Unit 4 (Revision Guide) Flashcards
Name two factors which may decrease fertility rates significantly.
Original Answer: Social factors like access to contraception and economic factors like high child-raising costs reduce fertility rates.
Simple Terms: Fewer kids are born when people use contraception or when raising children is expensive.
Using examples, describe the differences in natural increase between countries.
Original Answer: In rich countries like Japan, low birth rates and high death rates mean population shrinks. In poor countries like Niger, high birth rates and fewer deaths mean populations grow quickly.
Simple Terms: Rich countries have fewer kids and more elderly, so populations shrink. Poor countries have many kids and better healthcare, so populations grow.
Outline the main features of one country’s population policy regarding natural increase.
Original Answer: Singapore implemented policies to encourage more births, including financial incentives, extended parental leave, and housing benefits.
Simple Terms: Singapore helps families have more kids by giving money, leave from work, and housing support.
Assess the results of seeking to manage the natural increase of population in a country.
Original Answer: Singapore’s policies have moderately increased birth rates, but fertility rates remain below replacement level due to cultural and economic factors.
Simple Terms: Singapore’s policies helped a bit, but families still have fewer kids than needed to replace the population.
Using examples, identify and explain the links between fertility rate and education.
Original Answer: Educated women in rich countries have fewer kids because they focus on jobs and delay having children. In poor countries, women with less education often marry young and have more kids.
Simple Terms: Women with education, like in rich countries, delay having kids. In poor countries, women without schooling have more kids.
Using examples, describe the circumstances under which a natural decrease in population may occur.
Original Answer: Populations shrink in places like Japan where people have few kids and there are many elderly. In Eastern Europe, people leaving for jobs elsewhere also reduces the population.
Simple Terms: Countries like Japan lose people because fewer kids are born. In Eastern Europe, many people move away for jobs.
Explain why, although the size of the average family size is decreasing, world population is still increasing.
Original Answer: Big populations of young people in poor countries are having kids, keeping the population growing even if families are smaller.
Simple Terms: The population grows because young people in poor countries are having kids, even though families are smaller now.
What is meant by the term “death rate”?
Original Answer: Death rate means the number of people who die each year for every 1,000 people in a population.
Simple Terms: Death rate is how many people die in a year out of every 1,000.
Using examples, explain the circumstances under which death rates may increase.
Original Answer: Death rates rise after disasters like tsunamis, diseases like AIDS, or poor healthcare, as seen in some African countries.
Simple Terms: Death rates go up after disasters like tsunamis, diseases, or bad healthcare, like in parts of Africa.
Describe and explain the differences in the death rate between countries in different stages of the demographic transition model.
Original Answer: Poor countries have high death rates from disease and bad healthcare. Rich countries have low death rates, but aging populations can increase deaths.
Simple Terms: Poor countries have high deaths due to sickness. Rich countries have low deaths, but more people die from old age.
Explain why many HICs are experiencing low fertility rates.
Original Answer: Rich countries have fewer kids because people delay having families due to careers, costs, and easy access to contraception.
Simple Terms: People in rich countries have fewer kids because of work, costs, and birth control.
To what extent have attempts to reduce birth rates been successful in one country that you have studied?
Original Answer: Singapore initially had a successful “Stop at Two” campaign to reduce birth rates, but the policy contributed to very low fertility later, leading to pro-natalist measures to encourage more births.
Simple Terms: Singapore first stopped families from having too many kids, but now it encourages bigger families because birth rates fell too low.
Give two reasons which help to explain why HICs record only a small percentage of total deaths under 50 years of age.
Original Answer: Fewer people under 50 die in rich countries because of good healthcare and better living standards.
Simple Terms: Good healthcare and living conditions in rich countries save lives under 50.
Explain the term “population structure.”
Original Answer: Population structure shows how many people of different ages and genders are in a population, often using a pyramid diagram.
Simple Terms: Population structure shows the ages and genders of people, often in a pyramid shape.
Explain the terms dependency and dependency ratio.
Original Answer: Dependency is when kids and elderly rely on workers for support. Dependency ratio = (Dependents ÷ Workers) × 100.
Simple Terms: Dependency means kids and elderly rely on workers. The dependency ratio is the number of dependents compared to workers.
Explain the term “infant mortality rate.”
Original Answer: Infant mortality rate is the number of babies who die before age 1 for every 1,000 babies born.
Simple Terms: Infant mortality is how many babies die before age 1 out of 1,000 births.
Explain the term “fertility rate.”
Original Answer: Fertility rate is the average number of kids a woman is likely to have in her lifetime.
Simple Terms: Fertility rate is how many kids a woman usually has in her life.
Explain the term “natural increase rate” and show how it is calculated.
Original Answer: Natural increase rate is how fast a population grows by subtracting the death rate from the birth rate. Formula: (Birth rate − Death rate) ÷ 10.
Simple Terms: Natural increase shows how fast a population grows by comparing births and deaths.
With the help of a simple diagram of an age/sex pyramid, explain the terms dependency and dependency ratio.
Original Answer: Age/sex pyramids show ages and genders in a population. Dependency ratio is how many kids and elderly depend on workers, shown as a percentage.
Simple Terms: Pyramids show ages and genders. Dependency ratio shows how many kids and elderly rely on workers.
Explain the reasons for the success or failure of population policies.
Original Answer: Successful policies give money or benefits to families and are well-enforced, like in Singapore. Policies fail when people ignore them or when there’s not enough money to support them, like in Nigeria.
Simple Terms: Policies succeed with money and enforcement, like in Singapore. They fail without support or people ignoring them, like in Nigeria.
What is meant by the term carrying capacity in connection with population?
Original: Carrying capacity refers to the maximum number of people an environment can sustain indefinitely with the available resources, technology, and infrastructure. If the population exceeds this limit, resource depletion, environmental degradation, and economic instability may occur.
Simple terms: Carrying capacity is the maximum number of people an area can support without running out of resources, like food, water, and shelter.
Describe the constraints that may limit the capability of resources to feed a country’s population.
Original: Constraints include limited arable land, water scarcity, poor soil fertility, deforestation, urbanization reducing farmland, and climate change impacts like droughts and flooding. Economic barriers and inefficient agricultural practices also play a role.
Simple terms: Limited land for farming, not enough water, poor soil, climate problems like drought, and bad farming practices can all make it hard to grow enough food.
Why are some areas of the world considered underpopulated?
Original: Underpopulated areas, like parts of Australia and Canada, have abundant resources relative to their population size. These regions have untapped potential due to low population density, which limits economic activity and resource utilization.
Simple terms: Some areas, like parts of Australia, have more resources than people living there, so the resources are not fully used.
Explain why the concept of a population ceiling may be relevant in LICs (low-income countries).
Original: Population ceilings are relevant in LICs because resource scarcity, low levels of technological development, and economic instability limit their ability to sustain large populations. Rapid population growth can exceed these limits, leading to poverty and resource depletion.
Simple terms: In poorer countries, there might not be enough food, water, or jobs to support too many people, so a population ceiling becomes necessary.
