the impacts on Poland?
Shortage of workers, economy didn’t grow much but was boosted by money sent home by emigrants. Ageing population as loads of young people left. Housing and unemployment problems were solved
What were the impacts on the UK?
Economy was boosted, New shops opened to serve Polish communities, more taxes being paid towards retired people, some of the UK were unhappy about the amount of immigrants, politicians changed the policy on allowing unlimited people from the EU
How has the UK now changed how it manages immigration?
Immigrants from Poland aren’t limited but they have to register under the worker registration scheme if they want to work, letting there UK border agency monitor how many people enter the country and how their work effects the UK economy
How did the government respond to complaints about polish immigrants?
They tightened the control of migration from some of the newer EU states e.g Bulgaria and Romania have to get permission from the Home Office to work in the UK (only granted for certain types of jobs)
Where is urbanisation happening fastest?
In LEDCs
What is urbanisation?
The growth in the proportion of a country’s population living in urban areas