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This set of vocabulary flashcards covers the fundamental terms, theories, and concepts discussed in the lecture on global demography, including demographic transition stages, population policies, reproductive rights, and the links between population trends and economic or food security challenges.
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Demographic Transition
A model describing how societies shift from high birth and death rates to low birth and death rates over time, affecting population size and age structure.
Mortality Decline
A sustained reduction in death rates, often driven by public-health improvements, better nutrition, and advanced medicine.
Fertility Decline
A fall in the average number of children born per woman, influenced by rising opportunity costs, urbanization, education, and contraceptive access.
Population Growth
The change in the size of a population, determined by the balance between births, deaths, and migration.
Dependency Ratio
The number of dependents (young and/or old) divided by the working-age population (15-64), indicating economic pressure on the labor force.
Child Dependency Ratio
Population aged 0-14 divided by population aged 15-64; rises when many children survive, falls as fertility declines.
Old-Age Dependency Ratio
Population aged 65+ divided by population aged 15-64; increases as longevity rises and fertility stays low.
Oldest Old Dependency Ratio
Population aged 85+ divided by the working-age population, highlighting the burden of very elderly care.
Total Dependency Ratio
Combined population under 15 and over 65 divided by population 15-64; summarizes all dependents per worker.
First Phase of Transition
Stage when mortality falls but fertility stays high, boosting child numbers and raising child dependency.
Second Phase of Transition
Stage when fertility falls, child dependency drops, and the labor-force share rises, creating a potential ‘demographic bonus.’
Third Phase of Transition
Stage when continued longevity and low fertility raise old-age dependency and total dependency ratios.
Carrying Capacity
The maximum population size that an environment can sustain without degrading its resources.
Malthusian Theory
Thomas Malthus’s idea that unchecked population growth outpaces food production, leading to famine and misery.
Positive Check
In Malthusian theory, natural events such as famine or disease that increase mortality to limit population.
Preventive Check
In Malthusian theory, human actions like delayed marriage or contraception that reduce fertility.
Neo-Malthusian
Modern advocates of population control who warn of environmental and resource crises from rapid growth.
The Population Bomb
1968 book by Paul and Anne Ehrlich predicting mass starvation and ecological disaster due to overpopulation.
Green Revolution
Mid-20th-century agricultural innovation producing high-yield crops and new farming methods that boosted food supply.
Reproductive Rights
The legal and ethical concept that individuals, especially women, control if and when to have children.
Replacement Level Fertility
Average of 2.1 children per woman needed to keep a population size stable over time.
One-Child Policy
China’s former population control measure limiting most couples to a single child through incentives and penalties.
International Migration
Movement of people across national borders to live or work, currently involving about 191 million migrants.
Demographic Bonus
Economic advantage that arises when a country’s working-age share is large relative to dependents.
Ageing Population
A demographic trend where the median age rises and the proportion of elderly increases.
Overpopulation
A condition where population size exceeds the sustainable capacity of its environment or resources.
Population Control
Policies aimed at influencing the size or growth rate of a population, ranging from incentives to coercive measures.
Contraception
Methods or devices used to prevent pregnancy, central to fertility decline and reproductive choice.
Sterilization
A permanent contraceptive procedure; sometimes promoted or coerced within population programs.
Agricultural Population
People engaged in farming; numerically grew but shrank as a share of total population between 1980-2011.
Food Security
Access for all people at all times to sufficient, safe, nutritious food for an active, healthy life.
FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization)
UN agency that monitors food supply and advises increasing production 70% to feed 2050’s projected population.
Women’s Movement (Pro-choice)
1960s-era campaign in the United States advocating women’s legal right to abortion and broader reproductive autonomy.
Feminist Perspective on Population Control
View opposing coercive measures, arguing poverty and environmental issues stem from inequality, not overpopulation.
Baby-Boom Generation
Large cohort born after mortality falls but before fertility drops, influencing labor markets and growth.
Opportunity Cost of Childbearing
Income or career advancement forgone when parents, especially women, devote time and resources to children.
Urbanization
Shift of population from rural to urban areas, often linked to smaller family sizes and economic change.
International Conference on Population and Development (1994)
UN meeting that placed women’s health, family planning, and reproductive rights at the center of population policy.
Population Stabilization
Point at which the total population size levels off, projected globally around 9–10 billion late this century.
Total Fertility Rate (TFR)
Average number of children a woman is expected to have over her lifetime; 60 countries now at or below 2.1.
Global Migration
Worldwide movement of people; over 2.2 million migrate from developing to developed nations each year.
Reproductive Health Law (Philippines)
Legislation guaranteeing access to contraception and family-planning services, opposed by conservative groups.
Demographic Gift
Synonym for demographic bonus: economic boost from a large share of working-age population.
Age Structure
Distribution of a population among different age groups, crucial for planning labor, health, and pensions.
Median Age
The age that divides a population into two numerically equal groups; global median is about 30 years.
Human Ingenuity
Creative capacity of people; argued to expand with population growth, driving technological progress.