Factors Affecting the Reliability of Population data Flashcards
How do literacy levels affect the reliability of results?
Low literacy rates in developing countries, especially amongst woman, means that as they cannot read or write, it is impossible to fill in the census form – making them inaccurate.
Example of a country with low literacy rates
Chad- 2016- 22.16%
How do language barriers affect the reliability of results?
In some developing countries many different languages are spoken and if the census form is not in the correct language it will be impossible for people to fill in
Example of a country with many languages
Bolivia- 37 official languages
How does cost affect the reliability of results?
A census is an extremely expensive process. Forms have to be produced, distributed, collected and collated. For poorer developing countries this is a significant barrier as due to trade deficits and debt, governments lack the money to implement a proper census. Governments may also feel that money could be used more effectively in areas such as housing, education and healthcare.
Example of a poorer country that had to cancel their census
For example, in 1996 the government of Nigeria had to cancel their planned census due to a lack of funds.
How does a county’s poor terrain affect the reliability of results?
Difficult terrain and poor road/rail networks in developing countries means that some remote areas of countries are not included in the count – this rendering the census inaccurate
Example of a country with poor terrain
Places such as Ethiopia have very poor infrastructure and difficult terrain
How do shanty towns affect the reliability of results?
Shanty towns are dynamic changing environments which are built illegally. Governments have no way of sending a census to all residents of a shanty town as they do not know how many people live in these areas, nor do the people have official addresses
Example of a country with a major shanty town
Brazil- Rio De Janeiro- Favellas
How does religion affect the reliability of results?
People who belong to fundamental religious groups will not fill in a census as it is against their values. They will therefore leave them blank meaning missing information for enumerators.
Example of a fundamental religious group that prevents information being given out to the government
Boko Haram in Nigeria
How does the presence of nomadic people in a country affect the reliability of results?
These are people who have no fixed residence and move around the land constantly, sometimes over the borders of countries are very difficult to count. This is their way of life and has been for generations, moving with the seasons in search for food and water.
Example of a region with many nomads
Tuareg people have over 2.5 million people across the Sahara region
How does migration affect the reliability of results?
Rural to urban migration is a huge problem in developing countries. This is a problem as it can make previous counts wholly inaccurate and a lot end up in shanty towns where they will be lost to any future census the government may conduct.
