Geography- Population Dynamics

Population changes because of birth rates and death rates

• Birth rate- Number of children born per 1000 per year 
• Death rate- Number of people who die per 1000 per year
• The natural increase of a population is the difference between the birth and death rate 
• Life expenctancy: The average age at which people die in a population
• Infant Mortality: The number of children under the age of 1 who die per 1000 births in a year
• Fertility rate: The number of children that women have in their life time. If a woman has 2 children, they will replace their parents. Fewer than 2 children means the population will fall

DTM (Demographic Transition Model)

Stage 1- Stable population- High death rate (due to healthcare), equally high birth rate

Stage 2- Rapidly growing (uganda, Ethiopia)- Death rates fall (better healthcare), birth rates high

Stage 3- Growth begins to slow- Birth rate falls (social and economic change)

Stage 4- Slow population growth- Birth rate and death rate balance so population is stable

Stage 5- Declining population- Low fertility,high life expectancy,so birth rate fals below death rate

Pressure on resources- Rapid population growth can put pressure on food, water, energy supplies. Restricitng populaton could relieve the pressure

Overcrowding- Rapid population could overstretch space, housing, education and health services especially in small countries like the UK/ singapore

Ageing- Encourage higher birth rate/ encourage immigration

Skills Shortages- May lack skilled workers- encourage immigration

Many areas of Europe have a low fertility rate because of:

• Education- People are more aware of the avaliability of contraception and consequences and unplanned pregnancy can have on their career
• Women in careers- Women may choose to follow their career choice rather than start a family while young
• Later Marriages
• Stable Benefits- Couples no longer need children to help care for them when older

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France was concerned that professional women were choosing not to have children. The government were worried that the population was not going to replace itself over time. Policies that were put in place to encourage 3 children families were

• A cas incentive of £675 monthy for a mother to stay off work for one year after the birth of her 3rd child and 3 years paid parental leave
• 'Carte famille nombreuse' giving large reductions on train fares
• Income tax based on the more childre, the less tax to pay
• Government subsudused daycare for children under 3. Full time school places paid by gove

Why Anti-Natalist

• Population was growing very rapidly through the 1950's and 1960s- encouraged by the government
• New political leaders decided a large population was a problem

Which Policies

• Voluntary programmes and land reform led to a sharp fall in birth rate in the 1970s
• 'One Child Policy' started in 1979. Gave benefits to women in the form of cash bonuses, better housing, maternity care. Punished couples who did not sign up. Forced sterilisation happened in some reigions

The Impact

• Birth rate continued to fall. Today- a fertility rate of 1:7 
• Raised issues of Chinas rapidly ageing society and the impact on the single children looking after elderly parents. Also spoilt children
• Preference for boys led to sex-seletive abortion and today 120:100 males to females

Most places have migration policies. Either to reduce or increase. 

Reasons to reduce

• Unpopularity of large-scale immigration among voters
• Fears that immigrants accept lower pau, reducing pay for everyone
• Fears that host country culture becomes 'swamped' by immigrnts and that large-scale immingration can increase cultural tension

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Reasons to increase

• Reduce skills shortages- help the economy grow
• Offset the problem of ageing by attracting working-age immigrants
• Attract low-skill low-wage workers for farming and construction because the existing population wont do the 'dirty, dangerous and demeaning' jobs

For

• Provides low wage workers in farming processing ect
• Filling a 'gap' in the Labour force

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Against

• Number who have arrived is higher than the forecast
• Puts pressure on housing services and schools

Ageing

• Deal with ageing by increasing the birth rate
• Encourage Migration

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Skills Shortages

• May lack skilled workers- Increase brith rate (takes a long time)
• Immigration

For

• Allows skills and migrant type to be matched with the skills needed

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Against

• Complex system 
• Might deter valuable migrants ie- Entrepreneurs

For

• Key to reducing immigration as we can't restrict EU immigration

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Against

• Once the annual quota is filled, no more immigrants can enter, some TNC's cant get the skills they need