Population

Population change = natural change + migrational change

Natural change = Birth rate Death rate (+ve natural increase / -ve
natural decrease)
Migrational change = inward migration outward migration (+ve/-ve
change)

Total fertility rate (TFR): Number of children per 1000 women in their childbearing
years
Infant mortality rate (IMR): Number of infant deaths (age <1) per 1000 live births


Demographic transition model (DTM):



Population pyramids:

Width of Base - BR
wider base higher BR
Steepness of pyramid - DR
narrow towards the top -> high DR
straight/columnar -> low DR
Top - Life Expectancy
broader top, more people living longer and higher life expectancy
Bulges/Indents - temporary change in population
could be due to migration/baby boom/war/disease

Factors affecting fertility:

improved living conditions - better diet (nutrition), improved health care/sanitation
(socio-economic)

Use of contraceptives - Technology of contraceptives improved over the
positive: Women have more choices and can make birth control decisions on their
own
negative: Affected the lifestyles of the people, esp those in DCs where such
contraceptives are widely available such that people are sexually active at a younger
age

economic development: higher GDP = lower TFR
reasons: With higher GDP, contraceptives are more widely available and affordable
More education (esp among women)

Education (linked with social status of women)
In LDCs, the social status of women is very low, due to lack of education. Hence
they cannot decide their own family size. Instead, it is decided by the man in the
family
usually a male is wanted, so the women are forced to give birth until there's one
HOWEVER, in DCs where there is a rise in affluence, more women receive
education, hence their social status is higher. They can make their own decisions, so
women they can stop giving birth whenever they want, resulting in BR dropping

Economic/Social value of children
In LDCs, children are seen as a form of security and source of labour, hence more
children are seen as desirable. Sons are also preferred there
IN DCs, children are considered a financial drain with many couples opting not to
have any children at all or have small families (coupled with late marriages due to
being career minded)

Factors affecting mortality:

Advances in healthcare and sanitation:
Public health changes - provision of safe drinking water reduces the threat of water
borne diseases like cholera and typhloid/compulsory vaccinations from childhood
diseases like tuberculosis and smallpox
Medical Technology - Development in antibiotics, cancer fighting drugs and less
invasive surgical procedures. Decline is slower in LDCs due to their inability to afford
the technology, as well as accessibility








Spatial & temporal variations in population change and demographic trends : DCs
vs LDCs
Rate of population increase
Total Fertility Rate (TFR) & Crude Birth Rate (CBR)
Crude Death Rate (CDR)
Life Expectancy
Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) & Child Mortality Rate (CMR)

Malthusian Theory states that worlds population will increase faster than the food
supply unless fertility is controlled via checks.

(Natural) Positive checks: (increase mortality rates)
-famine
-disease
-war

Negative checks: (decrease fertility rates)
-late/not marrying

Limitations:
-based on the conditions of his time (before industrial revolution)
~lack of farming technology; traditional agriculture was the main production
source
>(small scale, low yield)
-commercial agriculture and farming technology were introduced.
>(high scale, high yield)
-too simplistic; ignores the reality that the poor go hungry due to poor distribution of
resources, and NOT physical limits on production

Population control policies

Pro-natalist (encourage more births):

Singapore
o Have three or more (if you can afford it) in 1987
o Marriage and Parenthood Measures
Marriage: Young couples can apply for CPF Housing Grants
(Family Grant, Additional CPF Housing Grant etc.) to help them
finance the purchase of public housing
Having children: medisave can be used to pay for delivery and
pre-delivery expenses
Raising children: parents receive cash gift of $4000 each for 1st
and 2nd child, $6000 each for 3rd and 4th child
Work-life support: mothers have maternity leave of 16 weeks;
both parents have 6 days of paid leave per year each with any
child below 7 years, 6 days of unpaid infant care leave per year
with any child aged below 2 years
Caring for children: working mothers whose children aged 12
and below are cared for by their grandparents can claim the
Grandparent Caregiver Relief (GCR) of $3000
France
o a cash incentive of 675 monthly (nearly the minimum wage) for a
mother to stay off work for one year following the birth of her third child
o the 'carte famille nombreuse' (large family card), giving large
reductions on train fares
o income tax based on the more children the less tax to pay
o three years paid parental leave, which can be used by mothers or
fathers
o government subsidised daycare for children under the age of three,
and full time school places for over threes paid for by the government
o Effective/ successful: total fertility rate increased from 1.7 in 1997 to
2.01 in 2011

Anti-natalist (encourage less births)

China
o One child policy from 1979 onwards
Reason: After its first communist government in 1949, Mao
Zedong encouraged a fast-growing population cause he thinks
the more people there were in China, the strong the country will
be. By 1970s, government feel that the rapid growth in
population will hinder the economy (not enough resources for
the people) 3 voluntary policies to slow down population
growth (FAILED) therefore new, tighter rules are formed ( aka
One Child Policy)
Features of One child policy:
One child per married couple
Couples who kept to one child were awarded a certificate
of honour which entitled them to various rewards
Couples with second child were fined by having to pay a
social maintenance fee to the state
Men had to be over 22 and women over 20 to have a
child.
Problems of One child policy:
Well-off couples resorted to fertility treatments which
produced multiple births (allowed)
Well-off couples went abroad like Hong Kong to have a
second child because policy does not operate there (baby
still Chinese by birth)
Policy only applies up to 92% of Chinas population ( 56
ethnic groups are exempted)
Well-off couples rather pay the social maintenance fee
(aka fine)
Some couples might kill their baby if it was a female due
to the preference of male child (RARE unethical)
Problems CAUSED by One child policy:
Fewer children born Aging population in China
Gender imbalance, more males than female (might be
because couples prefer male to female NOT SURE)
Shortage of women of marriageable age in China. Also
might lead to increase crime rates by frustrated bachelors
such as kidnapping or trafficking of young women.
Produced 3 generations of spoiled children only child
means getting spoiled by their parents as they get their
attention etc etc.
Singapore
o Stop at two from 1969
Pushed for two children families and encouraged sterilisation
Claimed to be over successful
Started because the growing population might burden the
developing economy
Abortion and sterilization legalized in 1970
Encouraged to go for sterilization after the second child
Women without O-level cert (deemed at lowly-educated) were
given 7 days paid leave and S$10,000 to voluntarily go for
sterilization
Disincentives for having more children
Encouraged to delay having the second child and to marry late

o Graduate Mothers Scheme in 1984
Favoured children of mothers with university degree
Better primary school placement
Eventually scrapped due to uproar from the 1984 general
elections


Factors affecting Fertility


DCs LDCs
Healthcare
France
First in the WHO
Healthcare systems
ranking in 2000
TFR in 2000: 1.89
Sierra Leone
Rank 191 in the WHO
Healthcare systems in
2000
TFR in 2000: 5.73
Cost of Living
Tokyo, Japan
Rank 1st in Mercers
2012 Cost of Living
Survey
TFR: 1.39
Dakar, Senegal
Rank 50th in Mercers
2012 Cost of Living
Survey
TFR: 4.82
Sanitation
Uzbekistan
100% access to
improved sanitation
facilities
TFR: 2.5
Niger
9% access to
improved sanitation
facilities
TFR: 7.06
Contraception,
Sterilisation and
Abortions
Norway
Rank 1st in
Contraceptive
Prevalence Rate
(Percent of Women)
2005-2010
88%
TFR: 1.95
Sudan
Rank 99th in
Contraceptive
Prevalence Rate
(Percent of Women)
2005-2010
7.6%
TFR: 4.4
Customs and Beliefs
-Catholic Church: Opposes to use of
artificial contraception and orgasmic
acts outside of context of marital
intercourse
-Hindus and Sikhs: No ban on birth
control
-Islam: Quran does not make any
explicit statements about the morality
of contraception, but contains
statements encouraging procreation
-Buddhism: No widely recognised
Brazil
2000: 74% of
population belong
to Roman Catholic
Church
TFR: 2.38
2010: 65% of
population belong
to Roman Catholic
Church
TFR: 1.9
Philippines
80% belong to the
Roman Catholic
Church
TFR: 3.15
policy on birth control.
-Neopagans: Almost universally
embrace birth control