past paper questions

Question 1

Describe the changes in the death rate in the demographic transition model (DTM)

Answer 1

• Stage 1 (High stationary) – DR is high (and fluctuates)
• Stage 2 (Early expanding) – DR drops rapidly
• Stage 3 (Late expanding) – DR still falling but slows
• Stage 4 (Low stationary) – DR is low
• Stage 5 (Declining) – DR begins to rise

Question 2

With the aid of examples, explain why death rates fall with the increased economic development of an area

Answer 2

• Improvement in diets (quality and quantity) – farming improves
• Improved health – medical advances, more hospitals, better health, education (especially reduces infant mortality)
• Greater security so fewer wars, violence
• Improved water supply (quality and quantity)
• Greater education on safer living – anti-smoking, better hygiene etc.
• Improved housing – so fewer fires, fewer bugs etc.
• More tertiary jobs – safer than primary/secondary
• Cultural shift such that females more valued and protected
• Improved transport so aid can reach problem areas
• Spain: 50 doctors per person

Question 3

‘The main impact of an ageing population on a country is economic.’ With the aid of examples, how far do you agree with this statement?

Answer 3

• Demography – higher DR, lower BR, more older females (sex imbalance)
• Social and cultural life – need for schools, health care, type of consumer goods etc.
• Political – voting patterns, tax revenue, need for social services/facilities
• Economic – both directly e.g. labour supply, cost of pensions, etc. but also indirectly such as increased need for medical care, need for specialised residential housing, etc.

Question 4

Suggest why an increase in calorie consumption per person per day may create problems for a country

Answer 4

• Obesity with resulting health issues e.g. diabetes
• Health issues creating a strain on health services
• Limited amount of food production so where will it come from + impact on farming/environment
• Increased costs of supplying the extra calories
• Need to import more food – increased costs, potential debt problems
• Could increase global warming e.g. increased consumption of beef

Question 5

Describe the changes in the birth rate in the demographic transition model (DTM)

Answer 5

• Stage 1 (High stationary) – BR is high and fluctuates
• Stage 2 (Early expanding) – BR remains high
• Stage 3 (Late expanding) – BR falling but slowing
• Stage 4 (Low stationary) – BR is low
• Stage 5 (Declining) – BR falls further or remains low

Question 6

With the aid of examples, explain why infant mortality rates fall with the increased economic development of an area

Answer 6

• Improvement in diets (quality and quantity) – farming improves
• Improved health – medical advances, more hospitals, better health care
• Greater security so fewer wars, violence
• Improved water supply (quality and quantity)
• Greater education on safer living for mothers – anti-smoking, better hygiene etc.
• Improved housing – so fewer fires, fewer bugs etc.
• Cultural shift such that female children more valued and protected
• More years in education means women may have fewer children – fewer children mean a lower IMR
• Improved transport so aid can reach problem areas

Question 7

‘The main impact of a youthful population on a country is economic.’
With the aid of examples, how far do you agree with this statement?

Answer 7

• Demography – higher BR, lower DR
• Social and cultural life – need for schools, health care, type of consumer goods etc.
• Political – voting patterns, tax revenue, need for social services/facilities
• Economic – both directly e.g. labour supply, cost of childcare, etc. but also indirectly such as increased need for medical care, need for increased size of residential housing, etc

Question 8

Explain why a high TFR may cause problems for a country

Answer 8

• Issues of a youthful population – with the resulting economic effects, e.g. unemployment, costs to the government, social effects, e.g. high BR,
  and political effects, e.g. unrest.
• Natural increase is well above replacement level – population will grow – with the economic, social and political consequences of a population
  exceeding resources.
• Country may need to ‘export’ population via international migration – with the resulting political consequences.
• Increased costs to the government/tax payers.
• Government may have to introduce policies to decrease TFR – with the resulting social and political consequences.

Question 9

Explain why the dependency ratio may vary within a country

Answer 9

• Difference in numbers in the different age groups
• Difference between rural areas and urban areas (rural may have more young and old dependents)
• Retirement areas (especially coastal) may attract older dependents
• Variation in health care – where it is poor, high IMR
• Type of activity – industrial areas may have fewer dependents
• University towns (or military towns) may have more young dependents
• Location – remote areas compared to more central areas

Question 10

With the aid of examples, explain why the dependency ratio is changing in many LICs.

Answer 10

• Why the population is ageing – living longer
• The working age group is decreasing
• The young dependents are decreasing – why the birth rate is low/falling

Question 11

‘Changes in food production have had the biggest impact on reducing mortality.’ With the aid of examples, how far do you agree?

Answer 11

• reducing mortality caused by famines or poor diets,
  but there are other factors
• Modern medicines (both prevention and cure) such as antibiotics, reduction in IMR,
• role of education, greater political
  control (fewer wars), social developments such as improved status of women, improvements in technology especially transport, improved incomes, etc
• Higher level responses may recognise that it may vary with location, levels of technology, nature of the population

Question 12

Compare recent changes in life expectancy in LICs/MICs and HICs.

Answer 12

• both have increased life expectancy
• HICs still have a lot higher life expectancy than LICs
• LICs have rapidly increased whilst HICs have slowed (or even fallen)
• LICs (unlike HICs) fluctuate in life expectancy due to disasters, wars, disease outbreaks (some may have decreased)
• females have longer life expectancy in HICs compared to LICs but increasing more than males in LICs
• contrasts in changes in infant mortality impacting on life expectancy

Question 13

For your chosen case study of one country’s population policy, explain the nature of the population problem(s) experienced by the country.

Answer 13

• high birth rate
• low birth rate
• high infant mortality rate
• ageing population
• excessively youthful population
• migration (out or in)
• an unbalanced population structure e.g. sex ratios
• population related problems such as famine, unemployment, poverty

Question 14

For the country chosen in (b), evaluate the success of the population policy.

Answer 14

• the groups it affects – differentiation/discrimination
• regions or areas it impacts on – scale
• changes over time
• demographic vs economic vs socio-cultural vs political viewpoints
• costs (cost-benefit analysis)

Question 15

Suggest two reasons why the TFR has decreased since 1960

Answer 15

• Less need to offset high child mortality as this has decreased
• Changes in cultural/religious norms/expectations
• Greater number of women work
• Greater use of birth control
• Increased female education/emancipation
• Children are seen as economic liabilities/less need for children to work or support elders
• Government anti-natal policy

Question 16

Explain why a high TFR may cause problems for a country

Answer 16

• Issues of a youthful population – with the resulting economic effects, e.g. unemployment, costs to the government, social effects, e.g. high BR,
  and political effects, e.g. unrest.
• Natural increase is well above replacement level – population will grow – with the economic, social and political consequences of a population exceeding resources.
• Country may need to ‘export’ population via international migration – with the resulting political consequences.
• Increased costs to the government/tax payers.
• Government may have to introduce policies to decrease TFR – with the resulting social and political consequences.

Question 17

Describe how to calculate dependency ratio

Answer 17

Dependency Ratio = (Number of dependents (young + old) / Working population aged (15 / 16 to 60 / 64) × 100%

Question 18

Explain why the dependency ratio may vary within a country

Answer 18

• Difference in numbers in the different age groups
• Difference between rural areas and urban areas (rural may have more young and old dependents)
• Retirement areas (especially coastal) may attract older dependents
• Variation in health care – where it is poor, high IMR
• Type of activity – industrial areas may have fewer dependents
• University towns (or military towns) may have more young dependents
• Location – remote areas compared to more central areas

Question 19

With the aid of examples, explain why the dependency ratio is changing in many LICs

Answer 19

• Why the population is ageing – living longer
• The working age group is decreasing
• The young dependents are decreasing – why the birth rate is low/falling

Question 20

‘Changes in food production have had the biggest impact on reducing mortality.’
With the aid of examples, how far do you agree?

Answer 20

• Improved food production (technical advances, etc.) has increased quantity and quality of food, so reducing mortality caused by famines or poor diets,
• Modern medicines (both prevention and cure) such as antibiotics
  -reduce infant mortality.
• role of education, greater political control (fewer wars),
  -social developments such as improved status of
  women
• improvements in technology especially transport,
• improved incomes, etc.
• Higher level responses may recognise that it may vary with location, levels of technology, nature of the population.

Question 21

Carrying capacity

Answer 21

• the largest population that the resources of a given
  environment can sustainably support
• 1 mark for maximum/largest population idea, 1 mark for resources of a given environment idea and 1 mark for sustainability idea.

Question 22

Briefly explain two causes of food shortages.

Answer 22

• supply problems – such as natural disasters e.g. floods, disease. Poor farming practices.
• demand problems – such as rising population, increased demand for non-food crops, poverty
• infrastructure problems – lack of good storage, poor transport, etc.
• other – war, trade issues
• alternatively candidates may offer environmental, economic, social and political causes

Question 23

With the aid of examples, explain the factors that lead to increasing food production in an area

Answer 23

• use of mechanisation – intensify/extensify
• GM crops, higher yields, disease resistant, etc.
• use of agri-chemicals – fertilisers, pesticides, herbicides
• irrigation and drainage
• but increasing food production is more than just growing more – it could
  include storage, transport, processing innovations

Question 24

‘Increasing wealth is putting excessive pressure on food production.’ With the aid of examples, how far do you agree?

Answer 24

As LICs/MICs increase in wealth their diets may resemble those of HICs – i.e. high in quantity and quality of calories – especially more meat. Also increasing wealth is leading to land being used for non-food crops or other activities e.g. housing, roads. So less land is having to produce more crops often to be fed to cattle to produce meat. Some may argue it isn’t wealth but rather increased population numbers (Malthus idea) or even that increased wealth may enable more efficient food production (Boserup idea) so easing pressure.

Question 25

infant mortality rate (IMR).

Answer 25

The number of deaths under a year (1) among live births (1), per 1000 births (1), per year (1).

Question 26

why IMR and fertility rate may be related

Answer 26

as IMR falls, fertility rate falls (1), meaning there is less need to have children (1)
* as insurance against loss of children/more children survive
* children serve as social security for old age
* children have a role as labourers
* health care improvements lead to lower IMR, but other aspects influence fertility, e.g. access to family planning

Question 27

Using examples, explain why infant mortality rates are high in some countries.

Answer 27

• inadequate medical and nursing intervention at time of birth
• lack of trained personnel or health facilities
• nutrition
• lack of safe water
• cultural factors influencing early motherhood or pregnancy intervals
• disease issues
• infanticide
• war/conflict

Question 28

‘The concept of optimum population is important in understanding population-resource relationships.’ With the aid of examples, how far do you agree?

Answer 28

• the concept of optimum population, including overpopulation and
  underpopulation
• the concept of carrying capacity
• food security and food shortages
• sustaining population
• roles of technology and innovation in the development of food production
• the role of constraints, e.g. war, climatic hazards

Question 29

Describe how food shortages occur

Answer 29

• Natural disasters – floods, droughts, disease, pests, etc. destroy
  crops and livestock
• Poor farming practices, e.g. overgrazing leading to soil erosion,
  excessive focus on export, non-food crops
• Excessive population growth, e.g. sudden influx of migrants
• Poor storage or processing of food
• Lack of transport to transfer food to areas of need
• Growing export/non-food crops rather than food crops
• Social disruption, e.g. wa

Question 30

Explain two ways of reducing food shortages

Answer 30

• Improving technology = machines speeding cultivation on or extending the farmed area, use of ICT to control processing and storage, use of chemicals, new hybrid breeds of plants and animals, hydroponics, use of more effective refrigerated transport, crop
  spraying from the air
• Innovation = transferring techniques from other areas/cultures, new crops/animals, use of waste or by-products from crops or animals, more efficient processing and packing
• Increased intensification vs extensification – bringing more marginal areas into cultivation
• Reducing consumer numbers via migration and/or anti-birth policies
• Reducing waste food or rationing so fewer shortages
• Importing food from areas of surplus
• Emergency aid
• Exchanging cash crops/non-food crops for food crops

Question 31

‘The concept of carrying capacity is irrelevant in the modern technological age.’

Answer 31

• The carrying capacity of a biological species in an environment is the maximum population size of the species that the environment can sustain indefinitely, given the food, habitat, water, and other necessities available in the environment.
• Some may apply the Malthus and Boserup approaches to the issue. Those supporting the Malthusian view would disagree whilst those supporting Boserup would agree. Technology can alter the carrying capacity but only up to a point when declining marginal returns set in.
• Higher level responses may recognise that it may vary with location, levels of technology, nature of the population.

Question 32

optimum population

Answer 32

• where there are the right number of people (1) to make full use of the available resources (1) to achieve the highest standard of living for all
  (1)
• the population that an area can support sustainably (1) while enabling all (1) to have a good quality of life (1)

Question 33

Outline two reasons why optimum population is difficult to achieve.

Answer 33

• about the number of people, e.g. dynamism, migration, counting
• about the available resources, e.g. innovation, finding new mineral resources, technological changes, e.g. agricultural technology
• because it is a theoretical concept not well-suited to 21st century reality

Question 34

With the help of examples, explain the causes of food shortages.

Answer 34

Explanations include: low investment/lack of technology; soil exhaustion; population increase; transport difficulties; poor economic management; natural disasters (e.g. floods, cyclones); pests, crop diseases.

Question 35

‘The consequences of food shortage are always negative.’

Answer 35

Candidates may assess consequences in a number of dimensions, for example, negative demographic consequences include hunger, malnutrition, starvation, death and outmigration. Positive economic consequences may include innovation and a better road system. Environmental consequences include degradation (negative) and investment in irrigation (possible both positive and negative)

Question 36

Compare the meaning of the terms birth rate and fertility rate

Answer 36

• Birth rate is the number of live births per thousand people in one year. It can be expressed either per 1000 or as a percentage (%). 3 marks
• Whereas fertility rate is the average number of children each woman of child-bearing age (usually 15 to 50 years) in a population will bear. (A fertility rate of 2.1 is known as replacement level.) 4 marks

Question 37

With the aid of examples, explain why fertility rates are very low in some countries

Answer 37

The explanation may draw on the following factors:
* demographic, e.g. stable low birth rate
* economic, e.g. women’s career goals, cheap contraception
* social, e.g. education, social norms, attitudes, e.g. children as a burden
* political, e.g. success of anti-natal policy, investment in education and healthcare

Question 38

Evaluate the usefulness of the demographic transition model (DTM) in understanding changes in the birth rate over time.

Answer 38

• The DTM is descriptive, showing on a graph the expected changes in the birth rate (and the death rate, which is not relevant here). It can help to understand what happens to the birth rate over time (Stages 1–5), and when it happens, but not why the changes occur
• Eurocentric and historically
  based and less useful for LICs/MICs or countries with a strong population policy operative, which England did not have. There may be comments on timescale and speed of transition, for example, in relation to the transfer of technologies from HICs to LICs

Question 39

Define the concept of underpopulation

Answer 39

An area is underpopulated when there are too few people/workers (1) to exploit their resources (efficiently) / to realise the economic potential of an area (1) to support its population’s standard of living / to provide economic growth/development (1)

Question 40

Suggest two problems that underpopulation causes for an area when developing its resources.

Answer 40

• Labour shortage
• Higher cost of providing services
• Lower productivity
• Lack of taxation to develop infrastructure
• Less innovation to develop technology

Question 41

With the aid of examples, explain the consequences for an area caused by food shortages

Answer 41

• Malnutrition and diseases related to malnutrition
• Famine
• Less resistance to other diseases
• Lower productivity
• Price rises
• Unrest
• Dependency on imports
• Aid dependency
• Development of vicious circles
• Out migration
• Other

Question 42

Describe the problems of an ageing population

Answer 42

• poverty in aged group
• lack of taxation revenue
• smaller and more pressurised workforce
• raising of pension age and increased contributions
• issues for health and welfare services
• costs of adaptations to built environment and to service providers
• other problems

Question 43

With the aid of examples, explain how the dependency ratio would be expected to change over time according to the demographic transition model (DTM)

Answer 43

• Stage 1 to 2 increase in working age groups lowers ratio but young dependents has increased
• Stage 2 to 3 rise of working group continues and extends to higher ages, youthful element has fallen, aged dependents continue to increase – overall ratio falls
• Stage 3 to 4 relative rise of older age groups and fall of young dependents begins to change dependency to ageing from youthful
• Stage 4 to 5 ageing population develops as young falls and working group ages – overall ratio increases