Chapter 4: Human Population Dynamics

famine

Catastrophic food shortages, often caused by drought and political unrest

Total fertility rate

The average number of children expected to be born to a woman during her lifetime

“Baby boom”

The drastic increase in birth rates in the 1940s, after World War II

Per capita

Per person

Demographics

The study of populations

Age structure

A population divided into groups/cohorts by age

IPAT equation

Impact of humans= population x affluence x technology

Gross domestic product (GDP)

The value of all products and services produced in one year in a country

Plague

Wide-scale or widespread disease

Demographic transition

The pattern of change in birth and death rates as a country is transformed from less developed to more developed

Replacement-level fertility

Fertility rate required for the population to remain a constant size; in MDCs, replacement level fertility typically equals 2.1

Population momentum (lag effect)

The continued growth of a population that occurs after replacement-level fertility is reached