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UNIT 3 The Human Environment SECTION A- HUMAN WORLD

POPULATION CHANGEPopulation growth and distribution

Why is population growing rapidly?Main reason: reduction in death rate in LIC’s.( Death rate = the number of people in every 1,000 of the population who die each year) UN estimate world’s pop. reach 9 billion by 2050- 60% Asia, 20% Africa, 9% South America1900 Pop. Europe 3x’s Africa by 2050 Africa pop. 3x’s that of Europe.

The distribution of global populationPOPULATION DISTRIBUTION = pattern of where people live.SPARSELY POPULATED – contain few people. DENSELY POPULATED contain many people.POPULATION DENSITY = measurement of number of people in an area. (average number)Calculated by dividing no. people by area. Usually no. people per square km.Population not evenly distributed. PHYSICAL or HUMAN reasons why people live in certain area.PHYSICAL FACTORS HUMAN FACTORSInclude: relief, climate and water supplyFlat lowlands areas , temperate climate and reliable water supply usually densely populated. Opposite results in sparsely populated.

Include: employment, industry and transportFocus of communication networks lead to high population densities as goods easily transported and industry sets up here.Major ports lead to dense populations.

Note: Refer to Figure in Textbook. Learn: Annotations on impacts of physical factors/human factors on world density. Learn named examples of couNtries/areas

What are birth rates and death rates?BIRTH RATE= number of live babies born in a year for every 1000 people in the total popula.DEATH RATE= number of people in every 1000 who die each year.NATURAL INCREASE = difference between BR and DRIf BR high than DR, total population INCREASE. If DR higher than BR, total pop. DECREASE.

Natural increase expressed as a % per year. NI (%) = BR-DR 10

How is population going to change in the future?-1900 70% world’s pop. lived in LICs and MICs. 2000- 80%, 2050 expected 90%.-UN predicted by 2150 reach 9.7 billion. After 2200 stabilise at 10.5 billion.-Some experts say reach peak of 12 billion before starts to decline.Difficult to predict this. Some say will decline rapidly in 50 yrs due to falling Birth Rates.(Birth rate = the number of live births per 1,000 of the population in one year) -BR falling in many countries. If continues then total world population will fall. Eg Sweden and Italy.-However, BR may rise again in HICs due to shortage of people to do the work.

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What causes birth rate and death rates to change?BR and DR are affected by: i) MEDICAL ii) ECONOMIC iii) SOCIAL iv) POLITICAL factors.MEDICAL-In HICs new treatments e.g. medicines, pharmaceuticals against cancer and many other widespread diseases/infections are invented and as a result people live longer. -In LICs vaccinations for children have decreased dramatically death rates. -Better health care for infants and pregnant females have reduced infant mortality rate. 2006 The Health Foundation launched 3-year programme in Malawi.ECONOMIC-Very expensive to raise child in the UK from birth to age of 21. Average £186,000-Death rate is affected by poverty. Areas with high death rate are classified as coalfields, manufacturing sites that experience high unemployment rate. Male death rate in Glasgow, Scotland highest in Britain at 1420 per 100,000SOCIAL-Women’s education has improved. They have learnt new ways to control fertility. -Time they spend on education/career has increased. -Education rises the average age of marriage and delays the child bearing age. -In 1960s people were getting married in the age of 24 but today in the age of 30.-RELIGION: Catholism and Islam prevent birth control measures therefore birth rate increases. POLITICAL-Government policy. -‘China’s one child policy’ –family planning programmes to reduce birth rate. -Countries like France and Singapore implemented programmes to encourage births due to an increase in their ageing population, lack of people in the working sector.

The characteristics of the demographic transition model -a model of population change over time based on the variations in a country’s BR and DR.-‘Population change model’- Shows population change in two ways:a) Change over space- countries at the same time can show population characteristics of a different stage.b) Change over time- each country will theoretically pass through the stages.-Model is based on what happened to BR and DR in western European countries.-Each stage of the DTM has specific characteristics that you have to learn. Learn the name of each stage based on the total population. See Figure in textbook.Stage 1: high fluctuating -a period of high BR and DR. Natural changes fluctuates between increase and decrease. There are NO countries left in the world that are still at this stage apart from small tribes in the Amazon for example.

CASE STUDY: FALLING BIRTH RATES IN POLAND-In Europe, 2.1 children/woman population replacement level.-In Poland, BR just 1.23- one of lowest in Europe. Population fell by 500,000 from 2000-2008-Why Poles having fewer babies?Because Polish society undergone considerable changes in recent decades:a) More women go to university, pursue a career before married so not dependant on husbands.b) Change from communism to market based economy 18% unemployment highest in EU.-Concerns of keeping jobs so couples don’t have children if not financially secure.-Also, housing shortage and cost of raising a family increasing. Couples not prepared to economise on food and holidays to have a family.c) Women not willing to break career to start a family as risk not getting jobs back.

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Reasons for HIGH birth rate: i) Little access to birth control ii) High infant mortality rate – have more childreniii) More children needed to work the land and look after their parents when they get old. iv) Children are considered to be a blessing (religions such as Islam and Roman Catholics encourage large families)v) Children are a sign of virility in some cultures Reasons for HIGH death rate:

i) High infant mortality rateii) High occurrence (incidence) of diseases

iii) Poor nutrition and famineiv) Poor quality housing/ lack of sanitation v) Little and poor health care

Stage 2: early expanding - a period of high birth rate and falling death rate results in rapid population growth. Most of the LICs are in this stage. Reasons for the falling death rate:

i) Improvements in health care. Longer life and Infant mortality rate is reduced. ii) Improvements in sanitation and clean water supply

iii) Better and more food is available. iv) Better waste disposal.v) Transport and communication improve the movements of food and medical supplies.

Stage 3 : late expanding - BR and DR continue to fall. The total population increase slows. Most of the newly industrialized countries such as China, India and Mexico at this stage. Reasons for low birth rates: i) increase access to contraception.ii) lower infant mortality rate means that there is less need to have large families iii) As wealth increases, people prefer to have more material possessions than large family.iv) Industrialization and mechanisation sectors means that less workers are required. v) Equality for women/ more focused on their own education and career rather than having a family. Stage 4 : low fluctuating – BR and DR remain low and fluctuating with ‘baby booms’ and spreading of other diseases and illnesses. Natural change fluctuates.People live longer and DR are kept low due to improvements in health care. This stage characterises many high income countries and shows a steady population Stage 5: Decline- a period which DR slightly exceeds BR. The result is natural decrease and a decline in population. Modern medicines and therapies make elderly people live longer. Initially, this stage not part of the model but included later to show recent developments in population change. Eg. Germany and Estonia which have very low BR belong to this stage. What are the physical and human factors that affect the distribution and density of population in China and the UK?

The density of population in ChinaThe distribution and density of population greatly influenced by physical and/ or human conditions. (compare maps)PHYSICALSparsest areas- mountains over 2000m & deserts-Pop. Density less than 10/km² (west of China)Most densely populated- coastal areas & fertilefloodplains of major rivers (east of country)Climate plays role- climate of China very diverse.

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Large cities of Beijing and Shanghai no extreme climate and one reason for their growth.No large cities in arid desert areas or very wet and cold mountains.

HUMANRicher, industrial areas have higher densities.Have good communication links which encourage growth of industry and population.Level of economic development increases to the east. Eg. Government introduced strategy for coastal economic development along SE coast.-Drew in workers making it most densely populated region around Shanghai.

The density of population in the UK(Refer to diagram in textbook)

COUNTRIES HAVE CONTRASTING POPULATION PROBLEMS-Some countries want to reduce BR , others trying to increase The case of China & Singapore.CASE STUDY: What has China done to reduce its Birth Rate?(refer to Population Pyramids for China 1964, 1984 and 2000 textbook)-1979 China 25% world’s population. 2/3 pop. Under 30yrs age and largest cohort ( 5yr age group) born 1950’s and 1960’s entering reproductive years.Govt. realized strict population control needed for economic reform and improvement to living standards. Resulted in ‘ONE-CHILD POLICY’Incentives: -cash bonuses -women were allowed to have -longer maternity leave -free education -free medical care -better child care -preferential housing arrangements

Disincentives -couples were asked to promise that they would not have more children. -if had a second child lost their rights, ‘kicked out’ from their jobs and pay heavy fines. -citizens were monitored by ‘granny police’ who visited households and inspected whether women using contraceptives, methods used and which became pregnant.-each commune was allowed only a quota of births. - to meet quotas, unmarried young people persuaded to postpone marriage. females with unauthorised pregnancies were forced to have an abortion couples urged to ‘wait their turn’ and those who already had children were urged to use contraception or undergo sterilization.Recent changes to the one child policyIn rural areas (70% population China live) . A second child is allowed after FIVE years ONLY if the first child is a girl.

Parents are allowed to have a THIRD child among some ethnic minorities and in remote areas. Residents in urban areas and government employees

must follow strictly the plan except if:i) the first child has a disability ii) both parents work in high risk occupations such as mining, builders iii) Both parents are from one-child families. Impacts of policy on population growth

China’s population growth is unbalanced but its rigid one-child policy marked a period of heavy fines, forced abortions and gender discrimination.

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Until 2000, this policy is estimated to have prevented more than 250 million births. It has resulted to gender imbalance. Birth rate decreased from 34 per 1000 in 1973 to 13 per 1000 in 2008. Annual population growth fell from 2.4% to 0.6% Policy has been more effective in urban areas than in countryside. In cities, finding enough space for living is

difficult, raising a child is much more expensive. In rural areas, there is always the need for children to help on family farms.

Case Study: What has Singapore done to increase its birth rate?Sovereign city-state and island country in Southeast AsiaIn the 1960s Singapore had a high birth rate and a lowering death rate. (Stage 2 of DTM). -Government introduced policy ‘two is enough’ to reduce birth rate. Successful- BR fell 9/1000-1980’s government realised if BR continued to fall, country would not have enough workers and created (1987) a new plan ‘three or more’ to increase birth rate by using incentives- not very successful.-BR continue to decline- 2008 1.26 babies born /woman- compares- 1960’s 5.8Reasons for a low birth rate: -cost of living rises, poor families could not afford to have 3 or more children -parents’ livelihoods become more stressful having to look after many children -limited availability of resources/need to increase production and expand trading sector-added pressure on working sector to collect money for ‘cash gifts’ given to large families-more pressure on medical, educational and housing services. Incentives for parents to have more children:-a cash gift of 3,000 dollars for first and second child -grant of 6,000 dollars for third and fourth child. -2nd to 4th child have a savings account called Children Development Account. Any money saved matched by government.-3 months maternity leave for women-3 days of paternity leave on the birth of the first four children for fathers -5 days of childcare per year -priority in school enrolment -parents could receive 95 dollars for a housemaid if children were under the age of 12. -with more children parents are entitled to buy a bigger flat. If they had one child could have a three-room flat, if they had two children they could claim to buy a 3-4 bedroom flat. The characteristics of population on a local scaleWHAT IS A CENSUS?UK- information about the population collected by CENSUS- Questionnaire delivered to all households every 10 years. First 1801- characteristics e.g. age, gender, ethnicity, religion, employment.- It provides a detailed picture of the entire population. Collection of census data makes it easy to compare regions within the same country.The characteristics of population- GENDER (male or female)- AGE (young, middle-aged, old). -ETHNICITY: skin colour e.g. Asians, Afrikaans (black, brown, white, yellow ). Hispanics (Spanish –speaking)-RELIGION e.g. Greek Orthodox, Catholics, Muslim, Hindu. -OCCUPATION. E.g. managerial, skilled, unskilled, unemployed or in education (primary, secondary and tertiary sector)

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-POPULATION STRUCTURE- age groups 0-15, 16-29, 30-44, 45-64, Aged 65 and over.

Ethnicity: the national or cultural characteristics that allow people to identify themselves as members of a particular social group.

What are population pyramids? Most important demographic characteristic of population is AGE-SEX structure. shown on a single diagram

called population pyramid (alternative name age-sex pyramid). The male population is shown on left hand side of the pyramid and the female on the right hand side. The vertical axis in the middle is divided upon the different age-groups (cohorts) of the population. Normally

each age group consists of 5 years. The youngest group 0-4 yrs is the bottom one and the oldest one above 90 yrs old is at the top.

The number of males and females in a specific age group is shown by a horizontal bar. The bar is drawn proportional in length to either the number or the percentage of all males and females in

that specific age-group.

COUNTRIES AT DIFFERENT LEVELS OF ECONOMIC GROWTH HAVE DIFFERENT SHAPED PYRAMIDSRAPID GROWTH: PHILIPPINES-A TYPICAL LIC

SLOW GROWTH: BRAZIL- A TYPICAL MIC

Implications of the pyramid: PHILIPPINES-Limited resources stretched such as for nutrition, education and health care in order to meet the needs of the large number of dependent children. -When dependent children will reach the working age, jobs need to be created to enable them to support themselves and families.-As the group of dependent children reaches the child-bearing age, it is expected that fertility rates will still be high and as a result population will continue to expand.

Description of the pyramid:-Typical population pyramid (triangle shape) of an LIC that shows rapid population growth (2.1%)-Wide base indicates that there is high birth rate, large number of dependent children (0-14) and high fertility rate. -High youthful population-Top of the pyramid is narrow and indicates that only a small proportion of the population lives above the age of 90. -Low life expectancy -Compares to early stage 1 and early stage 2 of DTM

Description of the pyramid: -Typical pyramid of an MIC that experiences economic growth. -It is a more even-sided pyramid -Follows some steps of an LIC but improvements in medicine and diet reduce death rate. More people are living longer -The birth rate is high resulting in natural increase. -Stage 3 of the DTM

Implications of the pyramid: With continuous improvements in standards of living, education and health care, the elderly people will live longer,

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NEGATIVE GROWTH: GERMANY- A TYPICAL HIC

How to interpret a population pyramid

Ageing and Youthful population Ageing or ‘greying’ population is the population that is old. People aged 65 and above.

Youthful population: A population in which there is a high percentage of people under the age of 16 (or sometimes 19)

You must be able to identify ageing and youthful pyramid structures

What are the consequences of an ageing population?POSITIVE NEGATIVEThe elderly can provide their services free of charge to community such as working in charity shops.Can transfer their skills to youngsters e.g. shoe repairing.

U.K the ageing population is a worrying problem.It is becoming extremely difficult for the government to provide pensions for the over 65s.Possible solutions:-Government is willing to increase taxes paid by the working population-Raise the age of retirement i.e. to 68 years old by 2046

Description of the pyramid:-Typical population pyramid of an HIC that experiences negative growth.-The pyramid bulges in the middle. (possible reason immigrants from Turkey after World War II). Question?-The base of the pyramid is not so wide. Birth rate has declined and death rate is stable.- More people live above the age of 90. Life expectancy is longer. -Germany has an ageing or greying population. -5th stage of the DTM

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-Abolish state pensions and make people pay their own private pension plans .

With more people having leisure time there is a greater demand in the number of jobs in the leisure industry.

The longer the life expectancy the greater demand on health care and support services.Hospitals short of beds and staff. Number of residential homes increase but expensive.

Unemployment rate will be low as percentage of elderly increases.

More demand on housing and using larger amounts of land.

Deducting money from education budget to finance the elderly.

What are the consequences of a youthful population?POSITIVE NEGATIVEChildren are needed to look after their parents so less money is spent on care for the elderly

In countries like Gambia 50% of its population is under the age of fifteen. This adds pressure on economy of the country, education, nursing and nutrition. Gambia, offered free education to girls so that they could stay at school rather than get married at an early age and have children.

There is large and active workforce available for economic growth

Spreading of diseases is much more common among children e.g. diarrhoea and sometimes can cause death because of the lack of doctors and vaccines. Hospitals non-existent in most rural areas.

Advantages and disadvantages of ageing population in Japan

Japan has the fastest ageing population in the world. The percentage of economically active people will decrease from 66% in 2006 to 51% in 2055. Number people aged 65+ rise sharply- 27% 2015, 34% 2035, 41% 2055.

What are the disadvantages of an ageing population? a) Lack of workforce: proportion of workers is falling . Labour force 15-24 age 8million 1990shrunk to 5.3million by 2015.Possible Solution:

• Migrant labour. Software engineers for example were recruited in India before bringing graduates to Japan.• Encourage men to work after retirement• Increase number of women working which historically been low.

b) pensions/ more pressure on working sector and government to collect money for pensions. Unless BR rises (unlikely) amount of money pensioners receive will have to fall.

c) Health care: number of people living in nursing homes or care home is increasing rapidly. Paying for caring for the elderly accounts for half of Japan’s health budget. Putting pressure on nation’s economy.-In 2000, tax on over 40sto help pay for equipment for elderly and carers.-2008 controversial insurance scheme for over 75s introduced.- Nicknamed ‘hurry up and die scheme’- caused political storm.-Increase in number of nursing homes built but still not enough.- Hundreds of people on waiting list for homes but ot enough young staff to work in homes .

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Advantages of ageing population in JapanThe greying yen-Also referred to as ‘grey boom’.-Elderly were anxious about future and saved into old age- no longer the case. Now spending, spending, spending. Buying luxury goods, travelling , expensive food.-In the past left as much as possible to children who looked after them in old age.-Not so much the case now- children less caring and parents spending their money freely.-Lots of old people spending their money could lead to a growth in economy.Technology-Greying of Japan lead to technology explosion.Example – selection of gadgets for people to check up on elderly relatives.Eg. Online kettle sends e-mails to family members when switched on.