DEMOGRAPHY: Population World Population Clock

Why do we study population? the increasing population is the most serious issue facing the world in order to fully understand a nation, region, province, city, etc. one must have an understanding of the characteristics of the human population in that area

Who Studies Population? Demographers What do they want to know? How many? Where can this information be found? How is population changing? How quickly is this population change? What are the characteristics and composition of this population? How is the population distributed? What implication do these factors have for the future?

How do they get the information? Censuses – a collection of data about a population started in early Roman times the-birth-of-christ-accomplish the-birth-of-christ-accomplish Doomsday Book – England 1066 – one of the best known modern tallies of population collected through enumerators that go door-to-door (LDC’s), or deliver censuses that are to be mailed back to the government (Canada) or done online as in 2011.

What kind of information is collected? populationgender religionage nationalityoccupation languagehome ownership educationmarital status household incomepossessions

Inaccuracies with data collection: Homelessness Fear of entering slums and crime-ridden areas Isolation Confusion Privacy Issues Reputation Interpretation of questions and data

Problems that result from inaccuracies: Unfair political representation Unfair levels of funding Lack of funding for homeless people Faulty economic policies Difficulty in comparing nations

How often do we conduct a census? Frequency of censuses varies depending on the nation and their resources. It is very expensive to conduct a census and it requires a lot of people to collect the data. In Canada – every 5 years The Canadian government employs 4000 (Stats Canada), 500 work in the census department. Canada hires 50,000 people on short-term contracts in a census year to work as enumerators.

An interesting web site  [INED] The world population [INED] The world population [INED] The world population

POPULATION Problems

Thomas Malthus Two Key components of Population management: Positive Population checks – keep the population levels down through wars, disease, and famine Negative Population checks- Keep the population levels down through family planning, later marriage, and celibacy

Carrying Capacity  Means: The maximum number of people that an environment can support without negative or damaging effects  “ Doomsayers like Paul Ehrlich and Garrett Hardin seem to think the Earth has already exceeded its carrying capacity while their critics such as Julian Simon seem to believe the carrying capacity of the planet is infinite”

Population Rates  Increasing greatly  Every minute of the day, 900 people are born  That makes about 1.3 million people a day  Today the World population is over 7 billion  The World Population is expected to double by the year 2050

Death Rates Decreasing at a significant rate Better medical treatment Disease control (Malaria, Small pox) Better communication and transportation (we are able to assist those in other countries more efficiently and effectively)

Results Over population We have the same amount of Earth and a lot more people to sustain Famine – people dying of starvation Stricter laws on child birth in some areas Poverty – poor living/working conditions

How can we deal with this problem?  Educate people on methods of Birth Control (Family planning strategies)  Educate people on the effects of overpopulation  Equality for women – in many countries women do not have the ability to gain access to birth control even if they want it. Often they must have permission from their husbands.

China’s Solutions Current population – 1.2 Billion people 1979 – Birth Control Policies introduces 1 Child per couple in Urban areas Later marrying ages for men and women – late 20’s for men, mid-20’s for women Spied on people at work and home Strict Punishment/Reward system for following the rules

Punishments  no medical care  decreased wage  forced sterilizations/abortions  benefits cease  no university acceptance for children  decreased pension  pay back financial benefits from first child

Rewards  increased wages and bonuses  free vacations for sterilizations/abortions  preferential housing  extra maternity leave and free daycare  free medical care  free tuition for children  extra pension income  guaranteed job for child when they graduate

Problems they faced  Female infanticide (killing female babies so that they could have another child with hopes of it being a boy)  Decreased number of people in the family to support it financially (women did not have the same opportunities as men)  Abandonment of female babies (full orphanages)  Social problems – more males than females

Present Situation  Couples in rural areas can now have another child after 4 years if the first is a girl  Couples with a female baby get cash bonuses  Girls can now support parents in old age and have jobs and possessions handed down to them.  Old age pension is increased for compliance

Successful?  Birth rate has decreased by over 200% in the past 40 years  Is that enough?  What about their human rights?  Equality?  Forced Sterilization/Abortion issues?  Labor force?  YouTube - One Child Policy – China YouTube - One Child Policy – China YouTube - One Child Policy – China  Avoiding China’s “one-child” Policy « iLook China Avoiding China’s “one-child” Policy « iLook China Avoiding China’s “one-child” Policy « iLook China

How to measure population density  The population density of a country counts all people per square km of land. Thus Canada has really low population density of 3.3 people per sq km. That is counting tundra in the north!!!

A truer picture?  The physiological density or real population density is the number of people per unit area of arable land that can actually be lived on or farmed. number of people arable landnumber of people arable land  Using this measure, Canada is actually 174 people per square km NOT 3.3. This is because only 5% of our land is ARABLE (can be farmed/lived on).  Thus, it can be argued that the USA has more living space than Canada. The United States is blessed with more arable land than Canada with 19%.