1. Population change

• Migration


  Can cause the population to either increase or decrease
• Net migration


  The difference between the number of people moving into a country (immigrants) and the number of people leaving the country (emigrants)
• Immigration is the inward movement of people into a country. Emigration is the outward movement of people from a country.
• Natural population change


  • Improvements in agriculture, medicine, technology and transport led to a decrease in the death rate
  • The birth rate remained high mainly in LEDCs due to lack of access to family planning, increase in women surviving childbirth, cultural and religious reasons
• Natural change in population

  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
• Natural decrease


  Occurs when the birth rate is lower than the death rate
• Demographic Transition Model


  • Illustrates the five generalised stages of population change that countries pass through as they develop
  • Shows how birth and death rates change over time and how this affects the overall population
• Stages of the Demographic Transition Model

  • Stage 1: Low total population, high birth and death rates
  • Stage 2: Total population starts to rise rapidly, birth rates remain high, death rates decrease
  • Stage 3: Total population continues to increase but growth rate slows, birth rate begins to fall, death rate still decreasing
  • Stage 4: Total population is high and increasing slowly, birth rate is low and fluctuating, death rate is low and fluctuates
  • Stage 5: Total population starts to slowly decline, birth rate is low and slowly decreasing, death rate is low and fluctuates
• Birth rates are still high in many LEDCs due to lack of/cannot afford contraception, lack of education about contraception, children needed for work/to earn money/for farming, traditional/religious/cultural views on family size, high infant mortality, early marriages, lack of emancipation for women
• Factors affecting population growth rates

  • Fertility
  • Mortality
  • Migration
• Fertility rate


  Measures fertility in addition to the birth rate
• Factors affecting fertility


  • Social: Infant mortality rate, education, religion, healthcare
  • Economic: Cost of having children, lack of pensions, contribution to family income
  • Political: Pronatalist policies, Anti-natalist policies
• Factors affecting mortality


  • Quality of and access to healthcare
  • Natural disasters: famine, drought
  • Diseases such as HIV/AIDS
  • War/conflict