Kerala Case Study - Population Change - Geography GCSE

Location: Kerala, India

Population: 32 million people

• 3.2% of India's population
• The population density is 3 times the Indian average
• The population growth rate is the lowest in India

Kerala is a region which has gone through to the 4th stage in the Demographic Transition Model

• While the GDP per capita is low compared with rich countries, it is high compared with the rest of India and other low-income countries.

• Improve education standards
  -most villages have free libraries
• Treating girls and boys equally
  -now more girls go to university than boys 
• Providing adult literacy classes in towns and villages
• Educating people to understand the benefits of having smaller families
• Reducing infant mortality so people no longer need to have to many children
• Improving child health through vaccinations
• Providing free contraception and advice
• Encouraging a higher age of marriage
• Allowing maternity leave for only the first two babies
• Providing extra retirement benefits for those with smaller families
• Following a land reform programme
  -Land was distributed so no one was landless, but no family was allowed more than 8ha, and every one could be self-sufficient