Geography-population

• Levels of pollution
• Crime rates
• Unemployment or underemployment
• Levels of food and water shortages
• Pressure on services such as hospitals and schools
• Underpopulation also has consequences including:
• Fewer people pay taxes which can lead to higher taxes
• Underused resources, which can lead to waste
• A shortage of workers
• Lower levels of exports and production which affects the wealth of an area
• Fewer customers for goods and services
• Overpopulation occurs when there are more people in an area than can be supported by its resources and technology
• Underpopulation occurs when there are more resources available than the population can use effectively
• Migration=
• Migration can cause the population to either increase or decrease
• This occurs as the result of emigration or immigration
• Net migration is the difference between the number of people moving into a country (immigrants) and the number of people leaving the country (emigrants)
• There are many factors which have combined to cause the rapid population increase including improvements in:
• Agriculture during the agricultural revolution led to higher yields and more varied diets
• Medicine and medical care which reduces the death rate
• Technology and transport, lead to a wealthier population which increases life expectancy
• The birth rate remained has remained high mainly in LEDCs due to:
• Lack of access to family planning and contraception
• An increase in women surviving childbirth
• Families continue to have large numbers of children to look after their parents in old age and to help support the family
• The culture of having larger families which takes many years to change
• China became overpopulated since 1960 due to a social/cultural desire to have a son


  an economical bonus: men could work in the field children considered to be social security politics: stronger China against America previously poor medical infrastructure- high infant mortality rate and a flood in 1959-1962 that resulted in the death of 20 million people.
• • Natural decrease occurs when the birth rate is lower than the death rate
• • These changes are dependent on three factors:
  • Fertility
  • Mortality
  • Migration
• • The aim of anti-natalist policies is to reduce pressure on resources and improve the quality of life for the whole population
  • These are policies introduced to reduce the birth rate
  • Policies can be law as in China - or they can be voluntary 
• • Every area has a carrying capacity this is the number of people that an area can support
  • Overpopulation occurs when there are more people in an area than can be supported by its resources and technology
  • Underpopulation occurs when there are more resources available than the population can use effectively
• • Overpopulation can lead to increased:
  • Levels of pollution
  • Crime rates
  • Unemployment or underemployment
  • Levels of food and water shortages 
  • Pressure on services such as hospitals and schools
• • Underpopulation also has consequences including:
  • Fewer people pay taxes which can lead to higher taxes
  • Underused resources, which can lead to waste
  • A shortage of workers
  • Lower levels of exports and production which affects the wealth of an area
  • Fewer customers for goods and services
• • The optimum population occurs when there is a balance between the number of people and the resources/technology available.
• Describe the impacts of over-population on a country:

  • Lack of housing/overcrowded houses/shanty towns 
  • Pressure on health care 
  • Pressure on educational facilities 
  • Lack of employment/low wages 
  • Lack of food/farmland/starvation/need to import more food 
  • Pressure on water supplies/lack of water 
  • Pressure on sanitation/lots of waste/waste disposal problems 
  • Traffic congestion/jams 
  • Overuse of agricultural land/desertification/have to farm marginal land 
  • Deforestation 
  • Air/water pollution 
  • Poverty 
  • Pressure on electricity/power/fuel shortages 
  • Government introduces anti-natal policy 
• • There are two ways in which a population can change:
  • Migration 
  • Natural population change
• Migration

  • Migration can cause the population to either increase or decrease
  • This occurs as the result of emigration or immigration
  • Net migration is the difference between the number of people moving into a country (immigrants) and the number of people leaving the country (emigrants)
• factors which have caused the rapid population increase including improvements in:

  • Agriculture during the agricultural revolution led to higher yields and more varied diets
  • Medicine and medical care which reduces the death rate
  • Technology and transport, lead to a wealthier population which increases life expectancy
• • Birth Rate is high in LEDCS because :
  • Lack of access to family planning and contraception 
  • An increase in women surviving childbirth
  • Families continue to have large numbers of children to look after their parents in old age and to help support the family
  • The culture of having larger families which takes many years to change
  • Religious reasons 
• • Natural change in population is calculated by deducting the death rate from the birth rate
  • The combination of a decreasing death rate and high birth rate led to rapid natural increase and population explosion
  • Population also changes as a result of migration into and out of a country/area
  • Natural decrease occurs when the birth rate is lower than the death rate