Population

Question 1

What are limits and targets?

Answer 1

Help manage international migration.
Limits and targets are set to ensure that countries don’t let in too many or too few migrants.
Target set by looking at job availability and public opinion.
If the limit is reached that year, no more migrants are allowed in.

Question 2

What is controlling illegal migration?

Answer 2

Helps control international migration.
Lots of countries have problems with people entering illegally or staying after they should have left.
In many countries illegal immigrants can be arrested and forced to leave.

Question 3

CASE STUDY - how has the UK changed how it manages immigration?

Answer 3

Immigrants entering the UK aren’t limited in number, but they have to register under the Worker Registration Scheme in order to work.
This lets UK Boarder Agency monitor how many people are entering the country, what work they’re doing and the effect of this on the economy.
The large number of immigrant has caused complaints in the UK about lack of resources for these immigrant.
The UK tightened immigration from two of the newest EU states, Bulgaria and Romania.

Question 4

Birth rate definition.

Answer 4

The number of live babies born per thousand of the population per year.

Question 5

Death rate definition.

Answer 5

The number of deaths per thousand of the population per year.

Question 6

What is happening to the world population?

Answer 6

It’s growing at an exponential rate

Question 7

Natural increase definition.

Answer 7

The number of people added to or lost from the population per year for every 1000 people.

Question 8

Population growth rate definition

Answer 8

The number of people added to or lost from the population each year as a result of natural increase and net migration. Given as a %.

Question 9

What are point-based systems?

Answer 9

Help manage international migration.
Let countries choose who they want to let in.
People are given points based on age, education, work experience and whether they speak the language.
Only those with enough points are allowed in, so in theory only the most skilled immigrants who’ll adapt will are allowed to enter.
Australia, New Zealand and Canada use systems like this.

Question 10

Replacement level definition.

Answer 10

The average number of children born per woman for the population to be replaced is 2.1.

Question 11

Factors that affects birth rate.

Answer 11

Family planning - provides and encourages free contraception which decreases the BR.
Urbanisation - People move to urban areas and they want more possessions, so there is less money to be spent on children therefore the BR decreases.
Women’s rights - Women are educated and become more influential which encourages the use of contraception and decreases the BR.
Healthcare - As healthcare improves, babies are born healthier and more safely which increase the BR.

Question 12

Factors that affect death rate.

Answer 12

Disease - Diseases such as cholera can spread in dirty water which increases the DR.
Natural disasters - Floods, earthquakes and volcanic eruptions increase DR.
Healthcare - As healthcare improves, people are more likely to be cured from their illness, which decreases DR.
Healthcare - Bad healthcare where lots of ill people are in one room causes the spread of diseases and increase the DR.

Question 13

Strengths of the Demographic Transition Model.

Answer 13

Shows change through time.
Describes what happened in the UK.
Many other countries in Europe and N. America went through similar change as they industrialised.
Some NICs such as Singapore & S. Korea went through similar stages, but faster.
Helps explain what happened and why.

Question 14

Limitations of the Demographic Transition Model.

Answer 14

Based on experiences of industrialised countries, not relevant to non-industrialised countries.
The stages don’t always happen at the same rate.
Original model has been adapted to include stage 5 and stage 5 is a prediction.

Question 15

5 stages of the Demographic Transition Model.

Answer 15

Stage 1
Birthrate: high and fluctuating
Death rate: high and fluctuating
Population growth rate: 0
Population size: low and steady
Example countries: no counties, some tribes in Brazil

Stage 2
Birth rate: high and steady
Death rate: rapidly falling
Population growth rate: v high
Population size: rapidly increasing
Example countries: Gambia

Stage 3
Birth rate: rapidly falling
Death rate: slowly falling
Population growth rate: high
Population size: increasing
Example countries: Egypt

Stage 4
Birth rate: low and fluctuating
Death rate: low and fluctuating
Population growth rate: 0
Population size: high and steady
Example countries: UK, USA

Stage 5
Birth rate: slowly falling
Death rate: low and steady
Population growth rate: negative
Population size: slowly falling
Example countries: Japan

Question 16

Overpopulation definition.

Answer 16

Too many people, so the government can’t provide enough resources for them e.g. traffic jams, unemployment and homelessness.

Question 17

Under-population definition.

Answer 17

Not enough people to provide services and afford resources e.g. it costs more per capita to build a road.

Question 18

Optimum population definition.

Answer 18

When resources and population are equally balanced.

Question 19

CASE STUDY - How does Kerala, India control population growth?

Answer 19

Adult literacy - the population is more educated and is more aware of birth control
Healthcare - more family planning, free contraception
Women’s rights - tradition that girls go to school which makes them more focuses on careers, so they marry later, have children later and have less children
Employment structure - attitudes to working women is positive, so women focus on their careers and get married later
Family planning - more family planning and free contraception provided.

Question 20

CASE STUDY - What is China’s one-child policy?

Answer 20

Introduced in 1979.
Couples are very strongly encouraged to only have one child.
Couples who have one child are given benefits like longer maternity leave, better housing and free education for the child. Couple who have more than one child don’t get benefits and are fined.
There are some exceptions to the policy. In rural areas, couples are allowed to have a second child if the first is a girl or disabled because children are needed to do farm work. Also, if one of the parents is disabled or if both parents are only children, they are allowed to have a second child so that there are enough people to look after the parents.

Question 21

CASE STUDY - How effective is China’s One-Child Policy?

Answer 21

The policy has prevented 400 million births. The fertility rate has dropped for 5.7 in 1970 to 1.8 today.
Some say that if wasn’t just this policy that slowed population growth. They say that older policies about leaving bigger gaps between children were more effective and Chinese people want fewer children anyway because they’re wealthier.

Question 22

What causes an ageing population?

Answer 22

Better healthcare - screening for cancers, cholesterol level checks, blood pressure checks, etc.
Good lifestyle - eating healthily, varied diet, exercise, etc.
Women staying in education for longer - Women focus on their careers rather than family, so they have children later in life and consequently have less children.
Marriage at a later age - by marrying at a later age, people have children later in life therefore they have less children.
Expensive to have children - people can’t afford that many children or they want to spend their money on other things.

Question 23

What are the economic impacts of an ageing population?

Answer 23

The working population pay taxes to pay for pensions and services for old people such as retirement homes and healthcare. Taxes would go up because more people need pensions and more healthcare.
The economy of the country would grow more slowly because less money is being spent on things that grow the economy such as education and businesses and more money is being spent on things that won’t grow the economy such as retirement homes.

Question 24

What are the social impacts of an ageing population?

Answer 24

Healthcare services are stretched more because older people need more healthcare.
People spend more time working as unpaid caters for older relatives, so the working population will have less leisure time and will become more stressed and worried.
People have fewer children because they can’t afford to have lots of children when they have dependant older relatives, so the birth rate drops.
The pension will become lower because there are more older people, so people will have to retire later because they can’t afford to live off state pension.

Question 25

CASE STUDY - How does Sweden cope with an ageing population?

Answer 25

13 months paid paternity leave for fathers - at 80% of their salary.
Extra money for couples if there’s less than a 30 months gap between children.
Child benefits paid for each child.
Sick child care - 120 paid days per child per year.
All-day childcare and all-day schools for all.

Question 26

CASE STUDY - How does Malta cope with an ageing population?

Answer 26

8000 mothers were given tax rebates totally €8 million.
Accessible childcare centres are provided across the island.
Many employees allow employers to work flexible hours.
The state accepts that some people with choose not to have families.

Question 27

How do countries cope with an ageing population?

Answer 27

Encourage larger families.
Encourage immigration of young people.
Raise the retirement age.
Raise taxes.

Question 28

CASE STUDY - What are the push and pull factors for Polish migration to the UK?

Answer 28

Push factors from Poland:
High unemployment - around 19%
Low average wages - about 1/3 of the average EU wage
Housing shortages - just over 300 dwellings for every 1000 people.

Pull factors to the UK:
Ease of migration - UK allowed unlimited migration
More work and higher wages - wages in the UK were good and there was a big demand for tradesmen
Good exchange rate - the pound was worth a lot of Polish currency, so sending a few pounds back to their families made a big difference

Question 29

CASE STUDY - What impacts did Polish immigration to the UK have?

Answer 29

Impacts in Poland:
Population fell by about 0.3% 2003-07 and birth rate fell as most people left were young people
Shortage of workers which slowed economic growth
Economy was boosted by the money sent home from emigrants - around €3 billion in 2006

Impacts in the UK:
Population went up slightly
Immigration boosted economy, but a lot of money earned in the UK was sent back to Poland
New shops selling Polish products opened to serve new Polish communities
Many Poles are Catholic so Catholic Church attendance increased.