History of Population Growth BBC BBC video Nat Geo

 The current world population is over 7.1 billion  How did this happen?  Throughout most of human history, our population grew very little.  This was because our ancient ancestors did not live as long as we do.  Most of these ancestors lived a hunter- gatherer lifestyle.  Video Video

 These societies were limited in growth because they were constantly on the move looking for food.  About years ago AGRICULTURE or farming was developed.  This allowed people to stay in one place with a secure food supply. This made for a safer and healthier environment to bring up children and population numbers started to grow more rapidly.

 Agriculture also allowed for the development of cities. This also allows for the development of technology.  However even with these advances, birth rates and death rates remained relatively the same and so population growth was limited.  Women had lots of children but the death rates for kids under the age of five remained very high due to poor sanitation and little medicine.

 This begins to change with the INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION (c.1750)  This time marks great advances in technology and science  In particular there were many inventions in the areas of farming, nutrition, medicine and sanitation.

 These changes led to a rapid decline in the death rates, especially among children.  Birth rates however took much longer to fall, because these are much more closely tied to culture and moral traditions.  This lead to the rapid increase in human population that has come to be known as the POPULATION EXPLOSION. ( look at the chart for the 1900’s.

 Crash Course Crash Course

DEMOGRAPHIC TRANSITION Rosling Music Video

Time Stage 1 Stage 2Stage 3Stage 4 Natural increase Birth rate Death rate Note: Natural increase is produced from the excess of births over deaths. Lesson Plan: The Demographic Transition, Activity One

World Population Growth Demographic transition  This is an historical pattern of population growth  based on experience of developed countries  suggests that economic development can be a means of slowing population growth

World Population Growth Demographic transition  Stage One  High BR + High DR = Little population growth

STAGE ONE  little access to birth control  many children die in infancy (high IMR) so parents tend to have more children in the hopes that more will live  children are needed to work on the land to grow food for the family  children are regarded as a sign of masculinity in some cultures  religious beliefs (e.g. Roman Catholics and Hindus) encourage large families  high death rates, especially among children because of disease, famine, poor diet, poor hygiene, little medical science.

World Population Growth Demographic transition  Stage Two  DR declining + High BR = High Population Growth

STAGE 2  improvements in medical care - hospitals, medicine, etc.  improvements in sanitation and water supply  quality and quantity of food produced rises  transport and communications improve the movements of food and medical supplies  decrease in infant mortality.

World Population Growth  Stage Three  Low BR + Low DRS = Low population growth

STAGE THREE  Birth rates now fall rapidly while death rates continue to fall. The total population begins to peak and the population increase slows. The reasons for this could be:  increased access to contraception  lower infant mortality rate means there is less need to have a bigger family  industrialisation and mechanisation means fewer workers are required (especially in rural areas)  the desire for material possessions takes over the desire for large families as wealth increases  equality for women means that they are able to have a career rather than feeling obligated to have a family.

STAGE 4 STAGE 4: Very low BR + low DR: Zero population growth/stays the same ADVANCED INDUSTRIALISIED SOCIETY TFR continues to decline as the role of women changes - they chose education, work, careers instead of getting married at an early age and having children Some people decide to have NO kids or just one ! The importance of marriage lessens and divorce increases.

STAGE 4 Role of woman as a traditional child bearer becomes less important and role as equal partner increases Greater income, savings, and insurance policies erode the concept that many children are needed as a source of old age security Changes in BRs may indicate govt. efforts in increasing BRs to maintain population numbers!!

STAGE 5 ???  Low BR + High DR = population loss  A stage 5 was not originally thought of, but some developed countries are now reaching the stage where total population is declining because birth rates have dropped below death rates.  One such country is Germany, which has had to take in foreign workers to fill jobs.  The UK's population is expected to start declining by  Canada’s pop. is projected to start declining by 2025.

STAGE 5-Germany

Playlists  Attenborough Attenborough