Population Growth NOTES

Causes of population growth

Natural increase – Birth rate exceeds death rate

Birth rate is influenced by

·         The average age of the population

·         The number of women in the population

·         Women’s fertility rate

Fertility rate is affected by

·         Age at which women marry

·         Number of women pursuing higher education

·         Labour force participation rate of women

·         Socio-economic status of women

·         Availability of family planning services

·         Availability of government support for families

·         Cost of bringing up children

·         Provision of benefits for the sick and the elderly by the government.

Birth rate INCREASES by

·         Young, average-aged population in which women marry young

·         Infant mortality is high

·         Girl education is poor

·         Women are non-working

·         Cheaper to bring up children

·         Lack or disapproval of family planning

·         Government’s cash incentives

Birth rate DECREASES by

·         More expensive to raise children

·         Legal requirement to send children to school for a number of years

·         Well paid jobs are open to women

·         Government not providing state pensions

The death rate is affected by

·         Nutrition

·         Housing conditions

·         Medical care

·         Lifestyles

·         Working conditions

·         Involvement or non-involvement in military action

Death rate DECREASES by

·         Healthy diets

·         Good housing facilities

·         Access to high quality medical care

·         No smoking

·         Less alcohol consumption

·         Not sexually promiscuous

·         Exercise regularly

·         Enjoy good working conditions

·         Their country is at peace with other countries

Net immigration occurs when more people come into the country to live than people who leave it to live elsewhere (emigrants)

The rate and pattern of migration is influenced by

·         Relative living standards at home and abroad

·         Persecution of particular groups

·         Extent of control on movement of people

·         Most migrants tend to be single people of working age

Population structure

·         The sex distribution of population indicates the number of males and females in the country

·         The age distribution is the division of people into different age groups

·         Population pyramid shows a more detailed breakdown of the different age groups

·         The age structure influences the dependency ratio

Number in the dependent age groups  x 100
       Number in the labour force

·         The dependant age groups are those below the school leaving age and those above the retirement age

Optimum Population

·         This term refers to the number of people which when combined with other resources of land, capital with existing technical knowledge, gives the maximum output of goods and services per head of the population

·         A country is said to be overpopulated if there is an excess of labour, relative to land, capital and technical knowledge

·         In such a case, the government might seek to move towards its optimum population either by introducing measures to reduce population size or seeking to in increase investment

·         A country is said to be under populated if it does not have enough of human resources to make the best use of its resources. In this case, government will encourage immigration.

Malthusian theory of population

·         Made by : Thomas Malthusian

·         Theory states: population pressures would tend to prevent the rise of living standards

Population grows at a geometric rate – 1,2,4,8,16

Food production grows at an arithmetic rate – 1,2,3,4,5

·         Results : population doubling every 25 every years

·         There are two checks to keep population within its means of subsistence:

­  Positive check: Factors which cause a rise in the death rate – epidemics, famine, infanticide and wars

­ Preventive check : Contraception, moral restraint which means delaying marriage

·         What has made food production rise more rapidly than population?

­ Improvements in technology, including fertilizers and combine harvesters

·         Malthusian’s theory overlooks that people are producers as well as conumers.