Population

Question 1

Uneven population distribution in China’s physical geography

Answer 1

CHINA’S PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY:
● 90% of China’s population reside in the east of China.

The East:
● Has a coastline - meaning that land is flat and easy to build on and it provides opportunities for trade.
● Receives sufficient rainfall to allow crop growth.
The West:
● Is sparsely populated due to high relief - the west contains mountain ranges such as the Himalayas and Tibetan Plateau.
These areas are uninhabitable due to harsh weather conditions and steep land meaning it is
difficult to build.
The North:
● A large desert stretches The Gobi Desert is a cold desert - the climate is harsh and it is very dry meaning it is difficult to grow crops.

Question 2

Uneven population distribution in China’s human geography

Answer 2

CHINA’S HUMAN GEOGRAPHY:
● Coastal cities the greatest range of jobs and higher-paid jobs in the tertiary sector.
● Land values in the coastal regions have risen, and manufacturing production has moved further inland.
● little jobs in western China, apart from extraction (primary sector).
● China’s development is very uneven. GDP per capita ranges in inland is $4000, $40,000+ in the eastern coastal regions.

Question 3

Causes of overpopulation in Bangladesh

Answer 3

● Bangladesh (High population density) , 7th largest population in the world, 94th in land area.
● Few natural resources, rely on agriculture.
● High growth rate: High birth rates (23 per 1000) but death rates have fallen (5.7 per thousand),
● High birth rates due to 85% of the population are Muslim and some religious leaders do not allow contraception.
High primary labour (agriculture), birth rates are high so children can help work on farms
NOT ENOUGH RESOURCES

Question 4

Impacts (consequences) of overpopulation in Bangladesh

Answer 4

● Live in dangerous flood-prone areas. Causing more than 1 million deaths in the last 200 years.
● 40% of the population is underemployed.
low wages working for just a few hours a week. GDP per capita is low at $1700 per person, low standards of living
● Not enough schools and hospitals.
48% of the population is literate and most people have no qualifications.
● Bad excess to healthcare meaning the infant mortality rate is 5.07%.

Question 5

Causes of underpopulation in Australia

Answer 5

● (Sparsely populated) Small population size (21.7 million) and an abundant land area (7.688 million km²).
● Although a large proportion is desert, Space to host more people.
● Australia experiences high rates of emigration. geographically remote, young people often migrate to central areas e.g., Europe.
● Australia also has low birth rates and death rates, with a population increase of only 1.15% per year.

Question 6

Effects of Overpopulation in Australia

Answer 6

● Large reserves of natural resources e.g., gold, copper, natural gas and uranium. Unutilized resources, export surpluses worth $200 billion annually.
● Australia’s strong economy leads to a high GDP per capita ($41,300). Good Education and healthcare, high (99.9% literacy rate)
● High living standards, could support more people.
● Small workforce of 11.6 million people. If Australia had a larger workforce, it would be able to exploit more natural resources and grow the economy. This would lead to better standards of living.

Question 7

Factors leading to a youthful population in Gambia

Answer 7

Larger families are seen as a sign of security, for example, many people still live in rural areas and rely on farming for income. More hands-on and lead to a bigger agricultural output.
The sigma and cost of contraception linked to the religious background (95% being Muslim)
1 in 10 children in Gambia dies in infancy which means families have more children to compensate.
Few people reach into elderly age range

Question 8

CAUSES OF AN AGEING POPULATION Japan

Answer 8

Later marriages
Increase in childless couples
Cultural preference for 1 child
Women pursuing careers
Working environment is not very supportive of families e.g. lack of flexible working.
More insecure employment means people have fewer children as they can’t rely on a regular/high income.
Japan also has fewer people in the fertile age group, meaning there will be fewer births overall.
Fertility rate has fallen from 2.1 in the 1970s to 1.36 today.
One of the lowest birth rates in the world.

Question 9

IMPACTS OF A LOW GROWTH RATE/ AGEING POPULATION Japan

Answer 9

Lower potential workforce.
Lower output
Reduced tax revenue
Need for Immigration
However, the Japanese do not favour high rates of immigration and it can also be difficult for migrants to assimilate due to a difficult language to learn etc.

Question 10

Solutions to low growth rates in Japan

Answer 10

Reforms - increasing child benefits, providing tax allowances for families, making childcare more accessible
Encourage immigration
The Government has introduced new laws like the ‘Child Care’ and ‘Family Care Leave’ Laws. In which parents can receive:
-8 Weeks paid leave from work
-Shorter Working hours
-A maximum of 24 hours overtime a month
-Economic Incentives e.g. Yamatsuri, a town of 7,000 just north of Tokyo, offers parents $4,600 for the birth of a child and $460 a year for 10 years.
-Businesses have been urged to give their

Question 11

Ageing population (reasons) Japan

Answer 11

Increasing life expectancy (longest female life expectancy in the world - 86 yrs)
Long life expectancy because:
Older people stay active
Healthy diet - e.g., fresh vegetables/low meat
Good mindset/mental health
Low birth rates also contribute to an ageing population structure as there are fewer young people being added to the population. 29% of Japan’s population are over 65.

Question 12

Impacts of an ageing population in Japan

Answer 12

Higher costs for government paying pensions
Young people may have to care for elderly relatives which can be difficult and time-consuming.
Many elderly people in Japan cannot afford to retire and so have to go on working well into their 70s.
Many elderly people live below the poverty line and there has been increasing homelessness among the elderly.
If older people lack a support network, they can become depressed. 1/3 of Japan’s suicides are from the over 65 population.

Question 13

Ways of dealing with an ageing population

Answer 13

Increase birth rates to improve the population balance (but social attitudes and trends difficult to change)
Offer part time jobs for elderly population (less demanding)
Increase retirement age so they can contribute to economy
Robotic care assistants have been suggested - for example Japan has developed robot nurses that are capable of carrying and bathing elderly people (but obvious issues with this as a strategy e.g., technology can malfunction/elderly people benefit from social contact with real people).

Question 14

What was China’s One Child Policy?

Answer 14

An anti-natalist policy is a policy that aims to decrease birth rates.
An example of an anti-natalist policy is China’s One Child policy (1979-2015).
The One Child Policy was a rule in China that stated that couples should only have one child.

Question 15

How did China’s One-child Policy work

Answer 15

Families were required to sign up to the one child certificate – meaning they were agreeing to have
only one child. If they did this, they received benefits.
● Contraception, family planning advice and abortions were provided for free to make it easy for couples to limit family size.
● The Chinese government used a “carrot and stick approach” to get people to comply with the
policy. This means they gave rewards for people who followed the policy (the carrot) and
punishments for those who refused (the stick).
Incentives (REWARDS) given for following the policy
● Cash payments
● Free healthcare and education for child
● Preferential (better) access to jobs
Disincentives (PUNISHMENTS) for disobeying the policy –
● Fines – can be large of up to 10-20% of annual salary.
● Job loss
● Nanny police – these were older female members of the communist party who reported people
who broke the rules of the government
● Rice rations – when food handouts were given in rural areas during times of shortages the
the government didn’t give extra rice rations to those with more children.

Question 16

What have been the consequences of the one child policy in China

Answer 16

The birth rate in China has fallen.
● 300-400 million births prevented.
● Parents able to concentrate resources on fewer children. However, there are many negative impacts of the policy:
● Against human rights
● Gender issues:
● Due to a traditional preference for boys, large numbers of female babies have ended up homeless or in orphanages, and, in some cases, killed. In 2000, it was reported that 90 percent of foetuses aborted in China were female.
● Today it is thought that men outnumber women by more than 60 million (has led to forced marriages).
● Future ageing population – China’s government is worried that the population will age before it
gets rich.

Question 17

LOCATION AND BACKGROUND of Mexico to USA Migration

Answer 17

California currently houses 11,423,000 immigrants with Texas holding 7,951,000.
Many Mexicans from rural communities migrate to America, the majority being males who move to
America and then send money back to their families in Mexico.
Many of these immigrants enter the country illegally, which often requires them to cross a large
a desert that separates Mexico and America and the Rio Grande.
These journeys are dangerous, and many immigrants have died, or nearly died, trying to cross into the US through these routes.

Question 18

PUSH FACTORS for migration from Mexico to the USA

Answer 18

High crime rates in Mexico, for example, Murder rates come in at around 14 per 100,000 people
(world average 10.9 per 100,000) and drug-related crimes are a major concern.
It is thought that in In the past five years, 47,500 people have been killed in crimes relating to drugs.
Unemployment and poverty are major problem in Mexico and has dramatically risen in recent years.
A large portion of the Mexican population is farmers, living in rural areas where extreme temperatures and poor-quality land make it difficult to actually farm.
This is causing many Mexican families to struggle, with 47% of the population living under the poverty line.
The climate and natural hazards in Mexico could force people to move to America.

Question 19

PULL FACTORS for migration from Mexico to the USA

Answer 19

There is a noticeable difference in the quality of life between America & Mexico.
Poverty is a major issue in Mexico, with 6% of the population lacking access to “improved” drinking water.
Mexico’s infrastructure is severely undeveloped when compared to America’s.
Despite being the 11thrichest country in the World, Mexico also has the 10th highest poverty.
Existing migrant communities in states such as Texas and California help to pull people towards
migration.
Existing communities make it easier for people to settle once moved and family members & friends who have already moved can encourage others to move.
86.1% of the Mexican population can read & write versus 99% of the population in America.
There are significantly better academic opportunities in America than in Mexico

Question 20

SOCIAL IMPACTS for migration from Mexico to the USA

Answer 20

Many Mexicans can’t speak fluent English and studies show that their ability to speak English doesn’t improve due to them living in closed communities of other Mexican immigrants which reduces their need to assimilate with America.
The introduction of Mexican cultural traditions to America, have helped to improve cultural aspects of those states.
With such a large number of Mexican migrants not speaking English fluently, it is now common for Spanish to be taught in American schools, widening the skill set of the younger population and improving the potential career opportunities that students may have.
With so many young people leaving Mexico, it is developing an increasingly dependent population
as the majority of people left are the elderly who cannot work.
The majority of migrants leaving Mexico are males leaving a population with a high number of females.

Question 21

ECONOMIC IMPACTS of migration from Mexico to the USA

Answer 21

Migrants work at incredibly low wages. Americans who are desperate for work are now often expected to work at these incredibly low wages too, which they can’t afford to do, leading to increased poverty in America.
While legal Mexican migrants are sending money they earn back to their families in Mexico, rather than spending it in America, which can affect the country’s economy.
As people move out of Mexico, pressure on land, social services and jobs is being relieved.
Unemployment will fall and health services will no longer be over capacity as the population is
reduced.
Mexico’s population is very dependent on food grown in Mexico. Unfortunately, the majority of
migrants come from rural areas, leaving a shortage of farmers and therefore the potential for food
shortages in Mexico as the economically active people from rural areas leave.

Question 22

Urban Migration Brazil

Answer 22

Urbanisation is the increase in the proportion of people living in towns and cities.
● Middle-income and low-income countries have been rapidly urbanising since the 1950s.
● Brazil is no exception, with many people migrating from the countryside to cities (this is known as rural-urban
migration).
● About 20 million people live in the city of São Paulo, which makes it one of the largest cities in the world.
● Rio de Janeiro is not far behind this total.
● They both grew very quickly after 1970.
● Today about 80% of Brazilians live in cities.

Question 23

PUSH FACTORS FROM NORTH-EAST BRAZIL

Answer 23

Pressure on the land means there is not enough land to live on
● The quality of life is low – long hours, hard work and little pay
● People face hardship when the harvest is poor
● Natural disasters like periods of drought
● Many workers do not own the land so have no power or any reason to improve it
● Schools are crowded
● There is poor health care
● There is not much investment by the government in some areas
● Some farm labourers are out of work when the owner buys machines to take their place

Question 24

PULL FACTORS TO THE CITIES OF SOUTH-EAST BRAZIL

Answer 24

● Better chances of a job – jobs in cities pay more than farming
● The hope of a better quality of life with improved housing with electricity and water supply
● Better schools – this is very important as it is the only way to escape poverty
● Better hospitals
● More exciting with better access to entertainment

Question 25

Impacts of rural-urban migration on rural areas

Answer 25

Positives
● fewer people to feed
● more land per person
● more resources per person
● money may be sent home by migrants (remittances)
Negatives
● population structure upset by loss of young people
● fewer economically active men left in the rural community
● families are split up
● the elderly remain and the death rate in the community may increase

Question 26

Impacts of rural-urban migration on urban areas

Answer 26

Positives
● increased economically active population in the community
● increase in the cultural wealth
● more knowledge and skills in the city community
Negatives
● pressure on places to live (leads to the development of slums)
● tensions between older and newer residents
● pressure on services such as education and healthcare provision
● social and environmental problems associated with slum growth

Question 27

Problems with young dependent population gambia

Answer 27

Children have to to school in shifts with 3000 students and 26 classrooms
Fertility rate of 5.3
Lack of sanitation and overcrowded
deforestation and in 50myear all forest will be gone