Population Basics

Question 1

Birth rate

Answer 1

The number of live births per 1000 people, per year.

Question 2

Death rate

Answer 2

The number of deaths per 1000 people, per year.

Question 3

Fertility rate

Answer 3

The average number of children a woman will have between the ages of 15 and 44 (reproductive age).

Question 4

Infant mortality rate

Answer 4

The number of children (out of every 1000 born alive) who die before their first birthday.

Question 5

Life expectancy (longevity)

Answer 5

The average age (in years) a person can expect to live.

Question 6

Migration rate

Answer 6

The difference between the number of people who migrate in (immigrants), and the number of people who migrate out (emigrants) per 100 000 (or 1000) of the population, per year.

Question 7

Population density

Answer 7

The number of people per square kilometre. It’s the total population divided by the size of the area.

Question 8

Natural change

Answer 8

The change in population (increase or decrease) because of the difference between birth rate and death rate (not including changes due to migration).

Question 9

Zero growth rate

Answer 9

The population is neither increasing nor decreasing.

Question 10

What is the demographic transition model?

Answer 10

Shows how the population of a country changes over time through five stages.
The model shows changes in birth rate, death rate and total population.

Question 11

What is stage 1 like in the demographic transition model?

Answer 11

Birth rate and death rate fluctuate at a high level- the population remains stable but low.

1) Birth rate is high because there’s no birth control or family planning and education is poor.
2) It’s also high because there’s high infant mortality, so people have more children to replace those that have died.
3) Death rate is high and life expectancy is low because there’s poor health care, sanitation and diet- leading to disease and starvation.

Question 12

What is stage 2 like in the demographic transition model?

Answer 12

Death rate falls, but birth rate remains high- the population increases rapidly.

1) Birth rate is still high as there’s still little birth control or family planning and education is poor.
2) Birth rate also stays high for labour reasons- family members all have to work.
3) Death rate falls and life expectancy increases due to improved health care, sanitation and diet.

Question 13

What is stage 3 like in the demographic transition model?

Answer 13

Birth rate declines rapidly, while death rate falls slowly- the population increases at a slower rate.

1) Birth rate decreases due to the increased use of birth control and family planning, and improvements in education.
2) Birth rate also drops as economy moves towards manufacturing- not farming.
3) Drops still as more women work rather than stay at home to bring up children.
4) Some governments have population policies to reduce birth rate.

Question 14

What is stage 4 like in the demographic transition model?

Answer 14

Birth rate and death rate fluctuate at a low level- the population remains stable but high.
Birth rate stays low because of increased access and demand for luxuries = less money for having children.
There are fewer advantages to having children.

Question 15

What is stage 5 like in the demographic transition model?

Answer 15

Birth rate begins to decline further while death rate remains stable- population begins to decrease.

1) Birth rate decreases because children are expensive and many people have dependent elderly relatives.
2) Death rate remains steady as there are more elderly people so more people die (of old age) despite advances in health care.

Question 16

What is population structure?

Answer 16

The number or % of males and females in different age groups within a population.

Question 17

Internal migration (migration within a country)

Answer 17

Internal migration from rural areas to urban areas often affects the number of young adults (people of working and reproductive age).
They move away from the countryside into the cities to find jobs.
This is called rural-urban migration.
This can affect birth rate too as the migrants are of reproductive age.

Question 18

Emigration away from countries at later DTM stages.

Answer 18

Emigration away from countries at later DTM stages into other countries decreases the population of the country they’ve left.
E.g elderly people in the UK retiring and emigrating to other countries. This reduces the number of elderly in the UK, but increases the number in countries they move to.

Question 19

Immigration into countries at later DTM stages.

Answer 19

Immigration into countries at later DTM stages from those at earlier DTM stages increases the population of people of working and reproductive age.
This increases the population of young people and increases birth rate.