Grade 7 term 3

Question 1

How is the birth rate used?

Answer 1

To determine the rate of population growth.

Question 2

What is the average birth rate for the world?

Answer 2

20 births per 1000 people

Question 3

Which country had the highest birth rate and what was it?

Answer 3

Niger which had 51 births per 1000 people.

Question 4

Which country had the lowest birth rate? What was it?

Answer 4

Japan - 7,64 per 1000 people.

Question 5

What is South Africa’s birth rate?

Answer 5

21 births per 1000 people; a little more than the world average.

Question 6

What is the death rate?

Answer 6

It is the number of deaths per 1000 people in one year.

Question 7

What is the world death rate average; and name a country with one of the highest death rates and what the rate is.

Answer 7

World average death rate is 8,6 per 1000 people. Swaziland has one of Highest death rates in world - 30 deaths per 1000 people.

Question 8

What is South Africa’s death rate?

Answer 8

14 per 1000

Question 9

For three points, describe the population growth rates for the world in 2012.

Answer 9

252 people were born and 107 people died during every minute of every day. This means that the worlds population was growing at a rate of 145 people every minute.

Question 10

Apart from natural population growth, what else influences the total population growth rate of a country?

Answer 10

The number of people who emigrate and immigrate; called the migration rate.

Question 11

For twelve marks, name three causes of infant mortality and some, facts about them.

Answer 11

Dehydration - a dangerous lack of water in the body resulting from inadequate intake of fluids or excessive loss through sweating, vomiting or diarrhoea. About 2000 children in Africa die from this every day. It is a symptom of gastroenteritis and occurs more often in poor areas where the water is not safe to drink and there are no proper toilets.
Pneumonia - an inflammation of the lungs. It accounts for the largest number of deaths due to an illness: 3,8 million a year. It is a lung disease spread by viruses and bacteria in droplets released when people sneeze or cough. Antibiotics can cure 79% of patients.
Malnutrition - a lack of healthy food in the diet.
Malaria - a disease caused by the bite of an infected mosquito causing high fevers.

Question 12

How is life expectancy defined and what are ten factors that influence it?

Answer 12

It is the average number of years that a person is expected to live from birth and is different for each country. 
The factors influencing it are:
Nutrition
Smoking
Housing
Pollution
Education
Occupation
Health
Disease
War
Natural disasters

Question 13

Name the country with the highest life expectancy and the one with the lowest, and what are the figures? How does South Africa compare to these?

Answer 13

Japan has highest at 82,6 years.
Swaziland has the lowest at 39,6 years.
South Africa has a life expectancy of 54,5

Question 14

Define the following terms: 
HIV
AIDS
rampant
sub-Saharan Africa
Immune system

Answer 14

Human Immuno-deficiency Virus; a virus that affects a person’s immune system.
Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome; a disease that results from HIV and causes an inability to fight other diseases such as tuberculosis and pneumonia.
Rampant - growing wildly in an uncontrolled way.
Sub-Saharan Africa - those parts of Africa south of the Sahara Desert.
Immune System - the body’s system responsible for fighting diseases.

Question 15

What is the estimate of people living in South Africa who are HIV positive?

Answer 15

10% of the country, that is more than 5 million people.

Question 16

Give seven important facts about HIV

Answer 16

Infection with HIV usually leads to AIDS
HIV is highly contagious and is transmitted through bodily fluids such as blood, Breast milk and semen.
Nearly 300 people are newly infected each hour.
The virus attacks the immune system, which makes the person infected more vulnerable to other diseases.
People who are HIV can be symptom-free and not all sufferers develop AIDS.
When the range of diseases which can’t be controlled is evident, there are three or more simultaneous symptoms, And the CD4 count has dropped below 200, the sufferer is said to have full-blown AIDS.
Medicines can control the symptoms but cannot cure the disease.
Approximately 35 million people in the world now live with HIV and AIDS.

Question 17

Define the following: 
Epidemic
Virus
Bacteria
Antibiotic
Pandemic
Parasite
Plague

Answer 17

Epidemic- A disease that spreads through a population very quickly.
Virus - substance smaller than a bacteria, that causes disease.
Bacteria - very tiny plants; some can cause typhoid and pneumonia.
Antibiotic - a medicine that destroys germs.
Pandemic - epidemic that have spread throughout the world infecting many people.
Parasite - an animal or plant that lives in or on another animal or plant.
Plague - any dangerous illness that spreads very quickly.

Question 18

Name one of the most devastating pandemics in history. Provide eight facts about this pandemic.

Answer 18

The Black Death, or Bubonic Plague. It was thought to have started in China and spread through Russia and the Black Sea region to Europe between 1346 and 1350, probably carried by fleas on rats. victims had enlarged and inflamed armpits, necks and groins, headaches, nausea, aching joints, high fevers. The death rate was between 35% and 75%. Approximately 20 million people died. The plague returned a number of times during a two hundred year period and killed about 100 million people (almost twice the population of SAfrica).

Question 19

Which epidemic affected the Cape (South Africa)? How did it start and describe what happened.

Answer 19

The smallpox virus. It started in Egypt or India 3000 years ago. Millions of people died and most survivors were left blind. It came to the Cape in 1713 probably carried by the crew on a Dutch ship. It was carried in the sheets and clothes sent ashore to be washed by slave workers. Many people died ( about 25% of the Dutch farmers) but the indigenous Khoisan suffered the most, with almost 90% of their population dying. It is a highly contagious disease, the symptoms of which are high fevers and pus-filled sores on the skin. There is no effective treatment for Smallpox, but a successful vaccine has managed to prevent the disease and wipe it out.

Question 20

How does economic status affect birth and death rates?

Answer 20

Wealthier communities have access to:
better medical facilities and treatment. Infant mortality will be lower.
Range of birth control methods. Greater choice of timing and lower birth rate.
Poverty means that:
Education isn’t always available or affordable
Families are often large
Greater reliance on subsistence way of life which is vulnerable to drought etc.

Question 21

What is genocide and how did it affect the population of the DRC during the second Congo War between 1988 and 2003?

Answer 21

Genocide is the large scale killing of people from a national, religious or ethnic group. 4,5 million people died in DRC war.

Question 22

How many people died in the deadliest war on our planet?

Answer 22

55 million died in World War II, between 1939 and 1945. This was 2,5% of the world population

Question 23

Which country in the world is known for its “one child” policy? And what did it mean to the people of the country?

Answer 23

China. It was established in 1979 to limit their population growth. Couples with more than one child are fined up to half their income and have to pay large amounts of money for activities such as schooling. The government also instituted forced sterilization for women with one child. Parents with one child can get cash bonuses, more time off before the baby is born, better child care and a better chance of getting a house. Because many in China value boys more than girls, some women have abortions when they discover the gender of their child. There is now a shortage of girls.

Question 24

Name and briefly describe four developments that have affected population growth.

Answer 24

Increased food production - increase in commercial farming and food production, more access to food.
Scientific developments - increase understanding and control of diseases and infection, improved sanitation, canned food and refrigeration
Sanitation systems - collection, storing, treatment, reuse, recycling and disposal of human waste.
Improved health care - improved access in urban and rural areas, improvement in health education, inoculations, more medicines including antibiotics available, greater success with surgery for a wider range of problems

Question 25

How is the birth rate defined?

Answer 25

It is the number of live births or infants who have survived the first year per one thousand people in one year.