Geography

• The population of the world is 'exploding. It is growing by 78 million people every year, which means an extra 215 060 people every day. There are 150 more people now than there were one minute ago!
• If there are 30 people in your class, the world's population increases by this amount every 12 seconds.
• The world's population was likely to be more than 10 billion people by 2100, over 3 billion more than live in the world today.
• It took until 1804 for the world to reach its first billion people, and a century more until it hit 2 billion in 1927.
• Due to reductions in the death rates in many countries during the 20th century the population had risen to 6 billion in 1999 and by 2011 it had reached 7 billion.
• The UN is forecasting that the world's population will reach 8 billion by 2025 and 10 billion by 2083 but these numbers are estimates.
• The size of the increase during the rest of the 21st century will depend on whether the number of deaths continues to fall and whether the number of births can be reduced in those parts of the world where they still remain much higher than death rates.
• All of those extra people mean more living space will be needed, and many parts of our planet are already becoming more and more crowded.
• There will be a lot more mouths to feed and more water will be needed. More energy will be required and there will also be a lot more waste to dispose of. More people will mean that more transport is needed and more roads, railway lines and airports will need to be built.
• Over-populated


  The number of people living in an area is greater than the resources and technology available to maintain an adequate standard of living for the population
• Under-populated


  The number of people living in an area is less than is needed to make full use of the resources available
• Consequences of over-population


  • Not enough housing
  • Water and air pollution
  • Shortage of food and water
  • High crime rates
  • Not enough health care and education
  • Lack of employment
  • Poverty
• Consequences of under-population


  • Shortage of workers
  • Low level of production
  • Resources underused
  • High taxes
  • Lack of government income
  • Small market for goods and services
  • Low value of exports
• Natural population change


  Calculated by subtracting the death rate from the birth rate
• Overall population change


  Calculated by adding the net migration to the natural population change
• If the overall population change is positive the population is growing, if it is negative it is getting smaller.
• Demographic Transition Model


  • Divides population growth into four stages as birth and death rates change over time
  • The part of the graph representing population growth is the area between the birth rate and death rate lines
• Falling birth rates are caused by: availability of contraception, more women go out to work, girls are educated and marry later, reduction of infant mortality, more family planning education, less need for children as a labour source
• Falling death rates are caused by: improvement in health care facilities, increased availability of medicines and doctors, more and better quality food available, improvement in water supplies, improvement in sanitation and hygiene, reduction in wars and conflicts
• Most of the world's population growth will be in LEDCs in Africa and Asia such as India, Indonesia, Pakistan, the Philippines and Nigeria.
• Growth is expected to be particularly fast in the least developed countries of the world. Between 2013 and 2100, the populations of 35 countries could more than triple.
• The populations of Burundi, Malawi, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Somalia, Uganda, Tanzania and Zambia are projected to increase at least fivefold by 2100.
• The population of the MEDCs is not expected to change much and most of the net increase will be due to migration from LEDCs to MEDCs.
• The populations of 40 countries are expected to decrease between 2013 and 2100. The population of some countries is expected to decline by more than 15 per cent by 2050, including Bulgaria, Croatia, Cuba, Georgia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Russia and Ukraine.
• Governments can influence population growth by bringing in policies that affect birth and death rates, or by encouraging or discouraging migration.
• Singapore introduced population control policies like abortion, voluntary sterilisation, extra taxes for third child, no paid maternity leave for third child, and parents with more than two children could not enrol at the best schools.
• China introduced the 'one family, one child' policy in 1979 to reduce rapid population growth, which was seen as a barrier to development.
• The 'one family, one child' policy reduced China's fertility rate from 5.8 to 1.7, but by 2014 the government realised the policy needed to be changed due to an increasing amount of old people and a shrinking workforce.
• Migrants


  People who move from one place to another in order to live or work
• Emigrants


  Migrants who move out of a country
• Immigrants


  Migrants who move into a country
• Asylum seeker


  A person who leaves their country of origin for fear of persecution and has asked for permission to stay in another country
• Refugee


  A person who leaves their country of origin in fear of their lives and runs away often with no idea where they will end up and with no permission to stay in another country
• Illegal immigrant


  A person who enters a country to live and work there without permission
• Economic migrant


  A person who moves to live and work in a different country for a better quality of life and standard of living
• Migrants


  People whose movement is involuntary. They often do not know where their destination will be or what their quality of life and standard of living will be like. It is usually worse than they experienced where they used to live.
• Types of migrants


  • Asylum seeker
  • Refugee
  • Illegal immigrant
  • Economic migrant
  • Internal migrant
• Asylum seeker


  A person who leaves their country of origin for fear of persecution. They have asked for permission to stay in another country and are waiting for a decision on this
• Refugee


  A person who leaves their country of origin in fear of their lives. They run away often with no idea where they will end up and with no permission to stay in another country
• Economic migrant


  A person who moves to live and work in a different country for at least a year