Global Demographics

Lesson 2: Demographic Terms and Population Control Policies

Lesson ContentPopulation characteristics: Crude birth rate, crude death

rate, natural increase rate Age specific measures: total fertility rates, infant

mortality rates, Family planning methods:

Birth control programsContraceptive useChina’s One-Child programIncreasing female literacy

Population structure: population pyramid, dependency ratio, life expectancy

Population Characteristics: Crude Birth Rates (2008)

Fig. 2-8: The crude birth rate (CBR) is the total number of births in a country per 1000 population per year. The lowest rates are in Europe, and the highest rates are in Africa and several Asian countries.

Population Characteristics: Crude Death Rates

Fig. 2-12: The crude death rate (CDR) is the total number of deaths in a country per 1000 population per year. Because wealthy countries are in a late stage of the Demographic Transition, they often have a higher CDR than poorer countries.

Crude Death Rate: the total number of deaths in a year for every 1000 people alive in the society

What are the societal impacts of a low crude death rate, high crude death rate? What would have been the impact 50 years ago, 100 years ago?

If people are dying before they reach old age – society will have less productive workers (common in Africa during AIDs crisis, or in countries at war, etc..). If productivity falls, children may receive less education because they have to go work.

Low death rates – countries where people live to old age – have different challenges – paying for care of seniors, will hopefully have more productive workers (not always the case – i.e. Japan)

Population Characteristics: World Death Rates

Infectious diseases: i.e.HIV/AIDS and Swine FluDegenerative diseases: i.e. cancer or heart diseaseObesityTobacco useWhat are other contributing factors?

Population Characteristics: Natural IncreaseNatural Increase: the percentage of growth

in a population. It is measured by subtracting the crude death rate from the crude birth rate. Remember this does not take into account other factors leading to population size, such as migration.

Age Specific Measures: Total Fertility Rates (2005-2010)

Fig. 2-9: The Total fertility rate (TFR) is the number of children an average woman in a society will have through her childbearing years. The lowest rates are in Europe, and the highest are in Africa and parts of the Middle East.

   7-8 kids   6-7 kids   5-6 kids   4-5 kids   3-4 kids   2-3 kids   1-2 kids   0-1 kids

Age-Specific Measures: Infant Mortality Rates (2008)

New Influences on Birth Rates

Family planning programs

Contraceptive technology

Role of mass media

What are other influences?

Population ControlObstacles

ReligionLow female statusPreference for male childrenOthers?

Use of Family Planning: Percent Contraceptive Use by Country (latest UN Data)

Fig. 2-22: Both the extent of family planning use and the methods used vary widely by country and culture.

Doubling Time• How long will it take for a population of a given area to

double in size?• Doubling time assumes the population will grow at a

given annual rate• Approximated by dividing the annual rate of population

into 70

World = 50U.S. = 35MDC = 550LDC = 40Honduras = 22Denmark = 700Russia = never?

Example: Bangladesh70/R.N.I. => 70/2.09 = 33.5 years

Bangladesh with a population of 144.3 million people in 2005 will have approximately 288.6 million people in 2038, if the population continues to grow at current rates.

Promoting One-Child Policy in ChinaAnnounced in 1980Nearly two thirds of all Chinese couples are still required to

have only one child. Before it started, China halve the number of children per

woman from 5.8 in 1970 to 2.7 in 1979.Sex ratio: 120 boys for every 100 girls todayChina’s only children generation will be the sole caretakers of

their aging parents, and will pay for the rising government costs for future pension, health care, and social welfare benefits associated with an increasingly aging population.

Population Pyramid: Haiti

Population Pyramid: Italy

Population Pyramid: USA

Population Structure: Life Expectancy (2011)

Population Structure: Life Expectancy

Indicator of overall quality of life

Contributing factors, infant mortality rate, antibiotics/immunization

What other factors can you name?

Trends: A rapid increase throughout world. Why?