Population Flashcards
Causes of population change
- tradition and religion (people may ban contraception) (or people want a boy)
- better education (on contraception) (dont need children for work)
- better living standards (children are less likely do die)
- more water sources
- migration (more people to give birth)
- natural resources (could increase GPD and help raise the economy)
- good healthcare (less death rates)
- fertile solids and flat land (could increase farm
- government policy (one child policy)
Elderly vs youthful population impacts
Young population - less working women as they are busy taking care of children, more education and healthcare is needed, future workforce, provides a growing market for children’s products,
Elderly population - more healthcare needed, larger workforce to support children, political parties more likely to appeal to the elderly, need more social care, decline in working age population, less tax,
Dependency ratio, its formula and limitations
Number of children (0-14) and elderly (over 64) / the working age population (14 - 64) x 100 = % of dependants
Limitations - a lot of students nowadays still stay in school above the age 14 and a lot of elderly still work above the age 64 also does not take the fact of unemployed people
Some of the factors can alter the dependency ratio
Causes of food shortages
- soil exhaustion
- drought
- floods
- pests
- plant disease
- population growth
- fewer workers
- Climate hazards
Consequences of shortages
Social
- malnutrition
- starvation
- death
- migration
- deficiencies
- Less resistance to other diseases
- Break up of family/community as some leave to find food
- cant properly work
Economic
- less productive workers (malnutrition)
- deaths, less workers
- increased food prices
Solutions to shortages
- technology and innovation
- importing food
- GMO
- better fertilisers pesticides
- growth hormones
- immigration
Two theories on population growth
Esther Boserup
- . She believed that no matter how large the world’s population increased, people would always be able to produce enough food to suit their requirements. She prophesied that when the world’s food supply became depleted, people would respond with technical advancements that would improve food production. Therefore carrying capacity will increase
Increase in ovulation doesn’t always result in innovations
Sometimes there are factors that render food increase, like environmental factors such as weather and unusable land
Thomas Malthus
- that the rate of global population growth would inevitably result in a population larger than could be fed and there would eventually be too many people for the available food. He predicted a disaster including hunger and conflict which will lead to a sharp drop in population numbers,
he also assumed food deficit for the entire population however its just the poor go hungry
He didn’t take in account globalisation and trade and technology
Malthus views are correct in some underdeveloped countries like India Bangladesh and some African countries
Carrying capacity
The carrying capacity of an environment is the maximum population size
(1) of a biological species that can be sustained in that specific environment without damaging the environment and the living standards deteriorating
Optimum population
An economic concept for where population is in balances with the available resources
It is hard to move from an overpopulation/underpopulation to an optimum population and there are many ways to do so
China one child policy
- lots of sterilisations and contraception
- forced abortions
- gender ratio imbalanced
- girls abandoned and killed
- twins is okay having one mentally unstable u can have another
- if u have a girl u can have another
- prizes if u have one child
- consequences if u have more than too
Stages,
- High death rates and high birth rates
- High birth rates, death rates fall, therefore natural increase
- birth rates begins to fall death rates have fallen
- Death rates fall even more, lower birth rates
- Death rates remain the same, even lower birth rates, natural decrease
Overpopulation
Pressure on services eg: health care for early ages more pre/post natal support
Expansion of education provision
Increased food supply
Pressure on resources
Overcrowding, spread of diseases
Dependency ratio increases
Underpopulation problems
More tax
Shortage of workers
Too much resources, underutilisation of resources, wasted resources
Business and services will have not many customers, shut down
Increased immigration to fill labour shortages
Underpopulation causes
HICs
Low birth rates, women rather work than raise children (due to high education)
Cost of living is too high to raise children
Contraception is well known
Decrease in death, high life expectancy, as they have good healthcare and good quality of life
Government Policies
Less need for children to work so lower birth rates
LICS
People move too other countries to seek more opportunity, (pull factors)
Less opportunity in the country so people wont come here, place is more unattractive (push factors)
Lots of death rates poor healthcare
Both
Physical difficulties living in certain environments eg: relief and climate and water issues
Technology that can increase food production
drip irrigation - directs water to roots of plants (so most is absorbed) and leads to greater/faster growth/less competition with weeds.
Fertilisers/Pesticides - increase the growth of the plants and reduce the incests eating it
GM seeds
Fertility rate
Total fertility rate is the number of children that would be born per 1000 women
in LICS
- higher fertility rates (generally)
In HICs
- lower fertility rates (generally)
Food security
The concept of food security may be outlined as:
When all people have access to sufficient, safe, nutritious food to maintain an active healthy life
environmental consequences of increasing food production.
- Overcultivation leading to soil erosion
• Clearance of vegetation (desertification)
• Loss of biodiversity/ecosystem, habitat loss
• Pressure on water supplies leading to drought/increased salinity
• Pollution
Probelms for rural settlements caused by underpopulation
Ageing population structure; changes in rates of births, fertility, deaths
• Disruption of family structure and responsibilities
• Reduction in standard of living
• Service provision
• Lack of workforce; rising wages; skills loss
• Environmental decline
Causes of an elderly population
Socio- economical reasons
- Economic development influencing personal goals
• increased costs of raising children
• increased literacy and education of girls and women
• increased availability, accessibility and affordability of contraception
policies governments may use to lower fertility rates.
• access to family planning
• improving infant and maternal health
• information and/or education
• social and/or economic empowerment of women
abortion
• sterilisation
why the death rate falls before the birth rate falls in the DTM.
death rates can be reduced by improvements in basics such as water supply, sanitation, food supply, etc., which are applied to the whole population
developments in medicine that affect death rate taken up more quickly
acceptance of improvements to factors that affect basic standard of
living is easier than factors influencing birth rates
the need for a large workforce remains
factors such as culture, religion and the role of women in society
influence birth rates and are harder or take time to change
Why are death rates high
economic, e.g. lack of finance to support health care provision, immunisation programmes, infrastructure provision such as safe water, etc.
social, e.g. spread of communicable disease, e.g. AIDS, Ebola, COVID-19
environmental, e.g. natural disasters, climatic hazards
political, e.g. war and its wider impact
demographic, e.g. ageing population
underpopulation definition
An area is underpopulated when there are too few people/workers to exploit their resources (efficiently) to provide economic growth/development
Overpopulation, definition
As a population rises above the optimum population/exceeds the carrying capacity of that area, this causes an increases in pressure on resources
Environmental consequences of increasing food production.
Overcultivation leading to soil erosion
• Clearance of vegetation (desertification)
• Loss of biodiversity/ecosystem
• Pressure on water supplies leading to drought/increased salinity
• Pollution (air, water and land) through attempts to increase production
• Changes in (micro)climate, e.g. increased cattle numbers increase
methane/global warming
Natural increase definition
Natural increase is the difference between the birth rate and the death rate. Usually expressed as a %.
If the birth rate is higher than the death rate the population will increase.
Probelms with exceeding carrying capacity
• Soil erosion
• Water shortage
• Pollution (should be qualified)
• Species extinction
• Resource depletion
Why does overpopulation occur
Increased population due to high natural increase or migration
Increased levels of consumption by the population
Failure in the resource base due to a climatic or geological hazard e.g.
drought
Exhaustion of the resource base e.g. soils become exhauste
Suggest why there are more elderly females than elderly males in 6 many HICs.
Higher male death rates due to lifestyle (e.g. drinking, smoking), more dangerous work (e.g. building), etc.
Lower female death rate as fewer now die in childbirth, more female education so more aware of healthy lifestyles, tend to work in safer tertiary jobs
Males may have died in previous conflicts
Biological – there is evidence to show that female hormones provide
some protection against heart disease. Also, it is believed that females
have stronger immune systems.
In most HICs, the retirement age for women is/has been lower than for
men – so women may be less exposed to work-related stress, illness etc.
With the aid of examples, explain why infant mortality rates may decrease as a country develops.
The explanation may draw on the following factors:
Greater antenatal and postnatal care, as better health care
Increased female education, so mothers aware of risks e.g. smoking
Better diets – in both quantity and quality
Better housing conditions/less overcrowding
Better sanitation and water supply
Increased numbers live in cities where aid and health services can
better be provided
Women have fewer children (more birth control) so easier to look after
themselves and newborns
Women have children later in life
Infant mortality rate (IMR). Definition
The number of children who die under the age of 1 (1) per thousand live
births (1) per year (1).
Suggest two environmental factors that cause high infant mortality 4 rates (IMR) in LICs/MICs.
• disease carried by insects, e.g. malaria, water-borne disease such as
bilharzia
• other issues of water quality
• poor sanitation
• food supply issues caused by factors such as drought, flooding, storms,
pest, e.g. locusts, which influence the ability of parents and especially
mothers to feed babies or their general health
• extreme climatic events such as droughts, floods
• other environmental factors
What affects birth rates
Explanation of factors influencing fertility rates in HICs may include:
• female empowerment
• government policy
• health and diets
• cost of child-raising
• education/birth control
• factors leading to lower death rates
• low infant mortality rates
• compulsory education and working age limits
• other
Why death rates fall with the increased 8 economic development of an area.
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
Explain how low life expectancy of the population may be linked to low 5 levels of development.
Low level of development means few resources for the government
• Issues related to poor food supply and limited access to food
• High rates of infant mortality (due to disease, poor sanitation, etc.)
• Limited access to medical infrastructure/health care
• Lack of resources to control and/or treat disease
• Limited provision for pensions/social security, so poverty
mortality rate.
Mortality rate, or death rate, is
• the number of deaths per thousand (1) in a population (e.g. country,
region) (1) per year (1).
Explain why the dependency ratio may vary within a country.
• 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 area
