Population Flashcards
A study of population is the basis for understanding a wide variety of issues in human geography. To study the challenge of increasing the food supply, reducing pollution, and encouraging economic growth, geographers must ask ____________.
Where and why a region’s population is distributed as it is.
In demography, what does demos and graphy mean?
Demos = people. Graphy = writing.
What is demography defined as?
The study of human populations: their size, composition, and distribution, as well as the causes and consequences of changes in these characteristics.
Populations are never ______. They _____ or _______ through the interplay of three demographic processes: ______, _______, and _________. If some groups within a population grow or decline faster than others, the _______is altered.
Static.
Grow or decline.
Birth, death, and migration.
Composition of the whole.
The world’s human population at the end of the most recent ice age, about 10,000 years ago, was somewhere between ___ and _______ people. It had taken perhaps 1 to 2 million years for the population to grow to this size.
2-10 million
From 8000 B.C. to A.D. 1 the population doubled almost ______ times, to between _______.
Six
200-400 million
Between A.D. 1 and 1750, growth continued at about the same rate, ultimately reaching _______ by 1750.
550 million
The world population reached: 1 billion in \_\_\_\_\_\_ 2 billion in \_\_\_\_\_\_ 3 billion in \_\_\_\_\_\_ 4 billion in \_\_\_\_\_\_ 5 billion in \_\_\_\_\_\_ 6 billion in \_\_\_\_\_\_ 7 billion in \_\_\_\_\_\_
1804 1927 1960 1974 1987 1999 2013
The world population may reach:
8 billion in ____
9 billion in ____
10 billion in ___
2028
2054
2183
Currently the worlds population is _____. _______ are in more developed countries and ________are in less developed countries.
7,238,184,000
1,248,958,000
5,989,225,000
The natural increase per year for the entire world is ______. For developed countries its ______. For less developed countries its ______.
86,582,000
1,466,000
85,115,000
What are the top ten countries with the highest population?
- China
- India
- United States
- Indonesia
- Brazil
- Pakistan
- Nigeria
- Bangladesh
- Russia
- Japan
What percent of the world’s total population is in:
- Africa
- Asia
- Oceania
- Europe
- North America
- Latin America and Caribbean?
- 14%
- 60.5%
- 0.5
- 11.5%
- 5%
- 8.5%
What ten countries have the highest population growth rate in 2014?
- Lebanon
- Zimbabwe
- South Sudan
- Jordan
- Qatar
- Malawi
- Niger
- Burundi
- Uganda
- Libya
What is the Laurentian Shield? What does it explain?
A large area of exposed precambrian igneous and high-grade metamorphic rocks that form the ancient geological core of the North American continent covered by a thin layer of of soil.
It explains why more Canadians live near the border.
The Laurentian Shield is _____.
One of the world’s richest areas in terms of mineral ores.
Who was Thomas Malthus?
An economist and English orason
What did Malthus’ essay “An Essay on the Principle of Population” (1798) theorize? What was it a response to?
A theory on population dynamics and its relationship with the availability of resources. It was a response to positivist theorists that praised the “perfectibility of man” and claimed that human knowledge would act as a source of welfare and freedom for future generations.
What did “An Essay on the Principle of Population” postulate (two of them)?
- Food is necessary to the existence of man
2. The passion between the sexes is necessary and will remain nearly in its present state
What is the Malthusian Trap?
Malthus argued that the difference between geometric and arithmetic growth caused a tension between the growth of population and that of the means of subsistence. He believed that this gap could not persist indefinitely. He offered the gloomy prediction that in a short period of time, scarce resources will have to be shared among an increasing number of individuals.
What were Malthus’ eight population predictions?
- Subsistence severely limits population-level
- When the means of subsistence increases, population increases
- Population-pressures stimulate increases in productivity
- Increases in productivity stimulate further population-growth (i.e. rise in real wages)
- Since this productivity can not keep up with the potential of population growth for long, population requires strong checks to keep it in line with carrying-capacity
- Individual cost/benefit decisions regarding sex, work, and children determine the expansion or contraction of population and production
- Checks will come into operation as population exceeds subsistence-level (i.e. real wages cannot keep pace with inflating prices for food)
- The nature of these checks will have a significant effect on the rest of the sociocultural system — Malthus points specifically to misery, vice, and poverty
What are the positive checks to controlling population (Vice and Misery)?
- War
- Famine
- Disease/Pestilence/
Plague - Infanticide (bad nursing of children)
What are the preventive check for controlling population (Moral restraint)
- Celibacy
- Non-procreative sex
- Contraception (Malthus opposed artificial birth control methods on moral grounds)
- Homosexuality
What is the point of crisis in Malthus’ theory?
When the population passes the threshold of resources
Has the Malthusian Crisis occurred?
No
Malthus has been criticized on several accounts during the last couple of centuries. What are the three criticisms?
- Religious view (Protestantism), racist and elitist
- Failed to account for improvements in technology
- Enabled food production to increase at rates greater than arithmetic, often at rates exceeding those of population growth.
- Enabled access to larger amounts of resources.
- Enabled forms of contraception - Did not foresee the demographic transition
What is the demographic transition?
- The history of population growth and food production since Malthus’ time has been very different from what Malthus predicted
- Population has indeed grown rapidly, but food production has grown even faster
We maximize yields in ways that Malthus couldn’t/ didn’t imagine. What are some of those ways?
- soil chemistry and crop agronomy
- synthesis of ammonia from its elements
-use of nitrogen (1909+)
3.Organic fertilizers - Mendel (the laws of genetic
Inheritance) genetic crop improvement - The breakthrough in wheat and rice production in Asia in the mid-1960s,
which came to be known as the Green Revolution
6.Specialization, Simplification, Concentration
What are some concerns with human population growth?
extreme poverty, poor soils, uncertain rainfall, increasing population pressures, changing ownership patterns for land and cattle, political and social turmoil, shortages of trained agriculturalists, and weaknesses in research and technology delivery systems, all make the task of agricultural development more difficult.
We have many fragile ecological systems, where deeply weathered, acidic soils lose fertility rapidly under repeated cultivation.
‘Revolutions’ may just be temporary successes if the frightening power of human reproduction isn’t curbed.
What will cause the extraordinary burst in population between 1950 and 2050?
Transfers of successful death control measures (public health, nutrition, medicine)
- Before 1914, effective public health systems existed only in a few regions
- After 1950, vaccinations, antibiotics, sanitation measures and the fruits of other scientific research cut death rates everywhere
World wide, most progress in death control took place between _____ and ______.
1945 and 1965
What was the world's life expectancy for: 1800 1900 1950 2000
less than 35
about 35
about 45
67
Between 2000-2005, what five countries had the lowest life expectancy at birth?
Zambia Zimbabwe Sierra Leone Swaziland Lesotho
Between 2000-2005, what countries had the highest life expectancy at birth?
Japan Sweden Hong Kong SAR Iceland Canada
What are the leading causes of death in the United States?
- Heart disease
- Cancer
- Stoke
- Chronic lower respiratory disease
- Accidents (unintended injuries)
What is the first reason population growth is slowing down?
- First contraceptive pill became available in 1960.
- Other population controls (mandatory sterilization attempts in India, one-child quota in China, free contraceptives, legalized abortion, infanticide, abstinence, immigration laws)
What is the second reason population growth is slowing down?
Exuberant growth of cities. We have a 13 fold increase in the number of city dwellers in 100 years. This basic change in the human condition affected everything: morals, religion, identity, politics, ambitions, education, health, recreation.
What percent of the world’s population resided in cities in 2001?
50% (3 billion people)
What do cities historically mean?
Falling fertility rates
Why would population growth begin to slow after 1970?
Children are considered less economically useful in cities
Where cities predominate, people within a generation or two abandoned the normal agrarian emphasis on fertility and have fewer children
If this pattern persists, cities may once again resume their historic role as demographic black holes
The disease of affluence (overeating, lack of exercise, substance abuse, social isolation)
Children remain economically dependent on their parents for longer (well into their child bearing years) because it takes longer to acquire technical skills, credentials, social understanding, personal maturity that more and more jobs require
What is the third reason population growth is slowing down?
Fertility rates and death rates decrease.
What is fertility?
The number of births that occur to an individual or population
What is fecundity?
The physiological ability of individuals or couples to have children (max fecundity for women is around 15 children)
in 2006, The World Fertility Rate average was ____ or ________ babies
2.7 or 136 million
Women worldwide are having _____ children in their lifetimes, from an average of ____children born per woman in the 1950s to _______ in 2000.
All of the most recent projections put forth by the UN assume that levels of childbearing will continue to ______ in the next century.
Fewer
Five to 3
Decline
What is crude birth rate (CBR)?
The total number of live births in a year for every 1,000 people (i.e., a CBR of 20 means that 20 babies are born per 1000 people over a one year period)
What is the crude death rate (CDR)?
Total number of deaths in a year for every 1,000 people
What is natural increase (NIR)?
The percent by which a population grows in a year. You subtract the CDR from the CBR to get NIR (i.e. if your CBR is 20 and your CDR is 5 then you have NIR of 15 per 1,000 or 1.5%)
For world population growth rates, what is stage 1?
- Low growth
- High birth and death rates
- Poor health, harsh living conditions
- Low life expectancy
- The cultures in these societies tend to encourage high birth rates (through religious teachings and social pressures)
- Large families tend to perform a practical function (i.e. labor)
- The NIR is essentially zero (most of humanity’s occupancy of the Earth was characterized by Stage 1)
How many countries in the world today are in Stage 1?
Today, no country is in Stage 1
For world population growth rates, what is stage 2?
- High growth
- Begins around 1750 for several nations as a result of the Industrial revolution
- Falling death rates
What did the industrial revolution bring?
- Improved living conditions/ health practices (improved sanitation/ personal hygiene)
- Birth rates remain high (mother’s are healthy)
- The excess of births over deaths ignites a population explosion
What year did many countries enter Stage 2?
- Countries in Europe and North America entered Stage 2 around 1800.
- Most countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America entered stage 2 in 1950 (triggered by the medical revolution)
Why don’t the birth rates fall in tandem with the death rates in stage 2?
It appears as though societies are more willing to accept technological and medical modernization. Social attitudes are slower to change.
For world population growth rates, what is stage 3?
- Moderate growth
- Falling birth rates
- The gap between CBR and CDR narrows.
In stage 3, why did the gap between CBR and CDR narrow?
Driver by changes in social customs: fewer children, higher infant survival, urban lifestyle (children are not economic assets, smaller personal space)
What year did many countries enter Stage 3?
- European and North American countries moved from Stage 2 to Stage 3 in the first half of the 20th Century.
- Most countries in Asia and Latin America entered Stage 3 recently
For world population growth rates, what is stage 4?
- Low growth
- CBR equals CDR = zero population growth
- TFR of 2.1
- Driven by social custom
For stage 4 what are the five social customs that drive low birth rates?
- Greater portion of women enter labor force
- Urban lifestyle
- Wider choice of birth control methods
- Greater interest in leisure/ travel
- Parents ask themselves whether they think having kids will limit their freedom? How many children do they want?
The timing of ______ in less development countries is probably the key to the ultimate size of the world’s population
Fertility declines
- For developed countries, it took ____ years for most developed economies to go through their own demographic transition (from 1750 to 2000).
- Population growth never_________.
- 250
2. Surpassed the capacity of these economies to accommodate it.
- For developing countries, Demographic transition started in the _______ century.
- _____ have went through the transitory mutation.
- Most of them have a type ____ demographic transition.
- By the time they reach type IV, a huge amount of ______ will be added to their populations.
- 20th. (The most advanced segment after WWI. The least advanced segment after WWII.)
- Very few
- III
- population
A snapshot of global population growth rates shows an ______ between the Northern and Southern Hemispheres.
Imbalance
For the better part of my lifetime, women in the United States have had ____ children on average than women in Europe.
More
There appears to be a “a sharp _____ in fertility rates across the United States that appears closely tied to the economic recession that hit the country in approximately 2007
Decline
What are the three reasons a declining fertility rate in the US is not a forgone conclusion?
- Keep in mind that is “quite difficult to determine if economic changes are causing fertility changes, since other social and cultural factors may also be at play, such as changes in women’s labor force participation, contraceptive technology, and public policy” (Pison 2009).
- The fertility decline that occurs during an economic decline is postponement of childbearing and does not represent a decision to have fewer children
- “It’s too early to know if fertility will bounce back as the U.S. economy recovers, but preliminary evidence suggests that the fertility decline may indeed be driven by postponement.”
The cost of raising a child has ___ steadily since the U.S. Department of Agriculture began tracking the data in 1960. From buying car seats and strollers to paying for childcare and schooling, a middle-income family could spend an average of _______ to raise a child born in 2010 to age 18.
Risen
$226,920
“For years CONSERVATIVE [and liberal] Americans like to contrast the vigour and virility of their own country with the decadence and decline of Europe.” The American rate is now ____and _____. France’s is _____ and _____. The rate in England and Wales is _____ and ______.”
- 9 and falling
- 0 and stable
- 0 and rising slightly
What are the two reasons recession has reduced fertility?
- Migrants often cannot find work and go back home. Since they tend to have slightly larger families than native-born citizens, this reduces fertility.
Could fertility in America rise again?
“American fertility has proved resilient in the past and could bounce back. Indeed, it may already have begun to do so. The number of births fell by almost 124,000 in 2010 but only 46,000 in 2011. It is also true that fertility fell in most European countries in 2010-11.”
What are the possible reasons for the difference between Canada and the United States fertility rates (U.S is 2.05. Canada is 1.53)
- Difficulty entering the labor market (young unemployment rates are higher in Canada)
- Use of contraceptives
- Religion
- Marriage statistics/ rate (earlier and more often in the United States)
- Public health care system provides universal and free access to medical services
What ethnic and racial groups have the highest fertility in the US? What are three reasons why??
Hispanic women.
- A larger proportion of minority women are in their childbearing ages
- Hispanic, black, and American Indian women tend to have their first child at a younger age than do White or Asian women
- Hispanic women are more likely to become teenage mothers
Which five states in the US have the highest fertility rates?
Utah Arizona Idaho South Dakota Texas
Which five states in the US have the lowest fertility rates?
Vermont
D.C.
Rhode Island
New Hampshire
When looking at population pyramids:
- The slope of the pyramid indicates ______
- The width of the base is related to ______
- Proportions of men and women can suggest _______
- The height of graph indicates ________
- The “kinks” indicate ______ or _______.
- The area of of graph indicates ________
- Death rate
- Birth rate
- Male or female migrations
- Life expectancy
- Dramatic reductions in birth rate or increases in death rate in the past
- Total population - compare areas of different population age groups or different sex on one graph
What can the overall shape of the population pyramid indicate?
Whether a country is economically more developed or economically less developed.
What does a broad base pyramid mean?
- increase in food production
- build more homes and schools
- plan for more job opportunities for the young in the future
- consider implementing birth control programs/ campaigns
What does a narrow base pyramid mean?
- work out incentives to encourage more births
- Consider hiring foreign labor
- Think about the provision of proper medical services and health care for the aged and for expectant mothers
What is the average percent of people aged 60 years and older world wide in 2012? 2050?
20-24%
30% and over
Demographers tend to pay close attention to the people who are age dependents. What ages are they and what does that mean?
Ages: younger than 15 and over 65
They do not work on a full time basis
How do you calculate the age-dependency ration?
You divide the number of dependents by the working age population and multiply by 100
People in America still want to care for their parents when their old but…,
They are having children later in life so they have to raise children and support parents at the same time
What is happening to families in America?
Families are becoming vertical - fewer members in each generation but more generations alive at the same time
In 2000, ___ of the population was 65+. In 2030 _____ of the population will be 65+
1/8
1/5
What is China’s 1-2-4 (or 4-2-1) Problem?
- “In the 1950s and 1960s, the government tried promoting contraception, and then encouraged later marriages and longer waits between children. In 1979, China grew desperate and resorted to what’s known today as the One Child Policy. Under this policy, urban couples are limited to one child, while farmers and rural couples are limited to two.”
- “The policy worked. From 1960 to 1980, China’s fertility rate fell from six children per woman to two — the most rapid decline in fertility ever recorded.”
- “It was a win for the government, but many Chinese consider it the loss of a tradition.”
- “Families traditionally used to having many siblings around to take care of older residents suddenly find themselves faced with a problem” … “All the pressure is on one child to take care of his parent and grandparents and spouse’s parents. It’s too much for just one person.”
- “Researchers have dubbed it the “1-2-4 problem” — one child taking care of two parents and four grandparents.”
Who will most likely be the ones taking care of the parents and grandparents in China?
Daughters and daughter in laws
As fertility rates fall during the demographic transition, if countries act wisely before and during the transition, a special window opens up for __________.
faster economic growth and human development.
When does the demographic dividend occur?
The demographic dividend occurs when a falling birth rate changes the age distribution so that fewer investments are needed to meet the needs of the youngest age groups and resources are released for investment in economic development and family welfare.
You basically improve the ratio of productive workers to child dependents in the population
How long does the demographic dividend last?
The demographic divided does not last forever
- increase in the number of dependent elderly
- decrease in productive workers
- adults consume far more resources than children
- increase in pensions health-care benefits
- reduced expenditures on research and development
- a demographic trap
How can countries avoid the demographic dividend? What must they recognize?
- By importing human capital.
2. They must recognize that immigrants are not as young as newborns.
If the US wanted to maintain its current ration of workers to retirees - would have to absorb _____ immigrants annually. What problems does this create?
10.8 million
Security concerns, cultural backlash, supply
What factors might account for the illegal Mexican immigration surge in America since the mid 1960s?
- Postwar surge in births in Mexico
- Economic stagnation of the populous (esp. in the rural sector) = flight to big cities and the border
- Lack of productive lands
- Spread of education and mass media - raised expectations and awareness of US market and opportunities
- Growth of networks (assists new immigrants)
- A period of low unemployment in the US - entry level labor needed
- inadequate INS Border and Customs staffing
- LBJ’s Great Society War on Poverty - made the US look attractive for both legal and illegal aliens to access cross-border social services
- Mexican government’s encouragement of out-migration
- The U.S. Immigration Act of 1965 which redefined and eliminated the preferential treatment of immigrants.
Why did birthrates decrease in Mexico?
- The expansion of health services
- The low cost of importing effective drugs
- A pronatalist policy that sought to meet the labor needs of an expanding industrial sector
- The desire to populate the national territory all favored rapid demographic growth during the twentieth century
Between 1954 and 1974, Mexico’s population increased by ____ per year. Why is this important?
3%
The highest rate of population growth in human history
What did Mexico go through between 1940 and 1970?
A period of rapid and sustained economic expansion/ success.
- It was a marked contrast to the post revolutionary period
- High rate of agricultural and industrial growth
- Both public and private investment
- Internal and external price stability
- Manageable public deficits and foreign borrowing
Why did the population increase in Mexico?
Agrarian Reform
-Land was returned, redistributed, break up of the haciendas, limits placed on the size of private holdings
-the addition of more land for cultivation
-public investment in irrigation networks, construction of highways, farm to market roads
-an extension of the agricultural frontier
Support for the Industrial Sector
-Public investment in transport and communications, electric power, petroleum, iron, steel
-a wide range of employment opportunities
-But also investment in urban marginal populations
What were three reasons mexico ignored the population increase?
- Historical experience
- Guard against North American Expansionism
- Demographic toll of the Revolution/potential conflict
- Pronatalist Ideology - Delay in Quantification
- Not fully aware of the implications of the decline in mortality and the truth of natural increase
- It takes to time to collect data - Optimism
- The Mexican economy seemed capable/ able to absorb the alterations
What happened to Mexico in 1970?
Signs of strain
- public finance
- agricultural production
- balance of payments
Mexico’s ability to accommodate the accelerating population growth had been exhausted
- rural/ available land decreased
- food demand began to outstrip production
- urban squatting had increased dramatically but the ability to provide inexpensive housing declined
- the provision of essential services (transportation, water, electricity, food) presented immense budget problems
Results
- economic downturn
- increased foreign debt
- inflation
- currency devaluation
In 1985 President Ronald Reagan asserts the US has “lost control” of its borders to an “invasion” of illegal migrants. Why was this statement important? What were the repercussions
It connected immigration to the issue of national security.
Hereafter, immigrants (especially illegal) were often labeled invaders, criminals, drug smugglers
What was The Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA)?
- New resources were allocated to the United States Border Patrol for enforcement
- Sanctions were enacted to remove the lure of US jobs (i.e. penalization of employers)
- Long term undocumented residents were offered amnesty (LAW: Legally Authorized Worker program)
- Undocumented agricultural workers were offered a special legalization program (SAW: Special Agricultural Worker program)
Did the the IRCA succeed?
- As a tool for legalization for IRCA was a success
- As an enforcement tool intended to control undocumented migration the IRCA was a failure
- IRCA was instrumental in transforming Mexican immigration from a season, rural, predominately male flow into a settled, urban, and family flwo
Why was the IRCA a failure?
- The idea of returning to Mexico became unfeasible (when applying for legalization you basically lose the ability circulate)
- The build up of enforcement resources also helped to convince undocumented migrants to stay put
- IRCA also triggered additional migration (family reunification)
In the 1990s in America, what happened to Mexicans?
- Mexicans became scapegoats for everything
- Anti-immigrant sentiment led to the new restrictions (on benefits and the costs involved to sponsor relatives
- The result was a rush towards citizenship
- And crucially in 1996, the Mexican constitution permitted dual nationality
Why did the Mexican constitution permit dual nationality?
- It mobilized Mexican and American political rights.
- Immigrant voters could influence policy on trade and bilateral relations
- Potential investment in their home communities
Why do people migrate long distances to other countries? What kind of migration is this?
This is international migration and is influenced by economic activity
What kind of migration is a short distance and the person remains in the same country?
Internal migration
Why do people migrate?
Push: war, famine, drought, poverty, disease, lack of rights
Pull: higher incomes, lower taxes, employment availability
What is an area of origin?
Positive, negative and neutral factors shape the nature of people’s attachment to a place
What is an area of destination?
Positive, negative, and neutral factors also influence the attractive pull that destinations have on people. Prospective migrants typically have only partial information about the area of destination since they do not know firsthand
What are intervening obstacles?
These are factors that complicate migration, including transportation costs, distance, moving expenses, and if it is an international migration, the ability to get a passport or visa. Intervening obstacles vary from person to person. They also vary in terms of how difficult they are to overcome.
What are personal factors?
These are the considerations that make every migration decision a personal one, such as how children may be affected or even one’s personal attitude toward change. Deciding to migrate involves more than a simple weighing of pro’s and cons - it involves perceptions, emotions and sometimes information that may not be entirely accurate.
How many people live outside of their country of origin?
190 million people or 3% of world’s population
Globally, which countries have the most net-out migration? Which have the most net-in migration?
Net-out = asia, latin america, africa
Net-in= north america, europe, oceania
Which cities in the world draw the most migrants (in order)?
New York, Los Angelos, Hong Kong, Toronto, Miami, London, Moscow
What obstacles do migrants face?
1)Policies of host countries
Quota Laws, Visa issues, how refugee claims are dealt with, etc.
2)Cultural Issues
i) attitudes towards immigrants
security, racism, economic, melting pot vs. cultural mosaic, suspicion, fear of political unrest
ii) attitudes towards guest workers
brain drain (large-scale emigration by talented people)
unskilled and unneeded
What are refugees?
People who are forced to migrate from their home country and cannot return for fear of persecution because of their race, religion, nationality, membership in a social group, or political opinion.
Global refugee figure passes ____ for first time since second world war
50 million
What percent of Africa’s population are refugees?
23.4%
Who are IDPs?
Internally Displaced Persons.
They are person’s or groups of persons who have been forced or obliged to flee or to leave their homes or places of habitual residence, in particular as a result of or in order to avoid the effects of armed conflicts, situations of generalized violence, violations of human rights, or natural or human-made disasters, and who have not crossed an internationally recognized state border.
For decades they tended to be forgotten or ignored, but nowadays they probably form the single largest group of vulnerable people in the world.
Natural disasters have displaced _____ new people as of 2013
22 million
What are the top five absolute (total number of people displaced) displacement events in the world?
- Philippines: Typhoon Haiyan
- Philippines: Typhoon Trami
- China: Floods
- Bangladesh: Cyclone Mahasen
- India: Floods
What are the top five relative (people displaced per million inhabitants) displacement events in the world?
- Philippines: Typhoon Haiyan
- Saint Vincent and the Grenadines: Storm
- Philippines: Typhoon Trami
- Niger: Floods
- Seychelles: Storm
Why do people migrate within a country (inter-regional migration)?
- Settlement legacy
- Job opportunity
- Environmental reasons
Why don’t some people move? For instance, a homeless person in a cold place like Canada?
Situated knowledge. His knowledge of his space from experience is more valuable then anything else.
