Sparsely/under-Australia

Question 1

Location

Answer 1

Australia is a island nation located in southern part of the Pacific Ocean

Question 2

Population

Answer 2

23 million

Question 3

Population density

Answer 3

3.2 people per square kilometre

Question 4

CAUSES

Answer 4

Extreme temperature- lack of rainfall and infertile slips mean that the interior of the continent can be a hostile place
—> 33c temperature
—> annual temperature 523mm
Or sometimes no rain for months

Population growth is very low as it is a well developed country people have less children
—>82.75 years

Getting access to water- getting access to water in a dessert is difficult and expensive it invokes drilling bore holes into the ground affecting local ecosystem

Australia attraction- wide open and unspoiled, spreading more to remote places would affect their reputation and if hot have negative impact
—> most of Australia desert and inhabitable land

Lack of resources
—>lack of economic growth as to the low population
This also means they have low employment

Question 5

Economic CONSEQUENCES

Answer 5

Shortage of workers- low fertility rate leading to lower optimum productivity, Boston group has released a report predicting short fall of 2.3 million workers

High tax-less people meaning higher tax, 43% of labour force will retire in the next 20 years

Resource underused- not possible to exploit all the resources and large areas of outbreak

Question 6

Social CONSEQUENCES

Answer 6

Foreign immigrant- threatens native population (if too many comes in locals may feel that their culture is threatened as various cultures come together)

Closure of public services- schools, hospital and public transport links may close because there aren’t enough people to support them

Question 7

SOLUTION

Answer 7

Give benefits to those with children

Relaxing the visa rules ( the government has tried to encourage immigration by relaxing the visa regulation and targeting skilled workers)

Solar and wind development would bring jobs to the desert

Question 8

Define under population

Answer 8

Too few people to exploit the resources of an area to their full potential

Question 9

Define Optimum population

Answer 9

Where the amount of resources available in a country is equal to the country population

Question 10

POTENTIAL NATURAL RESOURCES

Answer 10

• Australia has a huge reserve of coal, oil, iron ore , copper natural gases and uranium
• has a huge potential for solar and wind development
• under water reservoir ‘aquifer’ have the potential to provide fresh water desert regions

Question 11

Explain why the governments of some MEDCs are now concerned that birth rates are too low in their countries

Answer 11

Shortages of workers

Low level of production

Difficult to defend countries

Lack of innnovation