Population 18/01/21

Starter:
Does Mongolia want to increase its population?
What might be the benefits of this? Are there any downsides?
Population

The population of a country can increase through either net

immigration or through a natural increase (when the birth rate
is larger than the death rate).
All of these factors can be influenced in some way or another.
Influences on birth rate and death rate
The birth rate is likely to be high when there is a young average
aged population in which…
Women marry young, infant mortality rate is high, women are not
well-educated, most women do not work and it is cheap to bring
up children.
The death rate is influenced by nutrition, housing conditions,
medical care, lifestyles, working conditions, involvement or non-
involvement in military action.
Population Structures

The gender distribution of a population indicates the

number of males, compared to the number of females.
In most countries, more boys are born than girls. However,
in a number of countries females outnumber males.
This is largely due to women, on an average, living longer
than males and higher male infant mortality rates.
Optimum Population

There is a theoretical
optimum population
size where each factor
of production is being
used fully efficiently.
There are no spare
factors of production
left over.
Dependency Ratio
Consequences of a rising population
● If the country is below the optimum size, the
country can make better use of its resources
● Increased size of markets - economies of scale
● Extra demand
● Increase in the labour force
Consequences of a rising population
An increase in population can also bring about
negative consequences.
Famine, overcrowding and environmental pressures
are the most obvious, however other consequences
such as pressure on employment opportunities, an
increase in Balance of Payments deficit, and a
restriction on improving living standards can be just
as important.
Ways of reducing the birth rate
Improvement of the provision of education for women. More
educated women are likely to have less children to balance
work with their home life.
Improvement of healthcare and child mortality rates will also
lower the birth rate. Better healthcare will cause families to
need less children to look after them and parents will not
have extra children due to being worried about their survival.
The consequences of an aging population
● A rise in the dependency ratio
● A change in the labour force
● Higher demand for healthcare
● Greater need for welfare services
● Rise in cost of state and private pensions
● Changes in the pattern of demand.
Consequences of Net Emigration
● Size of labour force will be reduced
● Increased dependency ratio
● Average age of the labour force will increase
● Gender distribution may be affected
● Shortage of skilled labour
● Underutilisation of resources - if the country is below its
optimum population
● Those who emigrate may still send money home to help out their
relatives - these are called remittances