Geography Grade 9

POPULATION DYNAMICS

Demography: the study of

population.

Population: the number of

people occupying a specific
area.

Over-population: occurs
when a country has more
people than can be supported
by available resources.

Population growth:: rate of increase ad decease in population per year due to natural increase
and net migration.

Crude birth rate/ birth rate: total number of live births per thousand people per annum.

Life expectancy: number of years an individual an individual is expected to live.

Population Explosion: sudden increase in population in a particular country.

Mortality:: deaths as a component of population change.

Morbidity:: the frequency of diseases, illnesses, injuries and disabilities of a population.

Total fertility rate:: average number of live births per thousand women of child bearing age.

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Dependency ratio:: the ratio of economically dep
dependent
nt part of the population to the productive
part. E.g. ratio of the elderly people (65 years
years)) plus young children (under 15) population I the
working ages (15-64) years.

Demographic Transition: the historical shifts of birth and death rates from high to low levels in
a population.

Under population: When there are more resources available in an area than thy are used by
people living there.

Infant mortality rate: number of deaths of children under the age of 5.

Sex rating:: number of males per 100 females in a population.

Optimum Population: a number of people which when working with all available resources and
technology will produce highest per cap
capital
ital economic return as a result, highest standard of
living ad quality are achieved.

Fecundity:: physiological capacity of a woman to produce a child.

Child bearing years:: reproductive age span of women, assumed to be (15

(15-49
49 years)

Formulae for calculating:

Birth rate = total number of births x 100

total
otal number of population

E.g.: 1840 x 100

4000

= 46

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Death rate = total number of deaths x 100

total number of population

E.g.: 1000 x 100

4000

= 25

Natural Increase = Birth rate – death rate

= 46-25

= 21

Dependency ratio = Sum of old + children x 100

People working

E.g.: 1000+ 500 x 100

750

=200

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Population density:: the number of peo
people per square km

Sparsely populated densely populated

Migration:: Movement of people from one place to an

another
ther for different purposes.

Immigration:: the movement of people into the country.

Emigration:: the movement of people out of a country.

Net migration = Immigration- Emigration

Immigrant:: people who move into a country.

Emigrant: people who move out of a country.

Population Structure: is the composition of a country’s population in terms of age and sex.

Census: official counting of people in a country normally done after a cer

certain
tain number of years.

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Causes of over population:

 Falling mortality (death) rates due to availability of improved medical care.

 Progress in food production
 Immigration and urban
rban concentration
 Better medical facilities
 Decline in death rates
 Need for more people
eople to overcome poverty

Consequences of over- population:

 Exhaustion of natural resources

 Environmental degradation e.g. deforestation, emission of green house gases which lead
to global warming
 Rising unemployment
 Rising living costs
 Lack of housing, water and air pollution
 Shortage of food and safe drinking water
 Lack of employment
 Poverty

Causes of under population:

 Heavy emigration
 Limited immigration
 Famine
 Wars
 Environmental disadvantages such as harsh and poor soils discourage people from living
in such

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  Inaccessibility
 Pandemic and epidemic diseases

Consequences of under population:

 Shortage of workers due to low level of population.

 Resources underused e.g. peo
people have too much food and waste it.
 Collapse of industries due to lack of workers
workers.
 Lack of government income hence why citizen care changed high
high.
 Small markets for goods and resources
resources.
 Less money for the state due to shortage of workers
workers.

Population policies

1. Anti-Natalist-Policy: is a policy introduced in a country in order to reduce population

growth.
2. Pre-Natalist- Policy: is a policy introduced in some countries in order to increase size.

Anti Natalist –Policy in China

Around 1949 population in China

ina was encou
encouraged
raged for economic and military reasons.

However, there was a massive population increase around 1959 that reached 600 million. So in
1979, China introduced one child policy.

People have one child per benefits such as:

 Free housing
 Free medical services
 Their children receive education at every level

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Pro Natalist- Policy in France

It experiences decline in population growth and it has introduced pro

pro-natalist
natalist policy in order to
increase its population called “code de famille” whereby people were advised to have two
children.

Their famillies benefit:

 Improved tax allowance for bigger families until the youngest reaches 15 years old
 Allocation of government housing
 Subsidised holidays
 30% reduction all public transport
 Higher child benefit such as free schooling
 Cougar maternity and paternity leave

What Factors affect population density and distribution?

Population distribution is a term used to describe how humans are spread across the earth.
Population distribution
bution on the earth is uneven, ssome areas
reas are densely populated where
wher as others
are sparsely populated.

The land surface on the earth accounts for arou

around 30% of its area. However, only 11% of the
land surface can be comfortably inhibited by humans. Many physical and human factors affect
population distribution and population density around the world.

Physical factors that affect population density include water supply, climate, relief (shape of the
land), vegetation,
ion, soils and availability of natural resources and energy. Human factors that affect
population density include social
social, political and economic factors.

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 FACTORS

Physical factors

Sparsely populated

 Mountainous areas makee it difficult to construct buildings and roads. They are often
inaccessible and remote.
 Areas with extreme climate such as ho
hot and cold deserts make it difficult to grow crops
ad access water.
 Regions with dense
se vegetation cover su
such
ch as rain forests provide challenges in terms of
access and the lack of services make human inhabitation very difficult.
 Flood plains present the risk of flooding so building on them is often prohibited
 A lack of natural
al resources in an area presents significant difficulty to economic
development.
 If land is infertile, humans are un
unable to grow food leading to a low population density.
 Locations that regularly
egularly experience natural hazards ca discourage peo
people
le from settling in
the area.
 Coastal environments and those with rives provide good access to water and allow
trading to occur, encouraging the growth of economic activities.
 Locations with favourable climate tend to be more densely populated as there is more
food that can be produced and it provides a more comfortable environment to live n.

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