Birth Rate and Death Rate

Birth Rate and Death Rate

1. Birth Rate is number of births per 1000 people per year

2. Death Rate is number of deaths per 1000 people per year

3. Factors Affecting Birth Rate

   • children are viewed as economic assets because they can work on a farm (e.g. Philippines)
   • children can be used to take care of parents as they get older (e.g. Mali)
   • children are viewed as an indicator of virility and a status symbol (e.g. Mexico)
   • religious influences encourage fertility (e.g. Roman Catholic)
   • women have lower status or opportunities for education (e.g. Afganistan)
   • early marriage is encouraged in less rural areas (e.g. Burkina Faso)
   • there are areas with a high infant mortality rate (e.g. Ethiopia) or high death rates

4. Factors Affecting Death Rates

   • investment in areas such as health, education, pension and welfare is limited
   • there is famine, poverty and war (e.g. Syria)
   • internal civil wars (e.g. Afganistan, Syria)
   • overcrowding and insufficient infrastructure relating to water, sanitation (e.g. Shanty Towns in India)

5. Birth Rates Drop When...

   • schooling becomes compulsory especially for girls (e.g. Morocco)
   • women achieve increasing equality and status (carrer driven - later marriages are more common, this results in less children)
   • there is increasing affluence and economic growth
   • the cost of raising children becomes an issue (USA)
   • widespread use of and acceptance of birth control (e.g. Japan)
   • money invested in medical care reduces the infant mortality rate this causing birth rates to fall

6. Death Rates Drop When...

   • diets are improved - diets which include a variety of nutrients and protein help people to live a longer healthier life
   • access to a regular supply of clean water helps to reduce disease and death rates
   • better pensions and good care for the elderly means that people are given the means by which they can live longer
   • good sanitation has improved people's health which means that death rates are lower
   • good medical care has improved people's chances of maintaining a good health thus reducing death rates
   • vaccinations have helped reduce worldwide infant mortality