Geography Revision: POPULATION 1

Geography Revision: POPULATION 1

1. Population Explosions

   • When the population dramatically increased
   • Reasons Why Population Explosions Occur
     • Economic
       • Children work and contribute to the family income
         • Family Survive
     • Care of the Elderly
       • Older Children look after elderly / ill parents
       • No pentions or care facilities from the government
     • Life Expectancy
       • Elderly / ill people live longer due to improved medical knowledge
     • Infant Mortality
       • Parents have lots of children to make sure some survive
         • To work
       • Lots of children die due to limited medical facilities
         • As medicine improves, more children live
   • Reasons Why they slow down
     • Birth Control
       • Contraception allows people to choose how many children they have
     • Low Fertility Rate
       • Parents have less children as they know their children will survive
     • Career Decisions
       • More women have careers rather than children
     • Cost of living
       • High living costs make children expensive
     • Population Control Policies
       • National Policies limit child births, e.g. in China

2. Calculating Natural Change

   • Birth Rate - Death Rate ÷ by 10
   • Positive Answer = Natural Increase
   • Negative Answer = Natural Decrease

3. The Demographic Transition Model (DMT)

   • Most LEDCs are at Stage 2 or 3
   • Most MEDCs are at Stage 4 or 5

4. Population Density

   • Population density = total population ÷ total land area in km²
   • The population density of a country is has very little to do with its level of economic development
   • Factors
     • Climate
     • Flatness of ground
     • Fertility of land
     • Resources Available
     • Socioeconomic factors
       • Jobs Available
       • Wages
     • Political factors
   • Most densely populated countries are in the northern hemisphere

5. Main Causes of Population Change

   • BIRTHS
   • DEATHS
   • IMMIGRATION

6. Definitions:

   • Overpopulated: Too many people for the resources available
   • Underpopulated: Not enough people to exploit the resources
   • Optimum Population: The number of people and the number of resources are equal, so people have a good quality of life
   • Densely Populated: Large amount of people per square km
   • Sparsely Populated: Small amount of people per square km

7. Problems With Under Population

   • Too few people to fill key jobs
     • e.g. engineering and teaching
   • Valuable natural resources are not fully used
     • Exports limited
       • Trade Lost
   • Few people to buy goods
     • Companies reluctant to build factories
     • Expensive to make goods
       • Prices go up for local goods
     • Have to import goods
       • Cost to government
       • Travel long distances - expensive
   • Extra workers from other countries needed
     • Language Difficulties
     • Racial Tensions
     • May have different educational systems

8. Problems With Over Population

   • Droughts
     • Increases risk of starvation in already overpopulated countries
     • They're becoming more frequent due to climate change
   • A lack of clean water
     • Forces people to drink polluted water
     • People can fall ill with: bilharzia, dysentery or typhoid
   • Population Growth
     • When there is rapid population growth, or an increase in immigrants, a country may be less able to provide for its people
   • Natural Disasters
     • Earthquakes + Floods: Deprive local communities of the resources they need, e.g. water, food + shelter
   • Loss of Jobs
     • When Valuable natural resources are used-up, workers are no longer needed so lose their jobs, so can't support their families
   • Deforestation
     • Results in families not having fuel they need for: cooking, heating and washing

Images and files in the map