Theme 1

• Demography


  The study of population
• The world is experiencing a population explosion driven primarily by relatively high birth rates in LEDCs coupled with falling death rates
• The fastest growing populations are all in developing countries, while some MEDCs are facing population decline
• As demands for shared resources such as water increase


  International relations are becoming increasingly tested
• Population growth


  Occurs because of two factors: Natural Increase when the birth rate is higher than the death rate, and Net Migration Gain when the number of migrants into a country exceeds the number leaving a country
• Population decline


  The reverse of population growth: natural decrease and net migration loss
• Typical population growth pattern


  1. High Stationary

  2. Early Expanding

  3. Late Expanding

  4. Low Stationary

  5. Declining
• Stage 1


  • High birth rates due to high infant and child mortality rates, need for children to support them and lack of contraception/family planning
  • High death rate
  • Low but stable total population
• Stage 2


  • Advances in medical care and vaccinations lead to falling death rates
  • Birth rates remain high as people are slow to believe in the reduced infant and child mortality
  • Rapid population growth
• Stage 3


  • Birth rates start falling as the trend of falling death rates continues
  • More people become aware of the importance of family planning and have access to birth control
  • Population growth continues but slows
• Stage 4


  • Low birth rates due to high costs of children, more gender equality and desire/need for careers
  • Low death rates due to good health care, nutritious diets and safer working conditions
  • Stable population
• Stage 5


  • Birth rates continue to decline
  • Death rates start to rise due to aging populations and lifestyle choices (smoking, alcohol, lack of exercise)
  • High calorie intake-obesity
  • Population decline
• Optimum Population


  The population level at which the highest economic standard of living is achieved
• Underpopulation


  • The available resources are exploited effectively
  • Increases in the population level allow more effective exploitation of the resources available (food, energy, land etc) and lead to higher incomes per capita
• Overpopulation


  • Increases in the population level past the optimum point result in lower standards of living
  • Resources are shared among more people and the economic standard per capita declines
• Anti-natalist policies


  • Intended to reduce the birth rate
  • Can be enforced through laws and government policy or focus on encouraging people to change habits through education and public campaigns
  • Most common in developing countries where the fertility rate is high
• Pro-natalist policies


  • Aimed at encouraging people to have more children and raise the fertility rate
  • Most common in developed countries experiencing aging populations
• The removal of border control within the EU means that once into Europe migrants can move between countries unchecked
• Impacts of migration on country of origin

  • Benefits: Remittance payments go directly to family members enabling them to raise their standard of living
  • Returning migrants can bring new skills and ideas back with them which can benefit the economy

  Concerns: Loss of working population, often in their prime ages

  • Social impact of families being separated, lack of role models etc
  • Migrants may be the most skilled people therefore creating a brain drain effect which hinders the domestic economy
• Impacts of migration on country of destination


  • Benefits: Boost to labour force which can drive down the cost of labour resulting in cheaper products and increase exports
  • Migrants are often willing to do the jobs that residents are less inclined to
  • Migrants bring cultural aspects (food, traditions, language, music and film) which can add to the domestic culture

  Concerns: Migrants are often willing to work for lower wages and may undercut residents, taking jobs that they would have done

  • Clash of culture and the dilution of the culture in the destination country
  • Leakage of money from the economy as remittances are sent back home by migrants
• Developed countries population structure


  • MEDC pyramids tend to be narrow at the base (low birth rate) and remain a similar shape up to the ages of 65+ due to a low death rate through these ages
  • The pyramid is often tall due to long life expectancy
• Developing countries population structure


  • LEDC pyramids typically have wide bases due to high birth rates
  • A classic pyramid shape with sloping sides due to a high death rate at all ages
  • They are short due to relatively low life expectancy
• Population distribution


  How people are spread out, can be considered on any scale
• Population density


  How many people live in a given area (usually square km or mile)
• Areas with fertile soil, good climate and reliable water supplies tend to be densely populated
• Areas that have extremes of temperature, steep land, unreliable water supplies and poor soils tend to be sparsely populated
• Population densities are higher in urban areas and the dominant trend of population movement over the last century has been towards urban areas