POPULATION Flashcards
Define Birth rate
Number of live births per 1000 of the population per year.
Birth rate is usually high in less economically developed countries as there is less thought over family planning and contraception.
Define Death rate
Number of deaths per 1000 per year.
. Death rates are usually high in LEDCs because of a lack of health care and the amount of disease. It can also be relatively high in countries with an ageing population.
Define Infant mortality rate
The number of children that die before their first birthday per 1000 of the population per year. Also usually high in LEDCs because of the small amount of healthcare and vaccines that children will receive in MEDC.
Considered the most important as any money is usually invested in healthcare are protection for children
Define Fertility rate
The average number of children a women will have between the ages of 15 and 44. Normally high in LEDCs as there is a lack of contraception and sometimes it is vital to have a large family to work on the farms.
Define Life expectancy
The average age a person in that country can expect to live to. This is higher in MEDCs as there is a smaller death rate and a smaller infant mortality rate.
Define migration rate
The difference between the number of people who immigrate(in) and emigrate(out) per 1000 of the population per year
Define population density
Number of people living per square kilometre, larger figures are found in urban areas
Describe the demographic transition model graph.
Birth rate and death rate start high in stage one and population is low. moving into stage 2 the death rate drops and population increases rapidly as birth rate stays high. in stage 3 the birth rate drops and population continues to increase. The birth and death rate is low and fluctuating in stage 4 and the overall population starts to level out. The overall population starts to decrease in stage five as the birth rate drops bellow the death rate.
Describe and explain stage 1 of the DTM.
High fluctuating
Birth and death rate fluctuate at a high level, the population stays stable but low. No countries are currently at this stay but some tribes in the Brazilian rainforest are. There is no birth control, family planning and education is poor which contributes to the high birth rate, as infant mortality is high at this stage people also have more children to replace ones that may have died. Death rate is high and life expectancy is low because there is poor health care, sanitation and diet which leads to disease and starvation. Birth and death rate are around 35/1000
Describe and explain stage 2 of the DTM.
Early expanding
Death rate falls but birth rate remains high causing a rapid increase in population. There is still little birth control, education and family planning and children are needed for labour to tend to the family farm. However health care, sanitation and diet has improved which has increased life expectancy and reduced the death rate. Nepal and Afghanistan are countries that are in stage 2. Birth rate remains at about 35/1000 but death rate falls to about 15/1000.
Describe and explain stage 3 of the DTM.
Late expanding
Birth rates decline rapidly while death rate continues to fall steadily, the population increases but at a slower rate. Birth rates decrease due to use of birth control, family planning and improvements to education. The economy moves more towards manufacturing so there isn’t advantages of having a large family for a farm. More women start to work in this stages which also see a decrease in the birth rate, but it may also be movement from the government which has reduced the birth rate. Egypt is a country in stage 3. Birth rate drops to 13/1000 and death rate falls to about 10/1000.
The rise of Newly Industrial countries like Malaysia, Taiwan and Singapore have seen an increase in the number of countries in this stage.
Describe and explain stage 4 of the DTM.
Low fluctuating
Birth rate and death rate now fluctuate at low levels as the population remains stable but high. Birth rate stays low because of increased access to luxuries like holidays and technology means there is less money to spend on having more children. Most of Europe and the USA are in stage 4. Birth rate continues to fall to about 10/1000 and death rate remains at 10/1000.
Describe and explain stage 5 of the DTM.
Decline
For the first time the population starts to decrease as the birth rate continues to reduce. Children are becoming expensive to raise and many have dependant elderly relations to care for. The death rate remains steady as there are more elderly people dying of old age even though there are further improvements in health care. Japan and Italy are examples of countries in stage 5. They may experience problems as the workforce won’t be able to sustain the economy and large amounts of money has to be spent on healthcare.
How is the DTM useful?
- Gives a good generalised picture of how a population can change over time
- It’s easy to compare a country to the DTM and analyse what stage it is in
- It can be used to forecast how a countries population might change which can help governments when deciding whether to introduce policies and immigration laws
What are the limitations of the DTM?
- The original data was from developed countries and therefore may not be a valid representation for other countries who will not experience the exact same process
- The original DTM didn’t have stage 5, this has been recently added as countries no longer fitted in stage 4
- It doesn’t take into to account education and the role of women which have a large effect on birth rate
- Different customs in different countries will impact how and if they move through the DTM, for example the catholic church condemns the use of contraception
- Extreme poverty and low levels of development may cause a lack of population growth and prevent LEDCs from passing through all the stages
- The DTM can’t predict exactly when each countries will reach each stage or how long they will be in that stage for
- It doesn’t consider migration or other factors that affect a population so that it doesn’t fit, for example population control policies in china, infectious diseases like HIV/Aids in Africa and civil war in places like Rwanda, Sierra Leone and Sudan
Describe the population structures at each stage of the DTM
Stage 1 - high birth rate and low life expectancy - long shallow triangle- more younger people
stage 2 - high birth rate, higher life expectancy - steeper sided taller triangle
Stage 3 - Falling birth rates, base is thinner and more people life to older ages
Stage 4 - low birth rate, lots of elderly
Stage 5 - little births compared to the amount of elderly - population decline
What impacts does migration have on national population structures?
Internal migration from rural areas to urban areas within a country often affects the number of young adults that move to the cities to find jobs. This also affects birth rate as these young migrants are of reproductive age. In rural areas this gives the population structure a larger percentage of middle age/ elderly with a relatively large population of children and teens. The population structure of the city has the biggest proportion of working age young adults as well as young children.
Emigration away from countries at later stages of the DTM deceases the population. For example in the UK lots of retiring people emigrate from the UK to countries like Spain. This will reduce the number of elderly people in the population structure. In other countries emigration may be result of conflict and may see the majority of women and children fleeing the country which would change the population structure dramatically.
Immigration of people in LEDCS to MEDCs increases the number of working age individual in a country but reduces it in the LEDCs. These young adults are of reproductive age which leads to an increase in birth rate. For example immigration into the UK of young workers mainly in the agricultural services, lots of polish workers immigrate seasonally to Jersey for potato planting and picking.
Why does migration occur?
Push factors • Lack of jobs • Poor living conditions • Political persecution • Conflict Pull factors • Jobs • Better education and services • Better living conditions
What are the impacts of an ageing population?
Social
- Increased pressure on public services, greater demand for hospitals and hospices. More carers are needed for the elderly and more people will have to act as unpaid carers to their own family members.
- Unequal distribution of older people, in areas where there are plenty of old people services may change and there will be inadequate facilities for the youth but in areas where there are only a few elderly people they may get lonely.
- Reduced population growth as the working population have older dependants.
- Longer working lives to be able to support the number of retired people and supply pensions.
Economic
- Reduced work force means that a smaller proportion of the population is working which may slow economic growth.
- Increased taxes to pay for pensions and services.
- The elderly have saving and pensions to spend, grey pound, specialist services like life insurance and hearing aids will benefit that most.
Political
- Elderly issues will be important to voters, changing pensions or heating allowances
Immigration laws may be relaxed to encourage people of working age to enter the country.
What are the impacts of a youthful population?
Social
- Increased pressure on public services like schools and childcare.
-The large number of children will grow up to have their own families which will increase the population. This may lead to over population.
Economic
- Two few jobs leads to unemployment and dependency on the government.
- Increased poverty because children are born in to poor families and may have to help support their large family from a young age and miss out on an education.
Political
- The government may need to increase teacher salaries to encourage more people into the profession.
- Student loans and healthcare provisions will be an important issue.
How can a ageing population be managed?
- Encouraging larger families should result in a larger working population when the children grow up which can provide more taxes for better pensions and services. For example the Swedish government makes having children more manageable by giving both parents 18 months paid leave when they have children. This isn’t sustainable unless the needs of the growing population is met in a sustainable way e.g. low carbon homes and no emission transport.
- Raising retirement age makes the working population larger so more people contribute to the state pension fund and claim pension for a shorter time.
- Encouraging the immigration of working-age people to help support by paying taxes. In recent years Japan has increased its number of foreign workers to fill available jobs. This increases the population so again needs must be met sustainably
- Increasing health care provisions to release pressure on the health care system.
How can a youthful population be managed?
- Controlling birth rate helps towards sustainable development as the population won’t get larger but if the needs of the current population aren’t met in a sustainable way then it just stops the problem getting worse.
- Limiting the immigration of younger people
- Encouraging family planning
- Increasing child care provision to enable parents to work instead of caring for children which doesn’t manage the population but helps to address some problems associated with a younger population.
Case study - UK
Background in to population
The population of the UK is ageing, people over 65 make up a large increasing percentage of the population. In 2005 16% of the population were over 65 a figure which is expected to rise to 25% by 2041. Between 1980 and 2006 life expectancy grew by 2.8 years for women and 4 years for men to the current figures of 81.3 for women and 76.9 for men. Baby booms in the 1940s and 60s have contributed to this ageing population as it is these large generations that are starting to retire. There is also a falling birth rate so that make the proportion of older people greater.
Case study - UK
Problems with an ageing problem
- Pressure on the pension system – there isn’t enough working age to pay for the pensions of the retired population through taxes, 60% of the population are paying taxes that go towards the pensions of 19% of the population
- More elderly people are living in poverty – the state pension isn’t very large and many don’t have other savings
- Pressure on health care – the average stay in hospital in 2005 for someone over 75 was 13 nights compared to the UKs average of 8 nights