population lesson 2

POPULATION

POPULATION • Birth rates

•Death rates

•Factors affecting the levels of fertility and mortality

BR, DR & Natural IncreaseBirths and deaths are natural

causes of population change.

The difference between the birth rate and the death rate of a country or place is called the natural increase

Natural increase = birth rate - death rate.

Measures of fertility CRUDE BIRTH RATE (CBR)

FERTILITY RATE / TOTAL FERTILITY RATE

REPLACEMANT LEVEL FERTILITY (RLF)

CHILD WOMEN RATIO

AGE SPECIFIC FERTILITY RATE

Measures of fertility CRUDE BIRTH RATE (CBR):

the number of births in a year per 1000 of the population

FERTILITY RATE / TOTAL FERTILITY RATE: the number of births in a year per 1000 women of normal reproductive age (15-44 age groups)

REPLACEMANT LEVEL FERTILITY (RLF): the level at which each level generation of woman has only enough daughters to replace themselves in the population

CHILD WOMEN RATIO: ratio of children under 5 years old to women of child bearing age (15-49 age groups)

AGE SPECIFIC FERTILITY RATE: a measure of the number of children born to each age-group in relation to the number of women in the age group

Measures of mortality

CRUDE DEATH RATE (CDR)

INFANT MORTALITY RATE (IMR)

LIFE EXPECTANCY

MATERNAL MORTALITY RATE (MMR)

AGE SPECIFIC DEATH RATE (ASDR)

Why are birth rates high?

Parents want children: For labour

To look after them in old age

To continue the family name

For added status in their community

Ensure survival of children

Birth rates in LEDCs Birth rates are high in LEDCs,

for example it is about 48 in the Democractic Republic of the Congo and 46 in Afghanistan. There are several reasons for this:

1. Children provide labour on family-subsistence farms.

2. There are no old age pensions, so children provide security for old age

3. Large families are seen as a sign of a husband’s virility

4. Girls are expected to marry early, which extends their child-bearing years.

5. Women stay at home and raise a family and with little education they do not know about birth control.

6. Some religion do not approve contraception.

7. High infant mortality encourage large families to ensure some children survive.

Birth rates in LEDCs

Why do birth rates decrease? It costs a lot of money to feed, clothe and educate

children

The government looks after people through pensions and health services

More women want their own career

There is more widespread use of family planning

As the infant mortality rate comes down there is less need for replacement children

Urbanisation and industrialisation associated with a decline in traditional beliefs and customs

Birth rates in MEDCs Birth rates are low in MEDCs e.g, UK, Sweden and

Germany. There are several reasons for this:-

1. People marry later

2. Women are educated and delay having a family so they can have a career.

3. High cost of living make having children expensive.

4. Some couple prefer material possessions such as car, house and holidays.

5. Birth control (the contraceptive pill in particular) is freely available

6. Government discourage large families in order to save the cost of building more schools

FACTORS AFFECTING FERTILITY & BIRTH RATE

Lower fertility rate does not immediately lead to lower birth rate & lower population growth rate if a country has a larger proportion of men and women in the reproductive years than before

In most part of the world, FERTILITY exceeds both MORTALITY & MIGRATION

Several African countries (Nigeria, Somalia, Uganda & Angola) have very high birthrates of over 50 per 1000 per year

On the end of the scale, Belarus, Bulgaria, Estonia, Italy, Russia & Spain have low birthrates of 9 per 1000 per year


Fertility rates vary within a country. Fertility rates will often be different between:

Rural and urban areas

Educated and less educated people

People of different religions

Different regions of a country(due to levels of education , % of population that is urbanised and religions)

Demographic factors

Education

Religion

Economic factors

Social and cultural factors

Modernisation & the changing fertility trend

Diet and health

Governments


DEMOGRAPHIC FACTORS Families try to compensate for high

infant and child mortality by having large number of children.

This is in the hope that some will survive.

In Sub-Saharan Africa, to replace those who have died with an IMR of 100 per 1000, a woman has to have ten children to be 95% certain that a male heir will survive to adulthood

However today, due to improvement in medical facilities and increase standard of living, parents choose to have smaller families when health conditions improve because they no longer have to fear that many of their babies might die.

DEMOGRAPHIC FACTORS

Education The more advance the level of education

reached, the smaller will be the average size of a family due to: Knowledge of birth control Greater social awareness of the benefits of

smaller families Higher incomes and desire for more material

possession More parents are sending their daughters to

school, which is important because women with basic education tend to produce healthier children and smaller families

ReligionThe Muslim and Catholic religions encourage large families

They oppose any forms of contraception

Hence these countries tend to have high birth rates

Economic factors In LEDCs children are seen as an economic asset.

They are seen as producers rather than consumers.

In other words children are seen as a source of cheap (free) labour on the farm, in the home or in sweat shops where the wage can help boost the family income.

In old age the grown-up children can help to care for the parent – thus children are an insurance policy.

Economic factor In MEDCs children are perceived as a

financial burden – as consumers rather than producers.

The cost of child dependency is a major factor in the decision to begin or extend a family.

In the UK there are tuition fees for Higher Education and student loans – the costs to the parents of the child could extend beyond 18 years and offspring often stay living at home into their 20s.

Economic factor In Sri Lanka economic growth between

1947 and 1952 led to greater spending on health care and so mortality declined.

In the UK as women entered the workforce large families became uneconomical. In industrial South Wales women are over 50% of the workforce and families depend on their wages.

Economic factor In times of economic prosperity and

stability birth rates can rise in MEDCs as people have more confidence about the future –e.g. the 1960s baby boom.

In LEDCs although treatments may be available in theory in practice they can’t be afforded – e.g. HIV drugs available but expensive.

Social & Cultural factors Strong correlation between increasing

female literacy and decreasing fertility rates

Low literacy rates and drop out school early esp girls mean that they have to enter marriage early and so have children early

Similarly, women reduced access to employment means that they are forced to devote themselves to child bearing and informal home and agricultural work

In parts of Africa polygamy is practised and a man’s status is indicated by the number of children that he has sired. Thus one man may father many children encouraging high fertility.

In rural areas of India government policies of population control fall against the strong social and religious traditions.

Social & Cultural factors

In UK average age of a woman getting married is 30 yrs old and delaying having children.

In Hindu culture, it is traditionally for a girl to marry at the age of 16 and to give birth at least to 10 children


In Japan the birth rate fell in 1966 the Year of the Horse – an unlucky year for babies to be born. Births fell by 466,000 (half a million).

In some societies female infanticide has been practised – where male births were more highly prized – Inuit, India, China (under the one child policy).


Political factor

1. Government policy can be aimed at increasing or decreasing fertility rates (and mortality rates). E.g. willingness to fund fertility treatment on the NHS.

2. Mortality rates are increased in war times – and birth rates fell in Japan during WWII from 30/000 to 23/000. (A baby boom followed the war).

Political factor (Cont.1)

The governments of Italy, Germany and Japan all offered inducements and concessions to those with large families in the 1930s (pre-WWII) for strategic reasons. More recently Malaysia introduced a similar policy.

Many LEDC governments have intervened to reduce fertility rates e.g. China and India.

Political factor Some countries with ageing

populations may try to increase fertility rates with tax incentives to families or actions such as child benefit and maternity and paternity leave.

In the 1980s Japan legalised abortion leading to a dramatic decrease in birth rates.

population lesson 2

Health & Medicine