Case Studies - Population, Settlement, Industry and Environment

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Theme 1

Population

Botswana, South Africa-Causes and Impact of HIV/AIDS on population growth

  • Botswana has a high dependency ratio, with a youthful population, and a shortage of workers due to the high number of people who have HIV/AIDS, lowering the growth rate of the population.
  • One in four Botswanans aged 15-49 have HIV/AIDS, and the death rate for those with it is 28.6, which is 6 times higher than the population without, which is 4.8. Life expectancy with HIV/AIDS was 33.9 years, but 72 without.

Causes

  • Lack of education about the disease and how to avoid it with contraception until recently
  • Only 18% of Botswanans are married, with many having multiple partners, increasing the risk
  • Poverty leads to some women becoming prostitutes to get money, increasing the risk of it spreading
  • Botswana lacked enough medical care to copy with the number of people requiring treating

Impacts

  • Economic-People who are ill with the disease cannot work, and are not contributing to the economy
  • Social-HIV/AIDS weakens the immune system, leading to many people being killed each year. 13% of orphans receive no help whatsoever
  • Demographic-HIV/AIDS travels from mother to baby, increasing Infant Mortality Rate, reducing the population.

Management

  • Antiretroviral drugs given to pregnant women from 2002, stopping the virus travelling from mother to baby
  • Routine testing for the disease so people will know whether or not they have been infected, so they can be treated, and avoid passing it on to others
  • Awareness campaigns to promote effectiveness of treatment and to make people more aware of the disease
  • Condoms provided by the government to reduce the chance of the virus spreading from one person to another during sex.

Botswana, South Africa-Reasons for high and low population densities

Reasons for areas with Low Population Density

  • Areas with Low population Density include: Kalahari Desert, The Okavango Delta, Chobe District, and Makgadikgadi Pans

Reasons for areas with Higher Population Density

  • Areas with High population density include: Capital city of Gaborone, Second City of Francistown, and small mining areas

Australia-Problems of Underpopulation

Bangladesh-Problems of Overpopulation

Examples for stages of Demographic Transition Model

  • Stage 1-A few isolated tribes in tropical rainforests
  • Stage 2-Nigeria-BR 39, DR 13
  • Stage 3-India-BR 20 DR 7
  • Stage 4-USA-BR 14 DR 8
  • Stage 5-Japan-BR 8 DR 9

China-Anti-natalist policies (One Child Policy)

Causes

  • Population had increased by 437 million in 30 years
  • Mao had promoted pronatalism, but the huge population growth would lead to a lack of resources
  • Lots of people of child bearing age-population would continue to grow hugely
  • 2/3s population under 30 years-small elderly population

Incentives

  • Free medical care for couples with 1 child
  • Better education for the child-got into the best schools
  • Cash bonuses-important in rural areas, where fewer children meant fewer workers on the farm, reducing their profits, and the cash bonus helped to make up for this
  • Longer maternity leave for mothers, reducing childcare costs
  • Free contraception to help couples with birth control

Disincentives

  • Heavy fines for having more than one child-could ruin poor families
  • Could be sacked from job, reducing standard of life
  • Health care and education had heavy fees for the second child
  • 'Encouragement' for couples to have abortion

Impacts

  • Population growth has reduced to 0.7%  in 2010 from 1.9% in 1950
  • Population is 400 million smaller than it would have been
  • Birth rate was 12/100 in 2010 as opposed to 48/1000 in 1950-60
  • Female infanticide-males were seen as dominant, so couples who got a female child would abandon the female so they could have a male child.
  • Little emperor syndrome-single children have become spoilt as all the money has been focused on one child
  • 113 men for every 100 women-gender imbalance

Singapore-Pro-natalist policies

Causes

  • Had a growth rate of 4.4% in 1950s and a peak birth rate of 42.7/1000 in 1957. This led the government to promote a 'two is enough' anti-natalist campaign. Birth Rate fell to 29.5/1000.
  • In the 1980s, the government realised the problems of ageing population due to their success, so they adopted pronatalist policies to increase birth rate again.

Incentives

  • 1984-Preferential school admission for children whose mothers were university graduates
  • Social Development Unit to act as a matchmaker for unmarried graduates
  • 1989-$20, 000 tax rebate for 4th child born after Jan 1 1988
  • Cash gift of $3000 for first and second child, $6000 for third and fourth
  • 5 days paid childcare leave per year

Disincentive

  • Couples with one or no children can only have a three bedroom flat

Impacts

  • Original policies were abandoned due to controversies
  • Ineffective polices-birth rate continued to fall to a fertility rate of 1.26 in 2008
  • Singapore government predicts 30% growth by 2030 to 6.9 million

Japan-Causes, Consequences and Responses to an Ageing population

Gambia-Causes and Consequences of a Youthful population

Causes

  • High Birth Rate of 43 in 2012-Lots of children
  • High Death Rate of 9.8 in 2012-Couples have more children so that at least one of them will survive
  • Low Life Expectancy of 58.6 in 2012-Fewer people living to be older-higher proportion youthful
  • High Infant Mortality Rate of 49 in 2012-High chance of infant mortality-couples have more children so more survive
  • Lack of state support for elderly-More children means that there will be people to care for parents when they become older
  • Dependence on agriculture-more children=more workers

Consequences

  • Gambia's youthful population will be beneficial in the future as a large work force
  • Heavy burden on government to provide education and health care for children due to high number of youths-44% of population under 15
  • Poor quality of education-many children just focus on working rather than going to school
  • Secondary Education is expensive in Gambia, and if a child is going to school, then they are not working on the farm.
  • Families benefit from care for elderly due to a larger number of children

Management

Brazil- Causes and Consequences of National, Voluntary, Rural-Urban Migration

Causes

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Consequences on migrant

  • Shantytowns in Rio, such as Escondidinho, are overcrowded and disease ridden
  • Living conditions in shantytowns are poor
  • Problems with drug and gun crimes
  • Face the risk of eviction from shantytowns

Consequences on donor

  • Fewer people to farm the land
  • Farming decreases, so less food produced
  • Insecurity about food
  • Rural-Urban Migration occurs
  • This repeats as a vicious cycle
  • Less farming=Less soil exhaustion
  • People who move send money back to their families to support them

Consequences on host

  • Shortage of housing-people need to illegally construct their own homes
  • Quality of life in Favelas ...

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