population

Question 1

The level of Development in a country describes the standard of living there. The key factors which affect standard of living are:

Answer 1

• Availability of clean water
• Availability of food
• Quality Healthcare
• Housing Standards
• Education

Question 2

what is the difference between developed and developing countries?

Answer 2

DEVELOPED countries have a high standard of living and successful economies.

DEVELOPING countries have a low standard of living and poorer economies.

Question 3

what are some climate factors that may affect where people choose to live

Answer 3

• People prefer to live where there is a TEMPERATE climate (not too hot or too cold with reliable rainfall).
• This makes it good for farming, building work and comfortable living conditions eg England.
• Very hot, very dry (Sahara Dessert) = water shortages / farming difficulties= food shortages or very cold places (Greenland) = too cold for farming.

Question 4

what about soil and vegetation affects population distribution

Answer 4

• Most people live where there are fertile soils eg England, good for farming = plenty of food

Question 5

what about the relief of land affects population distribution

Answer 5

• Most people live where there is flat land which is better for building transport links and factories = economic growth. Also easy to build homes, e.g., England.
• Mountainous areas e.g. Nepal are sparsely populated.

Question 6

how do natural resources affect population distribution

Answer 6

• People prefer to live where there are resources e.g coal, oil and gas (energy) and iron, gold and silver etc (minerals) which can be developed for industry
• So there will be jobs and money available, e.g. UK

Question 7

what is a preferred location for population distribution?

Answer 7

• Most people live where there are good transport links for trading e.g., near coastal ports like in the UK or near a major river e.g., Glasgow on the Clyde. This creates jobs and wealth.
• Fewer people live far from the coast in isolated areas e.g. countries such as Chad in central Africa.

Question 8

what are some man made factors that affect population distribution

Answer 8

1. JOB OPPORTUNITIES (INDUSTRIALIZATION):
   • People live where there are industries and businesses to provide them with jobs;
   • so they can make money and have a better standard of living e.g. London (South East England)
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2. TRANSPORT LINKS:
   • Areas with good roads and railways are good for trade and business and usually have many job opportunities, e.g. England. This provides people with money to improve their standard of living.
3. TECHNOLOGY:
   • Places with many universities and advanced technology usually have many successful industries like Hi-tech industries such as Electronics which provide jobs and money, e.g. London (SE England).
   • Technology also enables good housing, e.g. heating and lighting and high quality healthcare.

Question 9

how does the population grow?

Answer 9

The population of a country will grow if BIRTH RATES are HIGHER than DEATH RATES

Question 10

what is the BR

Answer 10

BIRTH RATE = NUMBER OF BABIES BORN IN A COUNTRY EACH YEAR PER 1000 PEOPLE.

Question 11

what is the DR

Answer 11

DEATH RATE = NUMBER OF PEOPLE DYING IN A COUNTRY EACH YEAR PER 1000 PEOPLE.

Question 12

what is the NI

Answer 12

RATE OF NATURAL POPULATION INCREASE = BIRTH RATE MINUS DEATH RATE (NI = BR – DR)

Question 13

what is LE

Answer 13

LIFE EXPECTANCY = THE AVERAGE AGE PEOPLE DIE IN A COUNTRY

Question 14

what is the IMR

Answer 14

INFANT MORTALITY = NUMBER OF BABIES WHO DIE EACH YEAR IN A COUNTRY PER 1000 LIVE BIRTHS

Question 15

On a population pyramid what does a wide base tell you?

Answer 15

WIDE BASE tells us there are

MANY CHILDREN due to a HIGH BIRTH RATE

Question 16

On a population pyramid what does a narrow middle and top tell you

Answer 16

A NARROW MIDDLE AND TOP tells us there are FEW OLDER PEOPLE due to a HIGH DEATH RATE.

Question 17

why is the Birth Rate high in developing countries?

Answer 17

1. People do not have access to contraception (to prevent unwanted pregnancies).
2. People are not educated about family planning (they are not taught how to avoid becoming pregnant)
3. Children can work e.g., on farms and bring money to their household.
4. As there are often no pensions or care homes, parents rely on their kids to look after them when they get old.
5. High infant mortality rates mean many children die young so people have large families to compensate.
6. Women are often not educated and have few career opportunities. They are expected to stay at home as housewives.
7. Women often get married very young so start having kids at young age.
8. Religions and cultures often promote large families and they are seen as a status symbol. Religions often discourage contraception.

Question 18

what can cause the Death Rate to be high?

Answer 18

Mainly due to POVERTY which leads to the following:

MEDICAL

1. Not enough doctors, nurses or hospitals available.
2. Lack of health education about prevention of diseases such as Malaria.
3. Lack of drugs to treat diseases such as AIDS due to unaffordable costs.
4. Many people are not VACCINATED against diseases such as Polio.
5. Many people live in isolated rural areas far from healthcare.

SOCIAL (LIFESTYLE)

1. Poor quality housing e.g. overcrowding in shanty towns cause disease to spread quickly.
2. Poor SANITATION (lack clean water supplies and modern toilets)
   Cause diseases such as cholera.
3. Poor working conditions e.g. miners are frequently killed in accidents and affected by diseases such as cancer caused by toxic fumes.

DIET

1. Difficult farming conditions lead to Food shortages causing starvation.
2. Unbalanced diet (e.g. not enough vitamins) causing malnutrition leading to disease like Kwashiorkor.
3. Poor food hygiene e.g. no fridges / freezers poor kitchen hygiene leading to diseases such as typhoid.

Question 19

what does a narrow base on a population pyramid tell you

Answer 19

NARROW BASE tells us there are

FEW CHILDREN / YOUNG ADULTS due to LOW BIRTH RATE

Question 20

what does a wider middle and top tell us on a population pyramid

Answer 20

WIDER MIDDLE AND TOP tells us there are

MORE OLDER PEOPLE due to LOW DEATH RATE

Question 21

why is the Birth Rate low in developed countries?

Answer 21

Birth rate is low in DEVELOPED COUNTRIES for the following reasons

1. Contraception such as condoms are readily available to prevent unwanted pregnancies
2. Family planning advice easily available to adults and sex education is compulsory in schools
3. Children are an ECONOMIC BURDEN. They are not allowed to work and cost money for food clothing and housing
4. Better equality for women: All Women are educated to high school level and most have careers.
5. Women get married later in life so have less time to have kids.
6. Large families are not promoted by culture in developed countries any more. (They not seen as a status symbol)
7. Religion is less important in developed countries so people are more willing to use contraception
8. Infant mortality is low so couples don’t need many kids to compensate for children they lose.
9. Good Pensions and social care mean children are not needed to look after elderly parents.

Question 22

why is the Death Rate low in developed countries

Answer 22

MEDICAL

1. Many doctors, nurses and hospitals available e.g. NHS provides free healthcare to everyone in UK
2. Good health education in schools e.g. healthy diet to prevent heart disease
3. High technology to detect diseases such as cancer with scanners and treat diseases with surgery e.g. heart bypass.
4. Drugs readily available e.g. expensive AVR drugs to treat AIDS.
5. Most children vaccinated against diseases such as Polio.

SOCIAL

1. Good quality Housing with little overcrowding and good heating systems.
2. Good sanitation: Clean water supplies and good sewage systems to prevent diseases such as Cholera.
3. Good working conditions with strict health and safety rules to prevent accidents.

DIET

1. Modern farming = Plenty of food available = less malnutrition.
2. Good food hygiene and storage facilities reduce diseases such as Typhoid.

Question 23

what are some population problems with developing countries

Answer 23

RAPIDLY GROWING POPULATION
Due to HIGH BIRTH RATE

1. Huge numbers of children at present therefore
   a. Not enough schools = many children uneducated
   b. Shortage of maternity hospitals = high infant mortality
   c. Shortage of vaccinations and lack of health care for children
2. In the future there will be too many adults
   Therefore the government will not be able to provide enough

a. Jobs – Unemployment
b. Housing – resulting in Shanty towns
c. Healthcare – not enough hospitals or doctors
d. Clean water – leading to disease such as cholera
e. Food.- Malnutrition / health problems.
3. Due to the cost of providing services for the growing population, the government will have no money to invest in improving the country which will mean a very low level of DEVELOPMENT

Question 24

How could we solve the problems with a growing population

Answer 24

GOVERNMENT MUST TRY TO REDUCE BIRTH RATES e.g.

1. Provide access to contraception e.g. free condoms.
2. Improve education about family planning for adults in local health centres
3. Provide sex education in schools. (explain why)
4. Improve education for women and encourage them to have careers thus encourage women to marry older.
5. Improve healthcare to reduce Infant Mortality: explain why
6. Offer families benefits eg pay less tax if they have less kids.
7. Limit child benefit to a maximum of two kids
8. Strict government policies which promote small families eg. China’s one child policy. Families lose benefits if they have more kids.
9. Ban child labour so children cannot earn money

Question 25

what are some future population trends in developing countries

Answer 25

Birth rate will continue to decrease as the country continues to develop; due to:

• Better access to family planning and contraception
• Better careers and education for women
• Children no longer needed to work
• Infant mortality decreases.

Death rates will also continue to decrease due to:

• Improved housing / sanitation
• Improved farming methods and diet.
• Improving health care and medical knowledge

Question 26

what is the population problem in developed countries

= an ageing (greying) population

Answer 26

Problem 1:
A Low Death Rate = MORE OLD DEPENDANT PEOPLE: Many old people who cost the government money for

a) Pensions: cost of pensions expected to increase by 400% in next 20 years
b) Healthcare: Old people need more health care for diseases such as cancer and heart disease
c) Sheltered Housing: Many old people are disabled and need adapted housing
d) Nursing homes: Many old people need 24 hour care due to dementia.

Problem 2:
Low Birth Rate = LESS ACTIVE POPULATION = Not enough young WORKING people causes economic problems

a) Shortage of workers in the future especially for unpopular jobs e.g. cleaners.
b) Shortage of SKILLED workers in future e.g. Doctors
c) Less people paying taxes so the government loses money
d) Less young people with new ideas and enthusiasm for business – bad for economy.
e) Government need to increase taxes.

f) Government need to raise retirement age. E.g. it will soon go from 65 to 68 in UK
g) Need to encourage more migrants to do jobs leading to racial tension and was main reason for BREXIT vote.

Question 27

Government solutions to the ageing population

Answer 27

1. Encourage people to have more kids by the following ideas

a) Reduce taxes for families
b) Increase Child Benefit (Government gives money to parents)
c) Better maternity pay for women

2. Raise the age of retirement
3. Encourage retired people to work part time
4. Allow more migrants into country to do unpopular jobs.
5. Encourage mums to work part time
6. Increase taxes for working people

Question 28

what are some future population trends in developed countries

Answer 28

Birth Rate will continue to decrease as:
- Contraception is used more often
- Children become more expensive in terms of childcare and cost of living.
- Women get married later and have better career opportunities.
Death rates will continue to decrease as:
- Medical knowledge improves eg treatment for cancer, heart surgery, stem cell research.
- Lifestyles are improving eg less smokers, heavy drinkers,
- Better awareness of healthy eating / improved diet.
- More opportunities for exercise.

Question 29

what are each stages of a Demographic Transition Model

Answer 29

STAGE 1 –
HIGH BIRTH RATE & HIGH DEATH RATE
LOW & STABLE POULATION (BR = DR)

E.g. Poorest regions of developing countries (Amazonian Tribes)

STAGE 2 -
HIGH BIRTH RATE BUT DECREASING DEATH RATE
RAPIDLY GROWING POPULATION (BR > DR)

E.g. Poorest developing countries eg Ethiopia, Somalia

STAGE 3 –
LOWER DEATH RATE & DECREASING BIRTH RATE
BUT POPULATION CONTINUES TO GROW AS BIRTH RATE IS STILL GREATER THAN DEATH RATE

E.g. More advanced developing countries eg India, Brazil

STAGE 4 –
LOW BIRTH RATE & LOW DEATH RATE
POPULATION IS HIGH AND STABLE (BR = DR)

Eg. Developed countries eg UK, USA

STAGE 5 - IN FUTURE
BIRTH RATE MAY FALL BELOW DEATH RATE SO TOTAL POPULATION WILL DECREASE.

Currently this is the case in Japan

Remember:
If BR = DR population stays the same (STABLE)
If BR is higher than DR then the population grows
(Even if BR is decreasing)
If BR is lower than DR then the population decreases.

Question 30

what is an indicator of development

Answer 30

Indicators of development are Statistics (Number Measurements) which can be used to measure how developed a country is.

Question 31

What are the social indicators

Answer 31

1. Life expectancy - (Average age which people die)
   High life expectancy indicates that a country has good healthcare. It also is likely to have good quality housing with good sanitation. There will be clean water available and people are likely to have plenty of food and a balanced diet.
2. Infant Mortality - (Numbers of babies aged 0-1 who die each year per 1000 births)
   Low infant mortality indicates the same factors as life expectancy (see above)
3. Birth rate -number of babies born each year in a country per 100 people (can also tell us about healthcare and standard of education in a country).
4. Literacy Rates - (% of people who can read and write in a country). This tells us how good education is and can affect the economy if education is good there will be many skilled workers for industry and healthcare.
5. Number of people per doctor - If there are many people and few doctors then healthcare is poor. Few doctors also suggests a shortage of educated people so poor education.

Question 32

why are social indicators useful?

Answer 32

These are USEFUL BECAUSE they tell us directly about peoples’ lives in a country e.g.

Question 33

why are economic development indicators useful

Answer 33

These ARE USEFUL BECAUSE they tell us how successful a country’s economy is (or how rich the country is). Rich / Wealthy governments have more money to spend on services such as healthcare and education. They can also build good quality housing with clean water and good sanitation. People also have more money to spend on food and housing.

Question 34

what are some economic development indicators

Answer 34

1. Gross national product: (GNP)

This is a measure of wealth. It tells us how much money a country makes each year from its industries and services. Rich countries can spend more on improving healthcare education and housing……….expand as above.

2. Percentage of people working in agriculture (farming).

In rich developed countries few people work in farming as most work is done by hi-tech machines. More people work in better paid jobs in factories and offices. In poor countries farms have fewer machines and more workers they also have less factories and services where jobs are available, so more people work on farms.

3. Energy consumption per person:

More developed countries use lots of energy e.g. oil and electricity as they have many industries and businesses. People also use a lot of electricity in their homes where they have lighting, heating and many appliances such as TV’s, and washing machines. In poor countries they have few factories or businesses as most people work on farms and homes are more PRIMITAVE.

Question 35

Sample exam answer

Choose one social and one economic indicator of development and explain why they are useful

Answer 35

Life expectancy (the average age which people die in a country) is a good social indicator of development because if a country has low life expectancy this tells us it is likely to have poor health care with few doctors, hospitals or drugs available. It also tells us the country is likely to have poor housing with lack of sanitation and clean water leading to diseases such as cholera. It could also indicate food shortages causing malnutrition and starvation.

Percentage of people in working agriculture: This is a good economic indicator because if many people work in farming then the farms are likely to be primitive with few machines and therefore not likely to produce much food. People may therefore suffer from malnutrition. Also, this indicates that there are few people working in industries or businesses, so the country will not make much money to invest in improving services like education and healthcare, thus having a low level of development.

Question 36

why are Single Indicators sometimes misleading?

Answer 36

All indicators are AVERAGES for an entire country so they don’t show differences within countries e.g. In Brazil cities like Rio are much more developed than the Rainforest

Problems of Social Indicators
- Literacy rates: Some social indicators only tell us about one thing e.g. Literacy rates only tell us about education and nothing about housing or sanitation etc.

• People per doctor: Doctors are not always needed for good healthcare; Some countries have very good basic healthcare with nurses prescribing drugs and vaccinations.

Problems of Economic Indicators
- GNP: Some countries like Saudi Arabia are very rich (due to oil) but the money is owned by a very small number of billionaires in the Saudi Royal Family. Most people remain very poor.

• Energy Consumption per person: This can be misleading as some highly developed countries such as Australia may have low energy consumption as they don’t need heating due to the warm climate.

IT IS THEREFORE BETTER TO USE A COMBINATION OF AT LEAST 3 INDICATORS rather than just one.

Question 37

what are physical differences between developed and developing countries

Answer 37

Physical reasons for differences in development

The following problems make agriculture, building of homes and factories and building of infrastructure (road, rail, energy supplies, water pipes and sewage pipes) very difficult:

1. Relief
   – Very mountainous countries e.g. Nepal difficult for farming, causing food shortages difficult to build transport links, homes and Industry- bad for economy.
2. Climate
   – Dry, hot climates with unreliable rainfall e.g. Somalia, Ethiopia difficult for farming (food shortages) and poor working conditions. (Affecting economy). Cold climates have short growing season.
3. Vegetation / Soils
   – E.g. Sahara Desert in Egypt, Tropical Rainforest in Brazil. Difficult for farming and building communications etc. (affecting diet economy, housing and services)
4. Natural disasters
   – E.g. Earthquake in Haiti: destroyed farmland, housing, hospitals schools, industry and infrastructure, reducing living standards and leaving country devastated
5. Availability of natural resources. (Brings in money to economy which can be invested in development e.g. of schools / hospitals etc.)
   - Saudi Arabia has benefitted from huge oil reserves.
   - Ethiopia has few natural resources.
6. Good location for international trade?
   - UK is an island with many ports for easy trade with Europe and USA. This boosts economy and creates jobs. Money is invested in development (new schools / hospitals /housing)
   - Many African countries are far from coastal ports e.g. Chad and it is expensive to transport goods overland. This prevents economic growth.

Question 38

what are some human factors that affect development

Answer 38

1. Industrialisation

In rich developed countries eg UK there are more manufacturing and service industries. Most people are employed in factories and services (shops / offices) therefore;

a. They have well paid jobs and good working conditions.
b. There are more jobs available so less unemployment
c. These industries make lots of money for the government to invest in housing/health/education.

In poor developing countries there are few industries and most people work on farms, therefore

a. They have poorly paid difficult jobs.
b. There is more poverty and unemployment.
c. The government does not make much money to improve Standard of life

2. Population growth – Most developing countries have a rapidly growing causing:

-housing shortages and overcrowding, eg shanty towns (Mumbai)
-lack of available healthcare and education.
-job shortages, unemployment.
-food shortages and lack of clean water.
-traffic congestion and overcrowded transport.
(Also see Mumbai notes)

3. War
   - Countries such as Syria, which are at war, have had houses, schools, transport and hospitals destroyed.
   - Few people are working in industry and services as they are fighting.
   - Most of the government’s money is being spent on the war and there is little being spent on improving living standards.
4. Unfair trade - PTO for details

Unfair Trade –

a. Countries in the EU have trade barriers and taxes which make it difficult for poorer countries eg Kenya to sell their products to them.
b. Most exports from poor developing countries (Ethiopia/ Kenya) are very low value goods eg bananas, coffee beans. These are called primary goods.
c. The price of these goods is controlled and kept low by powerful rich nations such as the USA who refuse to pay higher prices.
d. Developing countries need to import expensive manufactured products such as computers and farm machinery as they don’t have the technology to produce them.
e. They get into debt as they don’t make enough money from selling their cheap exports to pay for their expensive imports.

Low value of exports – High cost of imports = Trade Deficit = Debt = Poverty

Question 39

Sample exam answer

Choose one physical factor and one human factor and explain how they affect development

Answer 39

Relief is a physical factor which can affect development because in countries which are mountainous such as Ethiopia it is difficult to farm and grow crops which could lead to food shortages. It is also difficult to build transport links and there is little flat land for factories, so the country cannot develop industry and remains in poverty.
Population growth is a human factor which affects development as in countries such as India with rapid growth, it is difficult for the government to provide enough housing for all so people end up living in slums. There is not enough healthcare for also people die of diseases such as Ebola. Schools area overcrowded and many children are not educated, causing further problems for the economy.