1.1 Population Dynamics

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Population Distribution and Density; Trend of World Population

Population: the total number of people living in a place

Population Density: describes the population distribution pattern of a place [ total population / area (km2) ]

Population Explosion: a sudden increase in population

Population distribution: how a population is spread out in an area over a certain period of time

Descriptions from general to specific:

-dense or sparse?

-even or uneven?

-compass point description

-compare between countries

-general pattern spotted?

-specific or examples to the areas mentioned

-highest or lowest?

-any anomalies [ something that does not fit in ]

REASONS: historical (h), physical (p), socio-economic (se)

resources or service accessed? (p)

MEDC or LEDC? (h)

climate is temperate or extreme? (p)

agriculture (p)

transport and communication (se)

infrastructure (p)

relief or geographical location (p)

intrinsic values (h)

Physical : relief and soil ; climate

Socio-economic : industrial areas ; good transport networks

Historical : social cultural traditions

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Factors affecting population size

Population Change

Birth rate: number of live births per 1000

-low birth rate = higher female literacy because they choose education over family

Death rate: number of deaths per 1000

Natural increase or natural decrease: number of births minus number of deaths (B>D = increase ; D>B = decrease)

immigrants: people moving into the country

emigrants: people moving out of the country

net migration: the difference between immigrants and emigrants (I>E = gain ; E>I = loss)

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Demographic Transition Model (DTM)

-describes how birth and death rates change over time

Stage 1: LEDC ; Stage 5: MEDC

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CASE STUDY: HIV/AIDS BOTSWANA

Statistics:

23.9% of the population is diagnosed with HIV/AIDS which 33.2 million

currently no vaccine or cure

2007: killed 2.1 million people

population of 2303000

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Population Structure and Pyramid

two main features: sex and age shown by population pyramid

y-axis: 17 age groups with 5 years apart

x-axis: left for male and right female

concave: inwards ; convex: outwards

tall: long life expectancy

narrow top: less elderly aka elderly dependent (older or 65)

wide body: more working population / independent / economically active(15-64)

narrow base: lower birth rate with better education and more young dependent (0-14)

Dependency Ratio: how the number of young dependent and elderly dependent depend on working population

[ (% of children + % of elderly) / % of working population x 100 ]

World average : 52 *no unit*

HIGH DEPENDENCY RATIO = MORE PRESSURE / ECONOMIC BURDEN / STRAIN ON THE WORKING POPULATION

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How does population structure differ among countries?

Shape:

base

apex

concave / straight /convex

A LEDC

narrow apex: fewer elderly

steep-sided pyramid: high infant mortality rate

wide base: high birth rate

future: more young people to become an economically active population and have a larger working population

B MEDC

narrow apex: fewer elderly

taller pyramid: longer life expectancy

straighter sides: lower infant mortality rate

narrow base: low birth rate because females are more educated

future: lower future working population and more elderly dependent hence more strain and economic burden on working force

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Issue 1: Overpopulation and Underpopulation

Carrying capacity: the number of people that a region can support without environmental degradation eg deforestation and pollution

degradation: negative effects or destruction

If the population size does not equal to the availability of natural resources, it will cause population problems (under and over) which lowers standard of living:

food shortages

environmental damage

prevents economic development

Carrying Capacity

CASE A

The land can provide enough resources for the population. It reaches its carrying capacity.

CASE B

The land cannot provide enough resources for the population. There are more people living in an area than the capacity of that area can support. It is unbalanced.

High population = low productivity = lower and shortage of resources, arable (good land), oil resources and water resources per person is below world's average

In case B, the available resources are not enough to support its population. The problem of overpopulation occurs. There is an uneven distribution of population distribution.

PROBLEMS

Shortage of resources

When a place is overpopulated, there will not be enough resources such as land and crops, to grow enough food to meet the demands of the people. When the food demand is greater than the food supply, famine shortage will occur as higher population means more demand for food.

Damage of the environment

A large population places large and high pressure on resources. In order to obtain resources, people destroy land and cause land, air and water pollution.

1. more demand for natural resources will cause more extracting eg mining

2. more demand for land will cause destruction of the natural habitat

3. high human activity may increase pollution

Hold back economic development

Many of the resources have been used to satisfy the basic needs of the large population. Only a small amount of resources is left for education, agriculture and industrial development. This slows down economic growth and leads to a vicious cycle of poverty. Government needs to feed population and therefore cannot invest in education health care etc. which will decrease amount of income and quality of education, causing more poverty.

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CASE STUDY: CHINA (OVERPOPULATED)

Statistics:

2000, 90% of foetuses aborted in China were female

estimated: there is more men than women by 60 million nowadays

total population in 2008 is 1.3 billion

famine in 1959-1961, 15 million deaths out of 633 million

pollution index in 2016 mid year China ranked 7th out of 211 countries

52 million of rural poor

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CASE STUDY: AUSTRALIA (UNDERPOPULATED)

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Issue 2: Ageing Population

ageing population: where the median age of a country or region increases due to rising life expectancy and/or declining fertility rate

PROBLEMS

Economic

-less working population which lowers government income from tax which means less money invested in development

-less economically active population so there is a big burden and economic strain on them

-less technology development and hence has fewer people to make scientific innovations

Social

-families must spend more time and money for elderly which is an extra economic burden

-cultural differences or lost when passing down with communication problems due to the huge age gap

-there are more elderly dependent so more elderly medical facilities are needed, which means less money spend in facilities for the young eg education

-lower population = lower productivity = lower GDP

-lower the retirement age so population cannot get pensions till later

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CASE STUDY: JAPAN

Statistics:

2010: 23% of the population are elderlies

incentives for children are $5060 per year until they are 10 years old

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Issue 3: Migration

migration: movement of people from one place to live or work

-internal: within a country

-international: between countries

Types of Migrants

Positives

Impact on countries of origin

-less pressure on resources (government)

Impact of countries of destination

-less pressure on working population with more working people coming into the country

-higher birth rate which stabilises or balance out population

-workers willing to work for lower wages

-higher cultural diversity

Impact of migrants themselves

-better living standards eg health and education

-less discrimination

-less threat of war

Negatives

Impact on countries of origin

-lost of young populations => brain drain: lost of smart people ie skilled or educated leaving the country so theres is less future working population

Impact of countries of destination

-more pressure on resources and social services

-population pressure especially for housing

-conflict between migrants and locals which can lead to violence and protests against migrants

Impact of migrants themselves

-separation from family

-arrested if an illegal immigrant

-problems integrating in the new society

refugee: a person who has been forced to leave their country of origin in fear of their lives, they run away often with no idea where they will end up and with no permission to stay in another country due to persecution war or an environmental disaster.

internally displaced person: someone forced to flee his or her home but also remains within his or her country's borders

asylum seeker: a person who as left their country of origin for fear or persecution and has asked for permission to stay in another country and wait for a decision on this

push factor: negatives that push people out of a place

pull factor: positives that attract people to a place

(TREND: LEDC TO MEDC)

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CASE STUDY: SYRIA TO SWEDEN

Statistics

6.6 million people in Syria internally displaced

from EU country to South West Europe

civil war causes 250000 deaths

Syria population 22.85 million

Sweden population 9.593 million

Syria GDP $2080 USD (2007)

Sweden GDP %53000 USD (2007)

Sweden has raised tax into 31% minimum of GDP

2030 days of civil war