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