Case Studies

• Youthful population: Uganda


  Youthful population: Uganda
• Uganda overview

  LIC in east Africa

  2010 50% of the population was under 15

  46% birth rate per year

  Fertility rate of 6 children per woman

  Overpopulation poses a serious threat to
• Problems with Uganda's population

  Health services- shortages of midwives, high pressure, spread of AIDs/HIV.

  Only half children are in education- more governmental pressure

  Unemployment- 20%, causing poverty and further problems
• Policies implemented in Uganda

  Encouraged use of contraception- through advertising, education and free condoms.

  Clinics have been built and more doctors and nurses trained.

  ABC policy introduced to reduce spread of HIV/AIDS.

  Money spent on training teachers and increasing school places.

  Encouragement of TNCs to reduce unemployment.

  Foreign aid is encouraged.
• Ageing population: UK

  Ageing population: UK
• Why has the UKs birth rate decreased?

  Increased use of contraception.

  More employment opportunities for women.

  Saw children as an economic liability.

  Disadvantages to having many children.
• Other factors that have come with the ageing population in the UK

  Lower fertility

  Women are increasingly expected to have a career.

  Marriage is less popular.

  Motherhood is delayed to having a career.

  Governments has not been pro-family over the last 50 years.
• Food shortages in Swaziland

  Food shortages in Swaziland
• Overview of Swaziland

  Hugh unemployment- cannot produce food.

  2010 GDP/person was $4500

  Swazi population has been badly weakened by HIV/AIDS
• The extent of the food problem in Swaziland

  Drought in 1991-2 caused maize output to seriously decline.

  Between 2000-2010, 2/3 of Swaziland's population relied on food aid.
• Problems of food aid

  People have become dependent on it and don't know anything different.

  Governments are trying to move away from this to provide self-sufficient programmes instead of food aid.
• Management of population change in China

  Management of population change in China
• Overview of China

  Classed as an LIC in 1980 but is now an MIC and will soon have the biggest economy in the world.

  It has the world's largest population of 1.3 billion.
• What was the problem in China?


  The Chinese communist party came to power in 1949 and encouraged a high birth rate to have more people to produce food and build a strong army as their economy was weak.

  The population grew by 290 million people in just 20 years.

  The country's resources couldn't cope with this extreme overpopulation.

  Famine in 1961 lead to millions of deaths.
• The late, long and few policy in China


  Introduced in 1970.

  Encouraged people to have children later in life, leave longer gaps and have fewer children in total.

  This resulted successfully in reducing fertility rates from 5.7 to 2.9.

  The government predicted the population would reach 2 billion by the 21st century and the country would not have enough food supplies to cope.
• The one child policy in China

  Introduced in 1979.

  Couples who only had one child were given benefits:

  Longer maternity leave

  Better housing

  Free healthcare

  Free education

  If they had a second child, their benefits would be lost and they would be fined.
• What things did the government introduce to support the one child policy?

  A law to prevent people marrying before a certain age.

  Free contraception and family planning.

  A permission slip to allow a couple to try for a child.

  Tell-tales, reported if other workers were pregnant.

  The granny-police to spy on couples.

  Very late abortions.

  Free sterilisation for couples who already had one child.
• Where was the one child policy unpopular?

  In rural areas where children needed to work on farms to look after their parents.

  This lead to infanticide.
• How has the one child policy been effective?

  Reduced fertility rates from 2.9 to 1.8.

  Prevented 400 million births.

  Higher standard of living.
• Future troubles to chinas one child policy

  Only children tend to be spoilt.

  30 million more men than women, marriage imbalance.
• Recent changes to the one child policy

  If a partner has a disability you are allowed a second child to look after them.

  It's easier to have a second child in rural areas, where 45% of the population live.

  If a partner is a single child they can have two babies.
• Kerala Overview:

  • India's population is growing at 15mn people per year.
  • Population growth is slowing - Kerala is leading this trend.
  • Kerala's success is in the regional government's policy of in meeting the basic needs of people, particularly young mothers and young women in general.
• Kerala Stats:

  • Kerala - India - UK
  • Life Expectancy: 75 - 61 - 80
  • Infant Mortality: 14 - 70 - 6
  • Female Literacy Rate: 84 - 57 - 99
  • Percentage use of contraceptives by married women: 64 - 48 - 72
  • Total Fertility Rate: 1.8 - 3.2 - 1.7
• Treatment of Women in Kerala:

  • Women have been treated against Indian norm for over a century in Kerala.
  • They are regarded as an asset, not a financial drain.
  • Instead of paying a dowry to the groom's family, they are paid.
  • Some women can inherit and own land.
  • This gives them financial independence and power.
• Level of education in Kerala:

  • 85% of women are literate.
  • Girls outnumber boys in higher education.
  • IMR has fallen from 240% (1930) to 14% (present).
  • If children are more likely to survive, families will not try for more.
  • Average age of marriage in Kerala is the highest in India.
  • Women who marry later are more likely to have fewer children.
• Management Policies in Kerala:

  • Kerala adopts policies of trying to reduce birthrate by choice, not coercion.
  • Kerala's BR is low enough for the population to stop growing in 20 years.
  • This could create problems in the age-sex structure of the region.
  • 33% of Kerala's population will be over 60 by 2050.
  • Kerala will require extra investment in order to pay for old people's homes, healthcare facilities and pensions for the elderly.
  • Private healthcare sector is rising as government fails to meet demand.