Unit 2 Population Change

Death rate: the number of deaths per thousand of the population per year

Birth rate: the number of deaths per thousand of the population per year

Natural increase occurs when the birth rate is higher than the death rate (population growth); and natural deacrease occurs when the death rate is higher than the birth rate.

The Demographic Transition Model (DTM) shows the five different stages of population change a country will go through.  The earlier stages in the model illustrate common features for LEDC's population, and the later stages portray the expected population patterns for MEDCs.

Population pyramids show population stucures at different stages of the Demographic Transition Model (DTM).

Stage 1: High birth rate due to lack of contraception, high death rate from poor healthcare, low life expectancy and the population growth is zero

Stage 2: High birth rate from lack of education, falling death rate from improved healthcare and population growth is very high

Stage 3: Falling birth rate from emancipation of women, death rate falls from better healthcare, life expectancy lengthened and the population growth is high

Stage 4: Birth rate is low due to urbanisation causing people to want to save their money, death rate is low and fluctuating and the population growth is zero

Stage 5: Birth rate is slowly falling due to elderly dependents, death rate is low and the population growth is negative

Rapid population growth can impact a country socially, economically and politically.

Social: 

• Healthcare services will not be able to cope with rising numbers
• Children are forced to work to support their families - so they miss out on education causing more unemployemnt in the future
• Lack of shelter will make diseases more likely to spread due to poor sanitation

Political:

• Goverment policies will be focused on the larger demographic (so more young people will mean more childcare policies, whereas more elderly dependents will mean more focus on pensions)
• The population will need to be controlled by the goverment - a sustainable example is Thailand and an unsustainable example is China

Economic:

• Increase in unemployment
• Increase in poverty due to people being born into poor families

Populations migrate within and away from their country of origin.

Immigration is when people move into an area; whereas emigration is when people move away from an area,

Push factors: high levels of unemployment, low quality of life and natural disasters

Pull factors: high levels of employment, better standard of living and better rights

Impacts of migration:

In the source country there is a reduced demand on services and economic migratants send money back. However their is a labour shortage and a skills gap is created; also their will be a higher population of elderly dependents without support.

In the recieving country there will be an increased work force and more people to tax, so services can be imporved.  However the competition for jobs can lead to discrimination, the demand for services is increased and money earnt by immigrants is sent back to the source country.