...Growth and Development Essay 1 1. Define what is meant by a “demographic transition”, and examine whether such a transition might have benefits for economic growth in developing countries. Demographic transition is the process by which a country’s demographic characteristics are transformed as it develops. This mainly results from the changing patterns of death and birth rates, or the Mortality and Fertility transitions. Whilst the process of demographic transition is mainly complete in many developed countries, it is definitely still under way in most developing countries, where, while they are experiencing falling mortality rates, there are still also high fertility rates. This is the reason for high population growth in developing countries in recent years. In this essay I am going to outline the causes of mortality and fertility transition in order to explain the driving forces behind demographic transition. I will then discuss the effects of this transition on economic growth. The mortality transition has seen a remarkable reduction in mortality rates over recent centuries. Life expectancy has grown enormously, in both developed and developing countries. For example, India’s life expectancy at birth in 1930 was 26.9 years and 55.6 years in 1980. This seems to have been caused by three main factors. Firstly, rising incomes have led to increases in the quality and quantity of food consumed and so populations are better nourished and live longer on average. Secondly, better sanitation...
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...future generations. But policymakers and politicians are going to have to come to grips with the specter of continued population growth in much of the developing world and continued depletion of natural resources everywhere. In particular, four challenges loom: Continuing the downward trend in population growth, reaching replacement–level fertility as soon as possible; stemming the hemorrhage of biological diversity; reducing non-sustainable consumption patterns; and mitigating the worst effects of global climate change. Furthermore, to ensure that the future generation is not deprived of its resources the impact of population growth on the resources has to be recognized. Thus, it is right to say that there is a relationship between the behavior of population variables and sustainable development. Therefore, the aim of this essay is to clearly state my position as a Demographer, how I would harness the integration of Population Variables towards sustainable Development. The essay will give definition to key terms in it such as Population and Sustainable Development and at its end a conclusion is given based on what is discussed in the essay. Snelson (1974) defied population as a group of individuals of the same species living and interbreeding within a given area. Members of a population often rely on the same resources, are subject to similar environmental constraints, and depend on the availability of other members to persist over time. In other words the United Nations (2010)...
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...UK population This essay will assess the causes and consequences for changes in the UK population, one cause of this is the decline in the death rate which will be looked at in this essay. Another cause of changes in the population, that will be assessed in this essay, is migration and the patterns of it that have a large impact on the characteristics of a country's population. Many sociologists have studied these topics and some that will be looked at in this essay are Thomas McKeown (1972), N.L Tranter (1996) and many more. The first topic to be assessed in this essay is the death rate in the UK, the death rate is currently declining in the UK and there are several reasons for this decline. According to N.L Tranter (1996), over three quarters of the decline in the death rate from 1850 to 1970 was due to a fall in the number of deaths from infectious diseases. Since deaths from infectious disease were commonest amongst the younger generations, it is not surprising that most of the decline in the death rate came from infants, children and young adults. This decrease in the death rate is part of what has led to a growing population in the UK. However, this is not the only reason for a decline in the death rate leading to an increase in the population in the UK. Thomas McKeown (1972) also points out that improved nutrition is also part of what has led to a decreasing death rate, he believes it is accountable for up to half the reduction in death rates. He argues that improved...
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...Mirjana Bakrac Essay on Population World consists of seven continents with current population of 6,692,030,277. Sweden belongs to European continent which represents 11.3% of world population and on average has 0.1% rate of annual population decrease. On the other side, China belongs to Asian continent, which represents 60.5% of world population and on average has 1.3% rate of annual population increase. Sweden, as a third largest country by area in European Union, has population of 9,220,986 with current population growth rate of 0.79%, while China has population of 1,325,000,000 and population growth rate of 0.55%. At the current growth rate Chinese population grows approximately by 7.6 million every year. Ten years ago population growth rates in Sweden and China were different. Sweden had 0.131% growth rate, while the growth rate in China was at 0.708 %. This statistics implies that the growth rate over the last ten years has increased in Sweden and decreased in China. In China, growth in population and rapid development of industrialization led to loss of cropland and caused decrease in food production. Amount of land that was supposed to be used as cropland decreased as people converted it for housing or for other types of industrialization. Unavailability of education was another factor that encouraged early marriage and increased fertility rates. In addition, the economic benefit of having children was considered and played important...
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...in the future the developed world would face pension crisis caused by shifting demographic. Rising longevity and falling birth rates would cause a lower ratio of workers per retire,which will result in difficulty in paying for state or federal pension. Nowadays people are living longer than ever before and retirement pensions have become a problem. At present “developed countries are experiencing a dramatic and unprecedented demographic transformation” (Jackson and Howe, 2008) which may lead to pension crisis in the nearer future. This essay highlights two key problems that are causing development world aging and emphasise the importance for solution to prevent developed countries from pension crisis. The fact that developed countries are aging is a result of two fundamental trends like falling fertility and rising longevity. Falling fertility is reflected in a decrease in the number of young people. Declining birth rate is a result of changes in women`s life styles. Nowadays women in developed countries getting higher education and taking paid jobs; career comes before having babies. This means getting married later and compromising on having only one child. A declining birth rate leads to fewer young people. According to Jackson and Howe, (2008) in Britain there are more people over 65 than under 18 years old. They also cite that falling fertility may be one of the reasons why by 2015 the working age population will stop growing and begin to contract. This will also mean...
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...‘Examine’ Essay Planning Sheet Name: Essay Title: Examine the reasons for changes in birth rates and family size since 1900 (24 marks) | Underline or highlight the key concepts, terms and instructions, by identifying these key elements it will allow you to focus on answering the question. It is important to use relevant sociological terminology within the context of you essay. List the key sociological terms that will be appropriate for this essay. Birth rates, family size, baby boom, total fertility rate, economic liability, child centeredness, socially constructed childhood, infant mortality rate | IntroductionSignpost to the question and clearly explain the key concepts /terms of the question | The birth rate is the number of live births per 1000 of the population per year. There has been a decline in the number of births since 1900. In that year, England and Wales had a birth rate of 28.7, but by 2007 it had fallen to around 10.7. However there have been changes in births, with three baby booms (after the two wars and in the mid-1960s) The family size is the number of people living in the same house as a child. There has also been a change in family sizes since the 1900’s - it has decreased from an average of 3 to 1.8 children in a household. | Paragraph 1PointThe point must be appropriate in answering the question. | Changes in the position of women has affected the birth rates in the UK since 1900; | Explain the point...
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...What is Demography? Demography is the scientific study of human population, including its size, distribution, composition, and the factors that determine changes in its size, distribution, and composition. Objects: Dynamic VS Static Demographic Focuses 1. Size: the number of population in a given areas at a given time. 2. Distribution: population dispersion in geographic space at a given time. 3. Composition: the number of person in sex, age, and other “demographic” categories. 4. Population dynamics: birth, death, and migration. 5. Socioeconomic determinants and consequences of population change --- Population Study. Population Characteristics Population has three compositions (in terms of static): natural composition: by age and sex spatial composition: by province and by urban-rural areas social composition: by marital status, educational status, nationalities, working status, etc. Accordingly, population has three changes (in terms of dynamics): natural change: birth and death migration change: emigration and immigration social change: marriage and divorce, enrollment and drop out Population dynamics affects the population composition. Population composition can be expressed at a point of time, which was called time-point index; Population change can be expressed within duration of time, which was called period index. The Feature of Demography Demography is rarely found as an independent academic...
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...Birth Control, Pregnancy, Most common Types of Cancers and Cardio metabolic. SCI/163 ELEMENTS OF HEALTH AND WELLNESS Instructor: Deborah Stevens September 21, 2010 Team A Essay 1. Based on the Methods of Fertility Management section of Ch. six of the text. What are the guidelines recommended to evaluate the risk of contraceptive? Why is it important to be aware of any medical conditions before selecting a contraceptive? There are different types of contraceptives methods with different levels of effectiveness in preventing pregnancy and sexual transmitted infections and issues to think about as cost, and health risk associated with a particular method. The term contraception refers to methods of preventing conception. These methods offer varying degrees of control over when and whether pregnancies occur. Society has searched for simple, infallible, and risk-free way to prevent pregnancy since people first associated sexual activities with pregnancy. But doctors or scientist has not found one yet. To evaluate the effectiveness of particular contraceptive method, we must be familiar with two concepts: perfect failure rate and typical use failure rate. Perfect failure rate refers to the number of pregnancies that are likely to occur in the first year of use(per 100 uses of the method during sexual intercourse) The typical use information is much more practical in helping people make informed decisions about contraceptive methods. Some contraceptive methods can...
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...Demographic Dividend Opportunity or Threat In 1798, in his An Essay on the Principle of Population, Reverend Thomas Malthus posited that the human population growing at an exponential rate shall someday surpass the level sustainable by the arithmetically growing rate of food production. This statement, which forms the crux of Malthusianism, argued for greater birth control measures to keep population in check. The 19th century, though not without its problems of population related urbanization, didn’t see Malthus’ premonition come to fruition and his argument seemed to have been laid to rest, albeit for half a century when in the wake of unshackling of slavery’s yoke by very many nations in the post war world, it was resurrected by the aptly named neo-Malthusians, including the likes of Paul Ehlrich (the Population Bomb) and the Paddock Brothers (Famine 1975! America's Decision: Who Will Survive?) Influenced by Soviet ideas, India was the first country to have an official population control policy in 1951. While the numbers would say that the policy hasn’t been successful, India has a population of 1.25 billion, the country has, by serendipity or by plan, reached a stage where the potential of its large population and the structure of it has become an important weapon in the country’s growing economic arsenal. The Demographic dividend, as this weapon is popularly called, depends on the make-up of the population, particularly on the dependency ratio, which is...
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...WORKBOOK ANSWERS AQA AS Sociology Unit 1 Families and Households This Answers book provides some possible answers that might be given for the questions asked in the workbook. They are not exhaustive and other answers may well be acceptable, but they are intended as a guide to give teachers and students feedback. The responses for the longer essay-style questions are intended to give some idea about how the exam questions might be answered. Again, these are not the only ways to answer such questions but they can be treated as one way of approaching questions of these types. Topic 1 Functionalist and New Right views of the family How have functionalist and New Right thinkers explained family life and the relationship between families and social change? 1 The organic analogy refers to the extended comparison made by functionalists between the human or other living body and society, with the organs of the body equivalent to institutions and structures in society. 2 Primary socialisation refers to the first and most important stage of the socialisation process by which young children absorb the norms and values of their culture, mainly from their parents. Note: make sure your answer explains both ‘primary’ and ‘socialisation’. 3 One way in which the nuclear family is more suited than other types of family to modern industrial society is that it allows for geographical mobility; it is easier to move a nuclear family to a new area for, say, a...
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...Essays: Examine changes in the patterns of childbearing and childrearing in the United Kingdom since the 1970s Since 1970 there have been many changes in the way families bear and rear children, many changes happened slowly thought out the years and in this essay I will examine them. Before 1970 there was a need for many children, even though the child protection act had lowered the amount of children a couple would have, this is because after the first and second world war, there was a lot of deaths across the country and to replace them, children were to be born. When the soldiers got back from war they came home to their wives and then in the long term that caused a lot of births in the UK. This was before 1970, after 1970 there was less needs to have as many children because many things had changes came from the war. Women now had the vote, the same as men, they had the opportunities to get further education, more women were paid for employment, there was a change of attitude to the role of the women in the house because more families were single parent because of the death of a husband in the war, it was easier to get a divorce out of a relationships that wasn't working and women after 1967 had the choice to have a child or to abort the child. This gave women much more freedom and rights to do what they wanted to in life, and for many women a family was not at the top of the list, many women wanted to work and do what they wanted to do, then settle down to have a family...
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...Marks) Suggest two reasons why there has been an increase in one person households(4 Marks) Explain the difference between the birth rate and the fertility rate(4 marks) Suggest two reasons why women might delay having children(4 Marks) Suggest two ways in which the position of children could be said to have improved over the last 100 years(4 Marks) Suggest two reasons why there has been an increase in cohabitation(4 Marks) Suggest two reasons why someone might migrate to the united kingdom apart from employment.(4 Marks) Explain what is meant by the social construction of childhood(2 marks) Suggest two ways in which government policies may shape the experiences of childhood today(4 Marks) Suggest three reasons for the decrease in the death rate since 1900(6 Marks) Identify three ways in which childhood may not be a positive experience for some children(6 Marks) Identify three ways in which greater ethnic diversity has contributed to family diversity(6 marks) Identify 3 reasons why the birth rate has fallen since 1900(6 Marks) Essay Questions Examine the ways that childhood could be said to be socially constructed(24 Marks) Using material form Item 2 b and elsewhere, assess the view that the nuclear family is no longer the norm.(24 Marks) Examine the reasons for changes in birth rates and...
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...what effects overpopulation will have on a country’s economy? Acting Prime Minister Teo Chee Hea (2012) said, “The country's population growth is key to achieving this vision. The vision is to build a better and brighter nation for all citizens. If we don't have a sustainable core Singapore population, we won't be able to sustain the kind of Singapore that we want in the future. That is a critical element of the Singapore in the future. The current birth rate is not enough for us to sustain our population or even maintain it at its current level. We want to be able to raise the population through encouraging births," he said. This paper focuses on whether Singapore population growth can contribute to its economic development. And the impact on its GDP if population expected to exceeds 6 million mark. The findings in this paper will support the population-driven economic growth hypothesis which states that population growth promotes per capita income growth. We can conclude that whether an increase in population growth rate can lead to a benefit or detriment to the economic growth in Singapore. Introduction Economic performance in any country is, to a substantial...
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...1. One category of birth control is Fertility Awareness-Based Methods. What are the different methods involved and how effective is this category. Temperature Method — You will take your temperature in the morning every day before you get out of bed. Cervical Mucus Method — You will check the changes in your cervical mucus every day for the first part of your cycle until you are sure you have ovulated. Calendar Method — You will chart your cycles on a calendar. The best way is to combine all these methods. When they are combined they are called the symptothermal method 2. 'Birth control' is any thing that stop a woman or girl from becoming pregnant, or giving birth. Birth control can mean a wide range of things – from 'contraceptives' (used to reduce the chances of a woman becoming pregnant) to other ways of avoiding pregnancy, like not having sex. Contraceptives work by preventing a man’s sperm from fertilizing a woman’s egg, and can be done in several different ways. Students typically have a problem in distinguishing the difference between these two. Describe at least two methods of each and then explain why these are so easily confused. Two main types of contraception: Depo Provera which causes the woman to not have a cycle for three months and block the sperm from getting to the egg and another method is the birth control patch which is changed weekly. . Other types of contraception’s are surgical procedures like the man having a vasectomy or the woman having...
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...lie behind them. The author begins with a review of the historical perspective. He then reviews and assesses the evidence on the relationship between population and environment, focusing on selected natural and environmental resources: land use, water use, local pollution, deforestation and climate change. The author also reviews selected recent macro and micro perspectives. The new macro perspective introduces the environment-income relationship and examines the role of population growth and density in mediating this relationship. The new micro perspective introduces the close relationship between poverty and environmental degradation, also examining the roles of gender in decision-making and the role of children as economic assets in fertility decisions. Finally, the author carries out a comparative assessment of the approaches and methods employed in the literature to explain the wide variation in findings and predictions. This literature review demonstrates...
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