Population Structure and Economic Implications - China and Kenya

Geography Greg Young Page of

Population Structure and Economic Implications

In this piece of text I will be analysing and comparing the population structure and economic implications of two countries. The two countries that I have chosen are Kenya and China. China is a mixture of an LEDC and an MEDC whilst Kenya is a LEDC. You will be able to notice the difference when I give the facts and details of both countries. Population structure is such things as death rate and also birth rate and population spreads. It also shows the amount of people that are a certain age. The pyramid can also show the different trends and patterns of the age groups. Economic implications are the work force of the country and the industries in the countries.

Country Status

China is a mixed between and LEDC and MEDC as said earlier, this is because the countries has a mixture of areas where some people are not as fortunate as others. The population of this country is around 1.3 billion. By looking at the map below you can see that it takes up a large space of Asia so there is no surprise that there is a lot of people living in the country. Here is a map to show where China is.

Kenya on the other hand is an LEDC suffering from hunger, disease and dehydration. Kenya’s population is around 32 million which is much lower than China because of different death rates birth rates, infant mortality which will be explained later. Here is a map to show where Kenya is situated.

A complete opposite to China in population size and status of the country.

Death Rate

In China there is a small death rate of 7 per 1000 which is very low. The death rate is low because of reasons such as there is good health facilities which obviously means that people can be treated better lowering the chance of death. They will also have good fresh water supply because if there wasn’t then the death rate would be much higher. Hygiene of the country must also be good as disease would travel easily and because would get ill easier. The death rate is 16 per 1000 people in Kenya which is just over double of China. In China 0.1% of people have H.I.V but in Kenya 6.7% have H.I.V which is a big reason for the deaths in Kenya. There are a lot of differences in the 2 countries, here are the reasons why the death is so high in Kenya and not as high in China

A lot of disease in Kenya
Good trade to bring in good money to give enough jobs to people to buy food
Kenya have bad weather as its to hot over there and not enough rain
Good water supply in China
Sewer system in China but not Kenya

As you can see from the list there are a lot of factors that make them totally different.

Population Pyramids

Here is a population pyramid of China in 2000.

From looking at this population you can see that there is a high life expectancy, this is ...

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A lot of disease in Kenya
Good trade to bring in good money to give enough jobs to people to buy food
Kenya have bad weather as its to hot over there and not enough rain
Good water supply in China
Sewer system in China but not Kenya

As you can see from the list there are a lot of factors that make them totally different.

Population Pyramids

Here is a population pyramid of China in 2000.

From looking at this population you can see that there is a high life expectancy, this is found by looking at the height. The birth rate can be seen by this as near the bottom of the pyramid its narrower, this shows there are less amount of younger age people between 0-4. It seems to stay even up to around 24 where it increases. This is because of the 1 child per parents rule. This would mean that around 1975 parents were reduced to having only one child to keep the population down. The males were of higher importance to the families so if a female was to have a baby girl they would be dumped somewhere where they would be left to die. The death rate can also be shown by this. The shape of the pyramid shows quite a wide area from around 0 all the way up to 49. The more fatter the pyramid the lower the death rate.

Here is a population pyramid of Kenya in 2000

As you can see by looking at the top of the pyramid there is quite a high life expectancy. The birth rate is also quite high because of the width at the bottom. This is to make up for deaths that occur in the country. The death rate is high as its very steep on the sides showing that there is a small amount of people at that certain age.

From looking at the two pyramids it is visible that life expectancy is higher in China and that death rate and birth rate is higher in Kenya.

Life Expectancy

The life expectancy for females is around 74 years old and for males its 70 years old, that’s on average. This links in to the fact that they have better health facilities and that they have pension plans which helps them afford there needs of everyday life. The hygiene of the country as a whole must be fairly good and the water works. The work force must also be high as to help people live they need jobs, and jobs bring in money so that they can buy such things as clean water, a house, food and water. The life expectancy in Kenya is rather low. Its 45 for males and females. This is mainly because of the two main diseases in Kenya, malaria and H.I.V but starvation and dehydration plays a big part in it as well. There is around about 30 yrs difference which is a great deal.

Birth Rate

The birth rate in china is around 13 per 1000 and is slowly decreasing. The birth rate is decreasing because of the economic structure of the country and the status or men and female are equal. Years ago men would be the ones that would go out to work to make the money but the roles have now changed and the females also go out to work. This means that they have less time to look after their children, so as time goes on more and more females are getting better jobs lowering the rate of birth rate as the females feel having a baby will lower the chance of success. The economic structure alters this just for the basic reasons that the businesses are hiring the females to work for them. The birth rate in Kenya is higher, its around 28 per 1000 to make up the amount of people lost to infant mortality and to try and get the population higher. Medical facilities are not as good as China therefore the delivering of the baby is not as clean so the risk of infection is higher for Kenya.

Infant Mortality

The infant mortality of China for males is around 22 per thousand and for females 30 per thousand which is fairly low but not as low as I personally think it should be. The reason for this could be because of he 1child per family rule and because males are more respected the females were left to die in woods so that the could keep trying for a male, this rule was set down to help lower the population. The infant mortality for Kenya is much higher than China. Its 66 per 1000 for males and is 60 per 1000. This is very high which explains why so many couples have so many children to ensure that at least one child survives. Its double for females and triple for males which separates the countries hugely.

DTM Stage

China is around the late 3 stage of the DTM as the birth rate and death rate is decreasing and so is the birth rate but the total population is increasing. The reason why it changed from 2-3 is because of an industrial revolution. A lot of things are made in China which requires a lot of jobs and as said before the females are getting jobs lowering the birth rate. More money is being brought into the country which improves the health facilities lowering the death rate and if there are still births and low death rates then this means that the population is going to increase. Kenya is in about stage 2 of the DTM, the country is going to have a problem get out because they don’t have enough recourses really to get enough money to create better health care, safe water supply and steady jobs. The two countries are quite opposite but there are parts of China where they are LED. The birth rate of the country is high and so is the death rate and the population is slightly increasing which shows that the country is in stage 2.

Dependency Ratios

The dependency ratio in Kenya is around is 0.79 but in China its 0.42. This shows that the dependecy rate is just under twice as much in Kenya which means that for every one person over 65 and younger than 14 in Kenya they have to be supported by 0.79 people. A lot of people in Kenya are not really employed and will not be able to support the people. In China got every old person above 65 and younger people under 14 have to be supported by about 0.42 people which is fine because there are plenty of jobs to go around therefore the people can be supported.

Economic Implications

Here are Bullet Points For Chinas Economic Implications

China is the 6th largest importer, the sixth largest trading power in 2001.
foreign trade has grown rapidly in the last two decades
foreign funded companies account for half of China’s merchandise trade
Chinese exports have a high import content

China have a lot to do with tourism goods such as creating them. This explains a lot about the status of the country as it provides more jobs for people and also females. Kenya is a different issue altogether as its main exports are namely, coffee, tea, sisal and pyrethrum. These items don’t really provide enough work for everyone in the whole of the country and doesn’t bring in enough money. China is a well better off country in all ways as its more industrialised.

Conclusion

By looking and comparing the data its easy to notice the difference in the two countries and if reading about the countries for the first time, the reader would realise how much better off China is than Kenya. The life expectancy between the 2 countries is so huge its hard to believe that it’s true. If the countries were to share there money about there would be enough money to set up businesses in LEDC’s, then they would be able to cope. As the country’s having to getting on there feet on there own there is not much chance really that they are going to get anywhere. They don’t have good enough recourses where they live and live in bad environments so don’t have much chance of getting anywhere. The diseases they have are also hard to control as H.I.V and malaria are spread with out even realising it. The death rate and birth rate is much higher in Kenya but this is to try and make up for lost numbers due to different reasons of death. Kenya hasn’t got much going for them at this time in age but maybe things will change.