Demography Flashcards
(22 cards)
What is Demography?
The term used for the study of population
What are the 4 main factors that influence the size of a country population?
- Births
- Deaths
- Immigration
- Emigration
What are birth rates?
the number of lives per 1000 of the population each year.
What are total fertility rates?
the average amount of children women will have during their child bearing years.
What is general fertility rate?
the number of live births per 1,000 women of child bearing age per year
What is infant mortality rate?
The number of deaths of babies in their first year of life per 1,000 live birth each year.
What is death rate?
the number of deaths per 1,000 of the population per year
What is life expectancy?
An estimate on how fast the average person can be expected to live.
What is migration?
changing the country of usual residence for a period of at least a year.
What is immigration?
entering another country for a period of at least a year
What is emigration?
leaving your usual country of residence for another country for a period of at least a year.
What are ‘push’ and ‘pull’ factors?
Push - encourages someone to leave the country
Pull - that will attract them to a new country
What could be some ‘push’ factors?
- Escaping poverty or famines
- Lack of jobs/unemployment
- Effects of war
- Political and religious persecution
What could be some ‘pull’ factors?
- Better job opportunities
- Study (university)
- Higher standards of living
- Better healthcare and education
- Political/religious freedom
- Joining relatives
What are the reasons for decline in death rates + infant mortality rates and an increase in life expectancy?
- improved hygiene, sanitation and medicine
- higher living standards
- public healthcare and welfare
- health education
- improved working conditions
What did McKeown say?
Suggested the improvements in environmental conditions, coupled with a steady rise in living standards and better diet and nutrition.
These were more important in medical advancements than wiping out these epidemic diseases.
What is the ageing population?
the decline of the death rates and rise of life expectancy has meant that more people are living longer so there is a larger population of people over retirement age and a smaller population of young people.
What are the advantages of an ageing population?
- boost to economy
- more social cohesion and community involvement
- less crime
- support
What are the disadvantages of an ageing population?
- Growth burden of dependence and the ‘pensions timebomb’
- more poverty and family hardship
- a loss of skill and experience from the labour force
- more pensioners one-person households
- more ill-health and disability
- family stress
- more work for women
- housing shortages
Why is there a growth of burden of dependence and the ‘pensions timebomb’ in an ageing population?
the increasing number of old people are relying on being supported by the decreasing working population.
What is the dependency ratio?
The relationship between the proportion of working and those who are dependent or not working.
What is the reasons for decline in birth rates and smaller families?
- access to contraception
- compulsory education (parents have to support their child for a long time)
- rising costs of having children
- changing position of women (want to pursue career not just being a mother)
