POPULATION

Where POPULATION has grown?

¶ Although the world population is increasing, the rate of increase is not

the same for all countries.
¶ The population increasing very rapidly in most developing countries such
as the Philippines.
¶ On the other hand, the population is increasing very slowly in developed
countries such as France.
¶ In some developed countries such as Germany, the population is not decreasing:
instead, it is increasing.

How world POPULATION has change?

¶ The world population is increasing rapidly because the birth rate is higher
than the death rate.
¶ This very rapid population growth of the world population is known as
population explosion.

Why world POPULATION has change?

¶ Before 1850, the world's population grew slowly because both the birth
rates and death rates were high in most countries. The high death rates
were mainly due to wars, diseases, epidemics, starvation and famines.
¶ Since 1850, advances in technology have resulted in an improved food supply,
better hygiene and increased medical knowledge in many countries. All
these factors have helped to reduce the death rates. This drop in the death
rates has been the main cause for the rapid growth of the world's
population.

Reasons for fall in Death Rate

Why do people now live longer? (Associated diseases)

i. Clean water supplies and better sanitation. (Cholera)
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 ii. Control disease insects by spraying. (Malaria)
iii. Modern medicines to cure illness. (Pneumonia)
iv. Vaccinations (injections against diseases) e.g.. Measles
v. Better knowledge of cleanliness. (Typhoid)
vi. Improvements in food supplies and quality. (Malnutrition)

Ways in which Birth Rate has been reduced

This is necessary in countries where death rate has come down, people are living
longer and so there has been a population 'explosion'. If the increase continues
there will be serious problem of food and resources.

i. Family planning programmes - advice on birth control method and contraception

sterilisation
ii. Changing role of women - they now have better opportunities in education and
want to have careers.
iii. Late marriages - a couple will then have fewer children
iv. People want a higher standard of living - children cost money, so having smaller
families means people can afford more.

But in some countries the Birth Rate stays high. Why?

i. Contraception and advice not available.

ii. Children are needed to work on the land
iii. Children are wanted to support parents in old age.
iv. In some countries, children may die early (high infant mortality rate). So couple
have many children to make sure some survive.
v. Religious reasons against birth control.

Problems of countries, which have reduced the Birth Rate

E.g.. China and Singapore

China had policy of only one child per family. If they had any more, they would
lose benefits. Imagine a world when no one had any brothers or sisters.

One of the problems facing countries with lower birth rate is

i. Smaller work force - to earn money, support the aged population and keep
services functioning
ii. An increasingly ageing population heavily dependent on health are that has not
enough people working
iii. Traditional family life will disappear.

Population Planning and Birth Control

After its independence in 1965, Singapore had been concerned with the growing
population within the small island. The Singapore Family Planning and
Population Board (SFPPB) was then set up in 1966.
The main aims are as follows:

i. To provide family planning services to married women.

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 ii. To reduce the birth rate from 30 per 1 000 to 17 per 1 000
iii. To promote acceptance of a two-child family.
iv. To promote sterilisation among married couples who have completed their
families
v. To promote awareness and importance of family planning among newly-married
couples.
vi. To achieve a zero population growth by the year 2030.

Measures taken to reduce birth rate.

i. Laws were passed to legalise abortion and sterilisation in 1970.

ii. Incentives such as priority in registration for primary classes in schools were
given to child whose parents underwent sterilisation.
iii. Cash incentives were also offered to have a small family.

NEW POPULATION POLICY (1987)

In March 1985, the SFPPB was dissolved. This is because the Singapore
Government realised that the population was growing below replacement level,
which means that people are not having enough children to replace the number
who died. Singapore is also facing the problem of ageing population, which means
there are more old people than young people.

YEAR CHILDREN (0 - 14)ADULTS (15 - 59) ELDERLY PEOPLE (60+)

1970 39% 55% 6%
2000 22% 67% 11%
2030 18% 56% 26%

The new population policy encourages the people to give birth to more children
because of the following problems:

i. A decline in the number of able young male adults to be enlisted in the army.
ii. A decline in the number of people in the workforce resulting in tight labour market.
iii. An increase in the average age of the workers in the workforce and this has
implications on productivity level.
iv. A higher dependency ratio of the growing ageing population.

Measures taken to encourage more births.

1) Tax relief and rebates. Married couples with more than two children are given
tax rebates.
2) School registration. The third child enjoys the same priority as the first and
second child in school registration. Should the number of applications exceed
vacancies for pre-primary and primary classes, the third child families are given
priority.
3) Subsidy for child - care centre to relieve the financial burden of parents.
4) Longer childcare leave. Women are allowed to take a longer maternity leave.

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 PROBLEMS OF RAPID POPULATION GROWTH AND OVER POPULATION

1 Health - repeated pregnancies lower the health of mother and babies. A vicious
circle of malnutrition and poor physical and mental health develops.
2 Education - low literacy rate and educational standard. There are millions who
cannot read or write.
3 Employment - in urban areas limited jobs are available and in agricultural areas
the land cannot support too many people
4 Housing - new houses create urban sprawl and building development is failing
to keep up with the demand for new houses
5 Food supply - although the 'GREEN REVOLUTION' has improved food output
there is still a gap between food requirements and the numbers of people in the
country. Malnutrition is a serious problem in many areas of Africa and Latin
America.
6 Problems of urban growth - shantytowns, unemployment, crime, lack of public
& social facilities, traffic congestion, health problem, pollution and urban sprawl.

SOLUTIONS TO THE PROBLEMS OF OVERPOPULATION

1 Introduction of family planning programme for birth control to cut down the rate
of population growth.
2 Increase food yields. This can be done by:
a Opening up news lands for agriculture
a Raising crops yields of existing land using new technology through plant
breeding and experimentation, increase application of fertilizers, farm
mechanisation, elimination of weeds, insects and pests.
3 Introduction of drainage irrigation scheme to make wasteland productive.
4 Migration helps to relieve the socio-economic problems of an area of region. For
e.g. migration out of Java to Kalimantan
5 Stimulate economic growth. The focus should be on industrialisation and
agricultural innovation.
Industrialisation is able to offer employment to raise per capita income and to
improve living standard of the people
Agricultural innovation - government assistance to promote Green Revolution to
raise farm productivity.
PROBLEMS OF UNDERPOPULATION

L Lack of manpower - more people are needed to assist the economic activities
otherwise the level of income of the country cannot be raised.
L Will have low agricultural, industrial and trade potentials due to low population.
L Generally slow development due to lack of manpower e.g. Brunei.

SOLUTIONS OF UNDERPOPULATION

J Rising the retirement age. In Singapore, the retirement age has been raised to 62
with effect from 1999 and is expected to rise to 67 in the future.
J Encouraging women to work by means of measures such as flexible working hours
and child-care subsidies.
J The use of foreign labour
J The introduction of automation and robots.
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 Population Migration

1 Migration means the movement of people from one place to another

Internal migration - migration within a country
International migration - migration between countries
2 International migration can be
Emigration - out
Immigration - in
3 Migration can be either permanent or temporary

Seasonal E.g. Tourists, harvest workers

Periodic E.g. Contract workers in another country
Permanent E.g. Going to live in another country
E.g. Permanent rural to urban migration,
Internal seasonal nomadic movements, commuters
travelling to work

4 International migrations are caused by factors including:

{ Population pressures (overpopulation in a country)

{ Economic pressures - no jobs therefore no money
{ Religious persecution
{ War and internal politics
{ Natural disasters, e.g. earthquakes, floods, etc.
{ Overseas opportunities and experience

5 One of the most important internal migration is called rural depopulation - the
movement from rural villages to towns. This movement is caused by 2 factors:

i. The Push Factors (force people to leave their homes)

a. Shortage of land to farm and grow food to eat or sell
b. Shortage of food therefore hunger
c. Lack of employment therefore poverty
d. Natural disasters e.g. floods, earthquakes, volcano eruptions
e. Wars - loss of land and homes
f. Dislikes traditional way of life and lack of modern amenities

ii. The Pull Factors (attract people to towns and cities)

a. Prospect of employment therefore obtaining money
b. Prospect of better education
c. Prospect of better housing and lifestyles
d. Prospect of medical help and care.

6 This rural-urban migration can create many problems both in the rural areas and
in towns and cities.

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 7 Problems in the rural areas:
a) The young and active people leave and old people are left to do all the work. They
are not as energetic as the young people so the land is not so well-cultivated and
food supplies decreases even more
b) Families are broken up and life styles changes
c) The traditional skills are gradually lost because the young people do not learn
from their elders
d) The rural areas decline because no new facilities such as schools are opened

8 Solutions to rural problems:

a) People must be encouraged to remain in the rural areas. Therefore, farming,
employment and facilities need government help. For example, FELDA had
developed planned rural housing in the Jengka Triangle area (Pahang). These are
low-cost housing built for rural settlers. Each family is given the house and a
plot of land to grow rubber or oil palm, fruits and padi. School, clinic and shops
are also provided. The farmer are also given loans for them to purchase
machinery, fertilisers, etc. All these are aimed at solving the rural problems and
increasing agricultural productivity thereby creating better life for the rural
settlers.
b) Introduce the growing of crops as well as keeping animals for sale.

9 Problems in the urban areas

Many cities in the developing countries such as Calcutta, Madras, Bangkok,
Manila and Jakarta suffered problems of large influx in rural migrants.
This causes problems of
a) Overcrowding in cities and facilities are inadequate for all the people e.g. water
supply, electricity and medical care
b) Unemployment rate is high because the rural migrants come without proper
education and skills. A lot of them are jobless and others earning very low wages.
So there is problem of providing education and training to those people.
c) Housing - as the demand for housing increases on high concentration become
high. Government cannot keep / pace in providing housing with an increase in
population. A lot of people end up living in squatter settlement / shantytowns
d) Traffic congestion and pollution - an increase on high concentration of people
results in traffic congestion. Roads are congested and traffic movement is slow.
Air and noise pollution arise from the increase use of transport vehicles.
e) Social problem are common e.g. family conflicts, mental distress high crime rate
(theft, robbers, etc). Most of these problems arise due to lack of urban planning
in the past.

10 Solutions to the urban problems

i. Building new towns (satellite towns) to reduce overcrowding. This also reduces
pollution. There will be jobs created in the building construction industry. At the
same time commercial and industrial activities will be expanded.
ii. Building of high-rise blocks of flats. This results in:
µ The creation of spaces, which can be used for parks and recreation areas.
µ A reduction in overcrowding
iii. Creation of jobs. Training of young people so they can join the labour market.
iv. Traffic problem solution e.g. Singapore
a. Higher parking fees in city
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b. High import duties on cars
c. High road taxes to discourage ownership of vehicles
d. Restricting cars entering city centre during peak hours (4 passengers can enter
the city centre free of charge. Theirs pay $5)
e. Better efficient public transport have been developed (MRT)
f. Build better and wider roads with computerised traffic system to improve the
flow of traffic.

v. Air and water pollution

a. Fine vehicles with excessive fumes
b. Fine the owners of factories that dump waste in discriminately
c. Locating factories away from the residential area

Attempts to control rural-urban migration

Difficult because:
1 People are free to move about
2 City is more attractive especially to young people
3 Rural areas no longer isolated

So what to do?

1 Development within rural areas, e.g. Malaysia Rural Development Policy to

improve.
2 Establish industries in rural areas - agricultural, isolated industries, timber
processing
3 Make farming more profitable
4 Establish new towns to reduce pressure on primate city
5 Urban renewal in old city areas, increase job opportunities
6 Transmigration - government direct migrants to sparsely populated areas and
set up settlement jobs e.g. Indonesia - moving people from Java - Sumatra

Population Pyramid

A population pyramid gives information about the number or percentage of

people in different age groups and the proportion of males and females in a place.
The vertical or
percentage scale indicates
total number.the age
Each while
bar the horizontal
represents on agescale indicates
group, with the youngest
age group always at the bottom. Population pyramid are always drawn to show
males on the left and females on the right.

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a Countries with very high fertility rates usually have the highest age-dependency
percentages because of the high proportion of children in their populations.
DEPENDENCY RATIO= The number of dependent population
The number of working population

a The Dependent Population means people below 15 and people above retirement
age of 65. The working population means people above 15 and below 65.

a Making use of the following population pyramid, the dependency ratio

Age group + Age group C
Group B

a LIFE EXPECTANCY RATIO = Average age at which people die. It is not the
age at which most people die. More young children die in India which brings
down the figure.

Three General Types of Population Pyramid

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Characteristics of Population Pyramid in Developed & Developing Countries

Characteristics Developing Countries Developed Countries

Egyptian pyramid shape Bee-hive shape with a
SHAPE with a broad base. narrow base and broad
middle.
High birth rate Low birth rate due to
DEMOGRAPHY An expanding population stabilizing attempt
Aiming at Zero Population
Typical
India Japan, USA and Britain
Examples
LOW as higher birth rate HIGH as low birth rate
due to: due to:
Standard of Lack of family planning Population control
Living Agricultural base Industrial base
Traditional beliefs Small families
Attitudes Good education
Fairly equal number of Slightly more females
Sex Ratio male and female- balanced than males especially in
sex ratio the old dependents
Economically active
(working) population
Main Age Dependent below 14
which do not have to
Category years
support many
dependents
Proportion of High due to: Declining proportion due to:
Young High birth rate Declining natural increase
Dependents Lower life expectancy Average life span increasing
Proportion of Very small due to low Quite high due to life
Old Dependents life expectancy expectancy
Large proportion of youngAgeing population with
people and an expandinghigh life expectancy due
population to improvements in
Problems in the More stress on existing medical knowledge and
future facilities e.g. housing amenities.
Overpopulation problemsProvision of services for
such as unemployment, the old aged such as
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 Problems in the
future

malnutrition & pollution pensions, houses etc.

DEMOGRAPHIC TRANSITION MODEL

1) If we study the birth rates and death rates of countries and watch how they
change over time we can find a general pattern to the way birth rates and death
rates.
2) This pattern is sometimes called the population cycle.
3) What does the model tell us about population change?
i. It suggests that there are 4 stages through which a population will pass.
ii. It suggests that birth rates and death rates will have some typical features in
each stage.

Stage 1
• All countries will have high birth rates and high death rates. This means that
natural increase will be low.
• Sometimes a disease, war or famine will cause the death rate to be higher than
the birth rate.

Stage 2
• Death rate begins to fall rapidly because:
i. Better sanitation and clean piped water. E.g.. Typhoid and cholera controlled.
ii. Control of disease bringing insects. E.g.. Malaria controlled
iii. Medicine available. E.g.. Pneumonia treated, vaccinations to control small pox
iv. Better transport system means food can be moved quickly meaning that famine
can be controlled.
• But the birth rate remains high
• So the rate of natural increase rises quickly as infant mortality decreases and life
expectancy increases. Also, because more people survive through to adulthood
there are more couples marrying and thus more children born.

Stage 3
• Parents decide to limit the size of their family because;
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a) More children are surviving and it is expensive to raise lots of children and
difficult to care for them.
b) Farms need less labour when machinery is used.
c) Women become educated and see that there are more options than just to be a
mother at home. If they want to follow a career than it is usual for them to have
between 0 and 2 children.
d) The government tells them to have fewer children.
e) Birth control methods are widely available and widely used.
• The rate of natural increase fall.

Stage 4
• Birth rates and death rates stay close together.
• Natural increase remains low at or near to ZPG.
• Sometimes the death rate is greater than the birth rate.
{ This may be caused by a war or a short-term fall in the birth rate.
{ An economic depression causes a fall in the birth rate.
{ Following a period when deaths are greater than births there is often a
period when the birth rate increases to a level higher than normally
seen in stage 4.
{ This period of higher birth rate is called a baby boom.

POINTS TO REMEMBER

i. This is only a model so it will not fit the experience of countries exactly.
ii. For instance the amount of time taken to pass through the four stages will
probably vary from one country to the next.
iii. Changes to population numbers through the population cycle.

Stage 1 - Natural increase is low. At or near ZPG.

Stage 2 - The rate of natural increase rises as population number explode
Stage 3 - The rate of natural increase begins to slow, gradually falling back
towards ZPG as the birth rate falls.
Stage 4 - Natural increase is low at or near ZPG.

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 POPULATION
Where POPULATION has grown?

¶ Although the world population is increasing, the rate of increase is not

the same for all countries.
¶ The population increasing very rapidly in most developing countries such
as the Philippines.
¶ On the other hand, the population is increasing very slowly in developed
countries such as France.
¶ In some developed countries such as Germany, the population is not decreasing:
instead, it is increasing.

How world POPULATION has change?

¶ The world population is increasing rapidly because the birth rate is higher
than the death rate.
¶ This very rapid population growth of the world population is known as
population explosion.

Why world POPULATION has change?

¶ Before 1850, the world's population grew slowly because both the birth
rates and death rates were high in most countries. The high death rates
were mainly due to wars, diseases, epidemics, starvation and famines.
¶ Since 1850, advances in technology have resulted in an improved food supply,
better hygiene and increased medical knowledge in many countries. All
these factors have helped to reduce the death rates. This drop in the death
rates has been the main cause for the rapid growth of the world's
population.