Population Change Flashcards
What is population density?
The average number of people in a country living in a sq km.
What is youthful population?
High numbers of 0-14 year olds comprise a population.
What is natural increase?
When birthrates are higher than death rates.
What is natural decrease?
When death rates are higher than birthrates.
What are the medical reasons for population change?
Better healthcare → longer life expectancy
In Malawi, there is funding to help reduce infant mortality by 60% by 2015.
Vaccinations for childhood diseases has decreased infant mortality in LICs.
What are the social reasons for population change?
Educating women about contraception controls birth rates.
Longer time spent in education means women marry later and have fewer children
Some religions discourage the use of contraception → higher birth rates
In UK, average child bearing age has changed from 24 to 30 in the past 50 years.
What are the economic reasons for population change?
Death rates in HICs vary → higher where there is poverty.
In HICs, it is expensive to raise children (£200,000 until 18 years old), so people have less
In Glasgow, death rate is twice as high as the affluent Dorset in the South.
What are the political reasons for population change?
Governments have had to increase taxes to pay for pension in HICs where birth rates are low and life expectancy is high.
Governments can introduce policies to encourage people to have children. e.g. Singapore, so they have enough workers to keep country rich.
Governments can introduce family planning. e.g. China’s one child policy.
What are the effects of youthful populations? Gambia.
Health: Few medical facilities → 11 mothers die for every 1000 children born; high infant mortality; poor sanitation; 1 in 10 children die before 5.
Education: no money to build new schools; 3000 children and 26 classrooms; lack of resources and equipment; women are not always educated on family planning → 75% women illiterate.
Housing: large family, small house; poor sanitation and not enough money for electricity; no running water → risk of diseases.
Employment: more children = more assistance on farm; more people = need for more services.
Case Study - increasing population in Singapore.
- As a result of the decline in the birth rate, in 1984 the Singapore government started to reverse the anti-natalist policy. In 1987 some pro-natalist policies were introduced.
- The phrase “have three or more children if you can afford it” was promoted by the government.
- Financial benefits were given to encourage female graduates to have more than three children.
- A baby bonus scheme was introduced which gave cash to new mothers.
- Singapore has also recently introduced carers’ leave for fathers.
- Other attempts to increase the birth rate have been to send out Valentine cards encouraging people to “make love, not money”. They also arrange weekend cruises to help match-make potential couples. These schemes have yet to be proved successful.
