Unit Three

Population
 The Factors that Affect population Growth

 Reasons for Different rates of population

growth in different countries
 The effect of changes in the size and
structure of population on different
countries
 Objectives

 By the end of this chapter students should be

able to:
• Describe the factors that affect population
in different countries
• Explain reasons for the different rate of
population growth in different countries
• Describe the effects of changes in the size
and structure of population on different
countries
Population
 definition
 Copy the most correct definition of
population
 The number of people working in a
geographical location
 The number of people found in a place at the
time of counting/enumeration
 The number of people living in a
geographical location at a point in time
 The total number of adult living in a
geographical location
 Activities
 Use the data below to calculate the annual
percentage change. Plot both the total and
percentage on graphs
Year/country U. K. Syria
2020 67,059,474 20,772,595
2021 67,281,039 21,370,510

2022 67,508,936 22,125,249

2023 67,736,802 23,227,014
 Population
 Annual percentage change in population of
UK and Syria
% change in population
6

0
1 2 3 4

UK Syria
 Activities
 What are the factors that affect population
growth rate?
 Population
 The total number of people living in a
geographical location at a point in time is
the population of the place
 population
 The main causes of population change are

Birth Rate

Death Rate

Migration
 Population growth
Population growth refers to the rate of change
in the size of a country’s population.

A change in population can be attributed to

 Natural rate of change

 Net migration
Population growth rate

Natural rate of population change is

the difference between birth rate and
death rate
 Birth rate

The birth rate is the number of live births

per thousand of the population
in a year. It is measured by dividing the
total number of births in a country by
the population size, expressed per
thousand of the population.
 Factors that affect birth rate
o Living standards
o Contraception
o Custom and religion
o Changes in female employment
o Age distribution
o Marriage
o Government policy
 Death rate

Death rate is the number of deaths per

thousand of the population in a year. It
is measured by dividing the total number
of deaths in a country by the population
size, expressed per thousand of the
population.
 Factors that affect birth rate
 Age distribution
 Living standards
 Medical advances and healthcare
 Natural disasters and wars
 Net migration rate
 Migration refers to the physical movement
of people in and out of a country to live
there.

 Immigration occurs when people enter a

country to live and work.
 Emigration occurs when people leave a
country to live and work abroad.
 Net migration
 The net migration rate measures the
difference between the number of people
entering and leaving a country per thousand
of the population in a year.

 It is calculated using the formula:

Net migration rate = immigration − emigration
 Net migration
 If more people enter a country than leave in
the year, there is said to be net immigration
(net inward migration).

 If more people leave a country than enter

the country, there is said to be net
emigration (net outward migration)
 Reflect
 What are the factors that affect emigration
from a country?

 What are the factors that affect immigration

into a country
 Factors that affect Migration
The following are among the reasons why people
migrate from one place to another
 Job opportunities

 Cost of living

 Internal conflicts and wars

 Government policy

 Weather and climate

 Availability of resources

 Living standards

 Crime rate

 Pandemic

 Amenities
The effects of changes in the size and
structure of population on different
countries
 Population change is measured by the
growth rate of the population.
 Population growth may be a blessing or a
burden
 That is, it may be a cause for concern,
depending on the size of the population
relative to available resources
 A country may be overpopulated,
underpopulated or have optimum population
 Malthusian theory of population
 Reverend Thomas R. Malthus (1766–1834)
suggested that uncontrolled population
growth would put pressure on the resources
of the country, thus negatively impacting
living standards. This is because, according
to Malthus, population growth occurs at a
geometric rate — that is, it grows at a
common ratio of 2 (1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32 and so
forth) whereas food production only grows at
an arithmetic rate (1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
 Population size
 Underpopulation: A country is under-
populated if it does not have sufficient
labour to make the best use of its resources.
This will cause an economic decline.

 In this case, GDP per head of the population

could be increased if there were more human
resources.
 Therefore, population growth is not a
problem. In fact, it is to be encouraged.
 Population size
 Optimum population : An optimum
population exists when the output of goods
and services per capita (as measured by GDP
per head) of the population is maximized

 Population growth beyond this point is a

cause for concern in any country.
 Population size
 Overpopulation : A country that is over-
populated is too large, given the available
resources of the country. This is any
population size beyond the optimum

 This calls for concern because it has negative

economic consequences such as famine,
housing shortages, energy shortages and
diseases. It causes a fall in GDP per capita as
there are insufficient resources to sustain the
population.
Population size
Population
 Discussion
 Which stage of population growth or size
does Malthus theory explain

 Identify at least three factors that proved

Malthus wrong and how an overpopulated
country may rise above the challenge of
falling living standards
 Population structure
 Population structure refers to the way a
population of an area can be broken down
into groups. It is the distribution or
composition of a country’s population. For
example, age, gender.

 The study of population distribution and

trends in the composition of a population is
called demography.
 Population structure
 The common population distributions that
have economic implications on a country
include
 Age distribution
 Sex distribution
 Geographical distribution
 Occupational distribution
 Population structure
 Age distribution: this refers to the number of
people, or percentage of the population, in
each age group
 Population is usually distributed into the
following age groups
 Age 0 - 14 years
 Age 15 – 64 years
 Age 65 and above
 Population structure
 Dependent population typically includes all
those aged between 0 and 14 (those below the
school leaving age) and those aged 65 and
above (those above the retirement age).
However, it also includes full-time students
and the unemployed.
 The working population refers to the active
labour force aged 15–65, i.e. those who are
willing and able to work. This consists of
those in paid employment, the self-employed
and the unemployed.
 Dependency ratio
 The dependency ratio is a comparison of the
number of people who are not in the labour
force with the number of people in active paid
employment.

 Dependency ratio is calculated as follows

 Dependency Ratio = dependent population X 100

working population
 Ageing Population
 Population ageing happens when the median
age of a country or region rises due to rising
life expectancy and/or declining fertility
rates. That is, a change in the age structure
of the population within a country, a rising
average age and a growing number of people
living beyond the standard working ages.
 Population structure
 Gender/Sex distribution: refers to the number of
males compared to the number of females in the
population. (ratio of males to females)
 Gender imbalance may be caused by

Wars
Violence towards females
Selective killing/sex selection
Government policies
Religious views
Sex specific inward migration
 Population pyramids
 Population pyramids are a graphical
representation of the age and gender
distribution of a country’s population
Population pyramids
Population pyramids
Population pyramids
 Activity
 Compare and contrast the US and the
Nigeria pyramids. What are the economic
implications of their population structure?
Population pyramids
 Population structure
 Geographical distribution refers to where
people live. This distribution could be
analyzed with respect to countries or within
countries
 Population structure
 Occupational distribution refers to the types
of jobs people do. This could be distributed
along primary sector, secondary sector and
tertiary sector
 Conclusion
 Changes in population structure has
consequences on consumers, firms,
government, the economy and the natural
environment.

 These consequences may be positive or

negative
Review questions