Population Change

The poulation of the world is increasing at an exponential rate - It's growing faster and faster.

The two things that affect population size are Birth Rate and Death Rate

- Birth Rate - the number of live babies born per thousand of the population per year.

- Death Rate - the number of deaths per thousand of the population per year.

Birth Rate > Death Rate = Population Increases = Natural Increase

Death Rate > Birth Rate = Population Decreases = Natural Decrease

*The population size of a country is also affected by migration

High birth rate due to no use of contraception and people having lots of babies due to many infants dying.

High death rate due to poor healthcare.

Population growth rate is zero.

Life expectancy is low so the population is made up of mostly young people.

High birth rate due to no use of contraception.

Agriculture based economy so people have lots of children to work on farms.

Death rate falls due to improved healthcare.

Population growth rate is very high.

Life expectancy has increased but there's still more young than old people.

Rapidly falling birth rate due to the emancipation of women and better education.

Use of contraception increases and more women work instead of having children.

Manufacturing based economy so fewer children are needed to work on farms.

Death rate falls due to medical advances.

Population growth rate is high.

More people are living to be older.

Low birth rate due to urbanisation, improved wealth and desire for possessions. Meaning there is less money to have children.

Low and fluctuating death rate.

Population growth rate is zero.

Life expectancy is high so even more poeple are living to be older.

Slowly falling birth rate as there's less money to raise children as people have dependant elderly relatives.

Low and fluctuating death rate.

Population growth rate is negative.

More older people than young.

1)  Services such as healthcare and education can't cope with the rapid increases in population, so not everybody has access to them.

2) Children have to work to help support their large families so they miss out on their education.

3) There aren't enough houses for everyone, so people are forced to live in makeshift houses in overcrowded settlements, leading to health problems because the houses aren't always connected to sewers or they don't have access to clean water.

4) There are food shortages if the country can't grow or import enough food for the population.

1) Most of the population is made up of young people so the government focuses on policies that are important to young people e.g education and provision of things like childcare.

2) There are fewer older people so the government doesn't have to focus on policies that are important to older people e.g pensions.

3) The government has to make policies to bring population growth under control, so the social and economic impacts of rapid population growth don't get any worse.

1) There aren't enough jobs for the number of people in the country, so unemployment increases.

2) There's increased poverty because more people are born into families that are already poor.

Birth control programmes aim to reduce the birth rate.

Some governments do this by having laws about how many children couples are allowed to have.

Governments also help couples to plan (and limit) how many children they have by offering free contraception and sex education.

This helps towards sustainable development because it means the population wont get much bigger.

There won't be many more people using up resources today, so there will be some left for future generations.

Immigration laws aim to control immigration (people moving into a country to live there permenantly).

Governments can limit the number of people that are allowed to immigrate.

They can also be selective about who they let in e.g. letting in fewer people of child-bearing age means there will be fewer immigrants having children.

This helps towards sustainable development because it slows down population growth rate.

1) The working population pays taxes, some of which the governent use to pay the state pensions of older people, and to pay for services like retirement homes and healthcare.

2) Taxes would need to go up because there are more pensions to pay for, and older people need more healthcare

3) The economy of the country would grow more slowly - less money is being spent on thing that help the economt to grow, e.g. education and business, and more money is being spent on things that don't help the economy to grow, e.g retirement homes.

1) Healthcare services are stretched more because older people need more medical care.

2) People will need to spend more time working as unpaid carers for older family members. This means that the working population have less leisure time are more stressed and worried.

3) People may have fewer children because they can't afford lots of children when tey have dependant older relatives. This leads to a drop in birth rate.

4) The more old people there are, the lower the pension provided by the government will be.

5) People will have to retire later because they can't afford to get by on a state pension.

1) Encouraging larger families e.g. in Italy, women are offered cash rewards to have more children. This increases the number of young people - When they start work there will be a larger working population to pay taxes and support the againg population.

2) Encouraging the immigration of young people from other countries. This increases the working population so there are more people paying taxes to support the ageing population.

3) Raising the retirement age - People stay in work longer and contribute to state pensions and personal pensions for longer. They will also claim the state pension for less time.

4) Raising taxes for the working population - This would increase the amount of money available to support the ageing population.

These strategies help towards sustainable development because they help to reduce the impacts of an ageing population, without incresing the population size.

- When people move into an area, it's called immigration. The people are called immigrants.

- When people leave an area, it's called emigration. The people are called emigrants.

- People can move to different countries. This can be across the world or just a few miles across the border.

- People can move between different regions within countries, e.g. from the countryside to a city ( called rural-urban migration).

Push factors are the things about a person's place of origin (where they originally lived) that make them decide to move.

e.g.

- Unemployment

- Poor living conditions

- War

- Natural disaster

Pull factors are things about a person's destination that attracts them.

e.g

- Job opportunities

- Better standard of living

Source country

- Reduced demand on services, e.g. schools and hospitals

- Money is sent back to the source country by emigrants

Receiving country

- Increased labour force - young people immigrate to find work

- Migrant workers pay taxes that help to fund services

Source country

- Labour shortage - it's mostly people of working age that emigrate.

- Skills shortage - sometimes it's the more highly educated people that emigrate.

- Ageing population - there's a high proportion of older people left.

Receiving country

- Locals and immigrants compete for jobs - this can lead to tension and even conflict.

- Increased demand for services, e.g overcrowding in schools and hospitals

- Not all the money earnt by immigrants is spent in the destination country - some is sent back to their country of origin

1) High unemployment - around 19%

2) Low average wages - about one third of the average EU wage

3) Housing shortages - just over 300 dwellings for over 1000 people

1) Ease of migration - the UK allowed unlimited migration in 2004 (it was restricted in some other EU countries)

2) More work and higher wages - wages in the UK were higher and there was a big demand for tradesmen, e.g. plumbers

3) Good exchange rate - the pound was worth a lot of polish currency, so sending a few pounds back to Poland made a big difference to family at home

Huge numbers of people migrate from Africa to the EU. For example, by crossing the Mediterranean sea to Spain - in 2001, 41 500 emigrants from Africa were caught and refused entry to Spain

Many of these migrants are refugees from wars in central and western African countries. For example more than 2 million people were forced from their homes because of the civil war in Sierra Leone ( in West Africa ) between 1991 and 2002.

There are only push factors for African refugees of war - people flee the countrie because of threat of violence or death during the wars.