Population Dynamics

Question 0

What are birth rates and death rates?

Answer 0

Birth rate is the number of babies born each year per 1000 people and the death rate is the number of people who die each year per 1000 people

Question 1

Why has the population growth rate changed?

Answer 1

The natural increase or decrease of population depends on the difference between the birth and death rates.

Question 2

Reasons for high birth rates

Cultural and social reasons:

Answer 2

• in many cultures the greater the number of children a man has, the greater is his prestige and standing in society.
• a desire for a son to carry on the family is important in many cultures, and parents will keep trying to have children until a son is born
• in many societies girls marry and start giving birth at a young age, so that they produce many children in their lifetimes

Question 3

Demographic reasons

Answer 3

Countries with a high proportion of females of child bearing age will tend to have higher birth rates.

Question 4

Economic reasons

Answer 4

• one of the reasons why parents have children in LEDC’s is to provide labour for the family’s farm, or extra workers to boost the family’s income.
• programmes in many LEDC’s to increase access clean water and proper sanitation- both if which are necessary for good health. Aid agencies from MEDC’s, such as water aid, play a part in assisting these projects.
• in poorer economies, the chances of a good education are limited to a privileged few.

Question 5

Reasons for high death rates

Answer 5

• the death rate in Russia gas actually increased since 1990, partly because of problems with alcoholism and smoking that have led to high rates of cancer.
• obesity, resulting from a fast food diet, is also likely to result in higher incidences of heart disease in the USA.

Question 6

Over population and under population

Answer 6

These conditions depend on the relationship between the population of an area and it’s resources. In an ideal situation, the entire population of a country should have a good standard of living by using the country’s resources to build a strong economy.

Question 7

The demographic transition model

Answer 7

The demographic transition model dips a simplified explanation of how the population patterns of countries alter over time- due to changing birth and death rates- as they move from rural, poorly educated societies to urban, industrial, well educated ones. The model fits what happened in Europe, the USA and Japan- but poorer countries might not follow the same pattern.