population Flashcards

Question

what are some future population trends in developing countries

Answer 1

Birth rate will continue to decrease as the country continues to develop; due to: - Better access to family planning and contraception - Better careers and education for women - Children no longer needed to work - Infant mortality decreases. Death rates will also continue to decrease due to: - Improved housing / sanitation - Improved farming methods and diet. - Improving health care and medical knowledge

Answer 2

Problem 1: A Low Death Rate = MORE OLD DEPENDANT PEOPLE: Many old people who cost the government money for a) Pensions: cost of pensions expected to increase by 400% in next 20 years b) Healthcare: Old people need more health care for diseases such as cancer and heart disease c) Sheltered Housing: Many old people are disabled and need adapted housing d) Nursing homes: Many old people need 24 hour care due to dementia. Problem 2: Low Birth Rate = LESS ACTIVE POPULATION = Not enough young WORKING people causes economic problems a) Shortage of workers in the future especially for unpopular jobs e.g. cleaners. b) Shortage of SKILLED workers in future e.g. Doctors c) Less people paying taxes so the government loses money d) Less young people with new ideas and enthusiasm for business – bad for economy. e) Government need to increase taxes. f) Government need to raise retirement age. E.g. it will soon go from 65 to 68 in UK g) Need to encourage more migrants to do jobs leading to racial tension and was main reason for BREXIT vote.

Answer 3

1. Encourage people to have more kids by the following ideas a) Reduce taxes for families b) Increase Child Benefit (Government gives money to parents) c) Better maternity pay for women 2. Raise the age of retirement 3. Encourage retired people to work part time 4. Allow more migrants into country to do unpopular jobs. 5. Encourage mums to work part time 6. Increase taxes for working people

Answer 4

Birth Rate will continue to decrease as: - Contraception is used more often - Children become more expensive in terms of childcare and cost of living. - Women get married later and have better career opportunities. Death rates will continue to decrease as: - Medical knowledge improves eg treatment for cancer, heart surgery, stem cell research. - Lifestyles are improving eg less smokers, heavy drinkers, - Better awareness of healthy eating / improved diet. - More opportunities for exercise.

Answer 5

STAGE 1 – HIGH BIRTH RATE & HIGH DEATH RATE LOW & STABLE POULATION (BR = DR) E.g. Poorest regions of developing countries (Amazonian Tribes) STAGE 2 - HIGH BIRTH RATE BUT DECREASING DEATH RATE RAPIDLY GROWING POPULATION (BR > DR) E.g. Poorest developing countries eg Ethiopia, Somalia STAGE 3 – LOWER DEATH RATE & DECREASING BIRTH RATE BUT POPULATION CONTINUES TO GROW AS BIRTH RATE IS STILL GREATER THAN DEATH RATE E.g. More advanced developing countries eg India, Brazil STAGE 4 – LOW BIRTH RATE & LOW DEATH RATE POPULATION IS HIGH AND STABLE (BR = DR) Eg. Developed countries eg UK, USA STAGE 5 - IN FUTURE BIRTH RATE MAY FALL BELOW DEATH RATE SO TOTAL POPULATION WILL DECREASE. Currently this is the case in Japan Remember: If BR = DR population stays the same (STABLE) If BR is higher than DR then the population grows (Even if BR is decreasing) If BR is lower than DR then the population decreases.

Answer 6

Indicators of development are Statistics (Number Measurements) which can be used to measure how developed a country is.

Answer 7

1. Life expectancy - (Average age which people die) High life expectancy indicates that a country has good healthcare. It also is likely to have good quality housing with good sanitation. There will be clean water available and people are likely to have plenty of food and a balanced diet. 2. Infant Mortality - (Numbers of babies aged 0-1 who die each year per 1000 births) Low infant mortality indicates the same factors as life expectancy (see above) 3. Birth rate -number of babies born each year in a country per 100 people (can also tell us about healthcare and standard of education in a country). 4. Literacy Rates - (% of people who can read and write in a country). This tells us how good education is and can affect the economy if education is good there will be many skilled workers for industry and healthcare. 5. Number of people per doctor - If there are many people and few doctors then healthcare is poor. Few doctors also suggests a shortage of educated people so poor education.

Answer 8

These are USEFUL BECAUSE they tell us directly about peoples’ lives in a country e.g.

Answer 9

These ARE USEFUL BECAUSE they tell us how successful a country’s economy is (or how rich the country is). Rich / Wealthy governments have more money to spend on services such as healthcare and education. They can also build good quality housing with clean water and good sanitation. People also have more money to spend on food and housing.

Answer 10

1. Gross national product: (GNP) This is a measure of wealth. It tells us how much money a country makes each year from its industries and services. Rich countries can spend more on improving healthcare education and housing……….expand as above. 2. Percentage of people working in agriculture (farming). In rich developed countries few people work in farming as most work is done by hi-tech machines. More people work in better paid jobs in factories and offices. In poor countries farms have fewer machines and more workers they also have less factories and services where jobs are available, so more people work on farms. 3. Energy consumption per person: More developed countries use lots of energy e.g. oil and electricity as they have many industries and businesses. People also use a lot of electricity in their homes where they have lighting, heating and many appliances such as TV’s, and washing machines. In poor countries they have few factories or businesses as most people work on farms and homes are more PRIMITAVE.

Answer 11

Life expectancy (the average age which people die in a country) is a good social indicator of development because if a country has low life expectancy this tells us it is likely to have poor health care with few doctors, hospitals or drugs available. It also tells us the country is likely to have poor housing with lack of sanitation and clean water leading to diseases such as cholera. It could also indicate food shortages causing malnutrition and starvation. Percentage of people in working agriculture: This is a good economic indicator because if many people work in farming then the farms are likely to be primitive with few machines and therefore not likely to produce much food. People may therefore suffer from malnutrition. Also, this indicates that there are few people working in industries or businesses, so the country will not make much money to invest in improving services like education and healthcare, thus having a low level of development.

Answer 12

All indicators are AVERAGES for an entire country so they don’t show differences within countries e.g. In Brazil cities like Rio are much more developed than the Rainforest Problems of Social Indicators - Literacy rates: Some social indicators only tell us about one thing e.g. Literacy rates only tell us about education and nothing about housing or sanitation etc. - People per doctor: Doctors are not always needed for good healthcare; Some countries have very good basic healthcare with nurses prescribing drugs and vaccinations. Problems of Economic Indicators - GNP: Some countries like Saudi Arabia are very rich (due to oil) but the money is owned by a very small number of billionaires in the Saudi Royal Family. Most people remain very poor. - Energy Consumption per person: This can be misleading as some highly developed countries such as Australia may have low energy consumption as they don’t need heating due to the warm climate. IT IS THEREFORE BETTER TO USE A COMBINATION OF AT LEAST 3 INDICATORS rather than just one.

Answer 13

Physical reasons for differences in development The following problems make agriculture, building of homes and factories and building of infrastructure (road, rail, energy supplies, water pipes and sewage pipes) very difficult: 1. Relief – Very mountainous countries e.g. Nepal difficult for farming, causing food shortages difficult to build transport links, homes and Industry- bad for economy. 2. Climate – Dry, hot climates with unreliable rainfall e.g. Somalia, Ethiopia difficult for farming (food shortages) and poor working conditions. (Affecting economy). Cold climates have short growing season. 3. Vegetation / Soils – E.g. Sahara Desert in Egypt, Tropical Rainforest in Brazil. Difficult for farming and building communications etc. (affecting diet economy, housing and services) 4. Natural disasters – E.g. Earthquake in Haiti: destroyed farmland, housing, hospitals schools, industry and infrastructure, reducing living standards and leaving country devastated 5. Availability of natural resources. (Brings in money to economy which can be invested in development e.g. of schools / hospitals etc.) - Saudi Arabia has benefitted from huge oil reserves. - Ethiopia has few natural resources. 6. Good location for international trade? - UK is an island with many ports for easy trade with Europe and USA. This boosts economy and creates jobs. Money is invested in development (new schools / hospitals /housing) - Many African countries are far from coastal ports e.g. Chad and it is expensive to transport goods overland. This prevents economic growth.

Answer 14

1. Industrialisation In rich developed countries eg UK there are more manufacturing and service industries. Most people are employed in factories and services (shops / offices) therefore; a. They have well paid jobs and good working conditions. b. There are more jobs available so less unemployment c. These industries make lots of money for the government to invest in housing/health/education. In poor developing countries there are few industries and most people work on farms, therefore a. They have poorly paid difficult jobs. b. There is more poverty and unemployment. c. The government does not make much money to improve Standard of life 2. Population growth – Most developing countries have a rapidly growing causing: -housing shortages and overcrowding, eg shanty towns (Mumbai) -lack of available healthcare and education. -job shortages, unemployment. -food shortages and lack of clean water. -traffic congestion and overcrowded transport. (Also see Mumbai notes) 3. War - Countries such as Syria, which are at war, have had houses, schools, transport and hospitals destroyed. - Few people are working in industry and services as they are fighting. - Most of the government’s money is being spent on the war and there is little being spent on improving living standards. 4. Unfair trade - PTO for details Unfair Trade – a. Countries in the EU have trade barriers and taxes which make it difficult for poorer countries eg Kenya to sell their products to them. b. Most exports from poor developing countries (Ethiopia/ Kenya) are very low value goods eg bananas, coffee beans. These are called primary goods. c. The price of these goods is controlled and kept low by powerful rich nations such as the USA who refuse to pay higher prices. d. Developing countries need to import expensive manufactured products such as computers and farm machinery as they don’t have the technology to produce them. e. They get into debt as they don’t make enough money from selling their cheap exports to pay for their expensive imports. Low value of exports – High cost of imports = Trade Deficit = Debt = Poverty

Answer 15

Relief is a physical factor which can affect development because in countries which are mountainous such as Ethiopia it is difficult to farm and grow crops which could lead to food shortages. It is also difficult to build transport links and there is little flat land for factories, so the country cannot develop industry and remains in poverty. Population growth is a human factor which affects development as in countries such as India with rapid growth, it is difficult for the government to provide enough housing for all so people end up living in slums. There is not enough healthcare for also people die of diseases such as Ebola. Schools area overcrowded and many children are not educated, causing further problems for the economy.

population Flashcards

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