Population Change: Key Terms

Question 1

Death Rate

Answer 1

The number of deaths per 1000 per year in a country

Question 2

Fertility rate

Answer 2

Number of live births per 1000 women of a normal reproductive age (15-49 years) per year in a country

Question 3

Total fertility rate

Answer 3

The average number of children a woman in a population has in her lifetime.

Question 4

Replacement level

Answer 4

The desired fertility rate of 2.1 births per woman to meet the replacement rate

Question 5

Life expectancy

Answer 5

The number of years a person in a population can expect to live

Question 6

Longevity

Answer 6

The increase in life expectancy over a period of time

Question 7

Natural change

Answer 7

Birth rate - death rate.

Question 8

Infant mortality rate

Answer 8

Number of deaths of children under the age of 1 per 1000 live births per year.

Question 9

Migration rate

Answer 9

Measure of the balance between immigration and emigration

Question 10

Net migration

Answer 10

Immigration - emigration per 1000 people per year

Question 11

Population density

Answer 11

The number of people per unit area of land (usually km^2)

Question 12

Birth Rate

Answer 12

The number of live births per 1000 people per year in a country

Question 13

HDI

Answer 13

A composite statistic of GNI per capita, mean years of schooling, expected years of schooling and life expectancy at birth. It forms a scale from 0 to 1, with 1 being the most developed.

Question 14

Population structure

Answer 14

The composition of the population in terms of age and sex

Question 15

Population pyramid

Answer 15

Graph showing sex-age distribution of a given population. It shows. The age is shown of the y axis, percentage of population on x axis and sex shown on left/right sides. It shows the structure as one moment in time.

Question 16

Dependency ratio

Answer 16

A measure of proportion of a population which is composed of dependents (0-14 and 65+) compared to economically active (15-64). Higher ratio = greater dependency.

Formula = % aged 0-14 + % aged 65+ / % aged 15-64

Question 17

Support ratio

Answer 17

A measure of ratio between those who can provide economic support and those who need it. Inverse of dependency ratio.

Question 18

Old age index

Answer 18

A measure of proportion of elderly people in a population

Question 19

Juvenility index

Answer 19

measure of proportion of younger people in a population

Question 20

Migration

Answer 20

The movement of people from one home to another for at least a year

Question 21

Net migration

Answer 21

The balance between immigration and emigration

Question 22

International migration

Answer 22

Movement from one country to another, which involves crossing a border.

Question 23

Refugee

Answer 23

A person unable or unwilling to return to their homeland for fear of persecution based on race, religion, ethnicity or political opinion, or those who have been displaced forcibly by other factors

Question 24

Asylum seeker

Answer 24

A refugee who makes a formal application to stay and live in a country when they arrive

Question 25

Under population

Answer 25

There are too few people in an area to use the resources efficiently and technology. An increased in population would mean resources are used more effective, hence standard of living would rise.

Question 26

Overpopulation

Answer 26

There are too many people in an area relative to the resources and level of technology available locally to maintain a high standard of living. A reduction in population would result in a rise in living standard.

Question 27

Optimum population

Answer 27

There is a balance between the population size and the amount of resources available. This is a theoretical population that will produce the highest standard of living.

Question 28

Who are the optimists in the population resource debate?

Answer 28

Boserup

Simon

Lomborg

Question 29

Who are the pessimists?

Answer 29

Malthus (+ Neo-Malthusians)

Club of Rome

Ehrlich