I. Population Dynamics

Keywords for this chapter:

  • Birth rate: average number of live births in a year for every 1000 people

  • Death rate: average number of deaths for every 1000 people

  • Natural increase of a country: Birth rate minus death rate

The world population is increasing day by day.

An area can either be:

  1. Overpopulation, which occurs when more people live in an area than there are resources available for all.

  2. Underpopulation, which occurs when fewer people live in te area than there are resources available for all.

  3. Optimum population, which occurs when there is a balance between the number of people and the resources available for all.

I. Overpopulation

Causes and reasons

  • High birth rate and low death rate

  • High fertility rate

  • Lack of family planning

  • Low level of education for women, therefore they’re married early

  • High infant mortality

  • Religious beliefs

  • Greater life expectancy

Impacts on surrounding:

  • Lack of water, sanitization, housing and food

  • High crime rate and poverty, because there aren’t enough resources to sustain all

  • Unemployment

  • Increased pressure on health, education, water and sanitization

  • Soil erosion, deforestation

  • Lack of resources and Inflation → prices rise too quickly to cooperate with/ to handle

  • More air and water, noise pollution, and shortage of housing

  • Traffic congestions, since there’s too many people

II. Under Population

Causes and reasons:

  • Low birth rate and high death rate

  • Low fertility rate

  • Increased family planning and access to contraception

  • High level of education for women to have careers and mary late

  • Low infant mortality

  • Limited religious beliefs relating to a number of children

  • Low life expectancy

Impacts of surroundings:

  • More ageing population, therefore more people in retirement age

  • Low crime rate

  • Shortage of workers

  • There is no pressure on health and education; therefore, costs increase as the population ages, so with time.

  • Few people pay taxes

  • Resources are not exploited fully, reducing the potential/ maximum

  • Lack of service due to low demand, particularly in rural areas and innovation

There are two ways in which a population can change:

  1. Migration: the action of moving from one place to another

  2. Natural population change: deducing death rate from birth rate