Population Geography



NEW UNIT

GLOBAL CHALLENGES

• This unit of work is the study of HUMAN GEOGRAPHY.

• As the term suggests we will be focusing on the HUMAN ENVIRONMENT (Built).

• This unit is divided into three mini units

o Population Geography

o Cultural Geography

o Natural Resource Use

Topic 1:

Population Geography

|1.0 |The changing nature, rate and distribution of the world’s population |

• Population geography focuses on the number, structure, and distribution of human beings on the Earth’s surface.

• Demography is the statistical study of humans and the relationship to the land they occupy.

|1.1 |The changing nature of the world’s population |

Snapshot of current world population

• In mid-2008, world population stood at 6.7 billion, up from 6.0 billion in 1999.

• During the 20th century, nearly 90% of population growth took place in countries classified as Less Developed Countries (LDCs)

• 81.7% of the world’s population live in LDC

• Around the world birth rates range dramatically from 1.2 to 8 children per woman

• An estimated 33 million people infected HIV/AIDS at the end of 2007 and over two-thirds of these are in sub-Saharan Africa

• The average life expectancy of people around the world is 68 years

• People in More Developed countries live on average to 77 years of age

• People in Less Developed Countries live to 67.

• More than half of the world’s population lives on less than $2 per day.

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Table 1 Source: PRB (2008) World Population Prospects 2008

|Countries with the Highest and Lowest Life Expectancy 2008 |

|Highest life expectancy |years | |Lowest life expectancy |years |

|1. Hong Kong, SAR |82 | |Swaziland |33 |

|2. Japan |82 | |Lesotho |36 |

|3. Switzerland |82 | |Zambia |38 |

|4. San Marino |82 | |Zimbabwe |40 |

|5. Italy |81 | |Mozambique |43 |

|6. Australia |81 | |Angola |43 |

|7. France |81 | |Central African Republic |43 |

|8. Iceland |81 | |Afghanistan |43 |

|9. Sweden |81 | |Guinea-Bissau |45 |

|10. Singapore |81 | |Malawi |46 |

Table 2 Data Sourced from: PRB (2008) World Population Prospects 2008

Why study Population Geography?

• Population studies are crucial to understanding the challenges facing the world today.

• Important issues such as:

o Should we reduce our population?

o Should we let it continue to grow?

o What are the impacts if we reduce our population?

o What are the impacts if our population increases?

• By studying population geography we find that the answer to these seemingly simple questions which really are not that simple.

Bring on the population debate

Treasury's recent Intergenerational Report shows Australia heading towards a population of 36 million people by 2050.

The politics of the current population debate are not hard to read.

The Coalition is returning to an old playbook, tapping into concerns about an increasing number of asylum seekers arriving by boat and linking that to the overall issue of immigration. That in turn links into people's fears about rocketing house prices, water shortages and a fluctuating job market in recent troubled times and bingo - a scare campaign is born. One underlined nicely by Treasury's recent Intergenerational Report shows Australia heading towards a population of 36 million people by 2050. A scary number that nicely wraps around a lot of current scary pressures. And a scary number that the Opposition then promises to cut.

In reply the Prime Minister, in an effort to calm people's fears, returns to a favourite playbook of his, putting in place a process for dealing with our population future which the Coalition dismissively describes as coming up "with a plan for a plan". By appointing Tony Burke as Australia's first Population Minister the Prime Minister is responding to people's concerns, he's acting, but let's be honest, he's not in any hurry and Minister Burke is instructed to come up with the basis of population policy in 12 months time. That's after the election.

A scare campaign countered by a delaying tactic. Both disguised as responsible policy.

That's the bald politics of it, now how about some facts.

Let's take the easy one first.

Asylum seekers arriving by boat are NOT a threat to our population levels and have no place in this debate. Australia takes around 13,500 refugees every year, a number that is capped, so boat arrivals granted refugee status end up as part of that 13,500, reducing the number taken from what's called 'the orderly refugee migration program'.

So if our level of population is the issue, and the immigration numbers within that, you can safely leave asylum seekers out of it.

So why are Tony Abbott and his immigration shadow, Scott Morison, linking the two? Well it does feed into Tony Abbott's consistent criticism of Kevin Rudd's performance. If you can't manage our borders how can you manage the bigger issue of our immigration levels?

But critics believe there's some dog whistling going on too? One senior Liberal described it to me as a "clear and deliberate message that is wrong and dangerous". He and others on both sides of politics also concede privately that the issue of asylum seekers is once again a big issue across many electorates.

There's plenty of Australians who don't like the idea of people rocking up on boats from faraway places, nor do they much like the idea of high immigration; an ironic yet historic truth about this country of immigrants, many of us are frightened by the idea of being "overrun".

I was speaking to one cabbie recently who told me Kevin Rudd had lost his vote because he couldn't stop the boats coming as he promised and asylum seekers were now being brought to the mainland. He then admitted he himself was an asylum seeker granted refugee status after, wait for it, arriving on a leaky boat.

It's a complex issue for any government to manage and that's what Tony Abbott is counting on.

Time for some more facts.

The Opposition says it will cut immigration numbers in order to keep our population levels at a manageable level, reducing the immigration intake down from 300,000 per year under Labor now to around 180,000 per year or below.

The shadow minister says 300,000 is "out of control" and getting immigration to a sustainable level will obviously mean cuts right across the program, though he doesn't say where.

It's true immigration numbers did shoot up under Labor but most of the increase was in the temporary visa categories of foreign students and temporary workers brought in under the 457 visa scheme. In both categories the surge began under the Howard government.

At the end of the last financial year of the Howard government, the net migration intake was at 230,000 per year.

Demographer Peter McDonald says immigration levels are about to plummet to around 180,000 per year and that the Government and the Opposition both know it. That's because the Rudd Government has closed the loophole in the overseas student program which basically saw international colleges spring up around the country offering cooking and hairdressing courses, but in reality they were little more than backdoor visa factories.

Earlier this year the Rudd Government changed the skilled migration entry conditions and cut the link between studying here and gaining a visa, and in response overseas student applications have dropped by 17 per cent.

The Government also slashed the number of 457 visas, used by business to fill immediate skill shortages. The category had swelled during the boom times at the end of the Howard years and in the early days of the Rudd Government, but the demand for workers during the global financial crisis fell.

Peter McDonald says we will see a lift-off in the 457 visa category again soon because it's the only way to sustain the latest resources boom and give mining companies access to the labour force they need.

In contrast, he says our overseas education industry will shrink steeply, not just because of the changes made by the Rudd Government but also because of fierce international competition in this profitable education market.

The high Australian dollar makes us less competitive. Add to that the pressure universities in the United Kingdom and the United States are under, due to shrinking endowments for American universities as a result of the GFC and substantial cuts to British university budgets, and you can bet they will be actively in the hunt for more foreign students to boost their coffers.

Overseas students are a money spinner, in this country bringing in $17 billion per year and creating tens of thousands of jobs.

Another fact worth noting in this debate over immigration and population levels is the number of New Zealanders moving here. There's currently over 500,000 Kiwis living in this country, that's 100,000 more than there were just 5 years ago, and the bulk of the new arrivals are choosing to live in Queensland, adding to the considerable population pressure building up in parts of that state.

Yes, the thought of 36 million Australians is overwhelming if you're stuck in traffic in Sydney, trying to find a house to buy, let alone afford, in south-east Queensland, or worried about reliable drinking water supplies in Adelaide.

That's why we do need a population policy.

What we don't need is a scare campaign around immigration to kick it off.

A population policy is about a lot more than immigration. It's about our national infrastructure, our roads and hospitals and suburbs and public transport. It's about housing supply and an affordable housing market. It's about jobs.

Its about the environment and sustainability. Former Australian of the year Tim Flannery says this continent should only support a population of less than 16 million. In 1994 the Keating government had a committee for long-term strategies chaired by Barry Jones which found 23 million was our optimum population level.

Yet we are on a path to 36 million. How will our parched landscape cope with that, where will the water come from, how will we reduce our carbon emissions if we're increasing our population at such a rate?

And speaking of climate change, what if our Pacific neighbours find themselves drowning as sea levels rise, won't there be an expectation that we will reach out and invite them in to dry land - literally to dry land?

The Opposition calls for a plan to rein in our immigration numbers in a bid to manage our population levels yet it presents little in the way of a plan for substantial cuts to our carbon emissions.

There's also scant, conflicting and confusing detail about its intentions when it comes to immigration levels. In fact now Scott Morrison says a cut to immigration is not official Opposition policy. So what is the policy?

The Opposition Leader's call for unspecified cuts to immigration has displeased the business community which regards immigration as vital for economic growth and also made many in his own party room unhappy that this important and divisive issue was unleashed in the guise of opposition policy without being discussed internally first.

When Tony Abbott announced his generous and controversial paid parental leave scheme funded by a tax on business without clearing it with his colleagues he described it as a "leaders call" which he promised would be a "rare thing". Not one month later and he seems to have made another one, even more controversial.

In January Tony Abbott said he has no problem with increasing Australia's population as long as we've got the infrastructure to deal with it. He appeared to be endorsing the Prime Minister's backing for a big Australia, albeit with caveats.

Fair enough. Bring on the population debate, because without a plan to sustainably support a 30 million plus population many Australians will start to resist and resent immigration and that will always be a difficult debate to have and to manage. But If Tony Abbott is sincere about a sustainable population policy lets dump the ad hoc, contradictory and inflammatory talk and get serious about it.

Fran Kelly is a presenter on the ABC's Radio National Breakfast program.

Debate on population targets immigrants

STEPHANIE PEATLING January 24, 2010

Australia should consider whether immigration can continue at existing levels as part of a comprehensive population analysis aimed at determining how many people the country can support, the Federal Opposition says.

Concerns about infrastructure, housing and environmental sustainability should be considered when setting the number of people allowed to immigrate each year, Coalition immigration spokesman Scott Morrison said. ''Population policy is a legitimate debate we have to have and it should be free from any suggestion that it's related to race.''

Population policy was a void that needed to be filled, he said. ''It's getting to the point where we can't afford not to [have one]. We can't just keep going as is.''

Treasury modelling released last year forecast the population would increase more than half to 35 million by the middle of the century. The increase will come from migration, more women reaching child-bearing age and higher fertility rates.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd welcomed the modelling, saying he was in favour of a big Australia. But it prompted criticism from Labor backbencher Kelvin Thomson, who has questioned whether the country can support such a population.

Mr Thomson has called for dramatic cuts to immigration levels.

Mr Morrison said he did not believe Australia should ''shut the door'' to immigrants but ''given that immigration accounts for almost 60 per cent of population growth, we can do something about it''.

He acknowledged population was a difficult issue because it often sparked debate about racism.

''I don't want to see it frustrated by people either bringing that element to the debate or trying to stop that debate by attributing that motive to people,'' Mr Morrison said.

His comments follow a speech by the Opposition Leader, Tony Abbott, on Friday night in which he said Australians were worried about the rise in the number of boat people, the ability of migrants to obey the law and the strain new arrivals put on resources.

Mr Morrison said state and local governments should take a greater role in planning for more people.

''The Federal Government has to take responsibility for it [immigration numbers], but state and local governments need to be more part of [that decision] because they're the ones who have to live with it,'' he said.

Concerns about roads, housing, the strain on the health system and environmental sustainability all needed to be considered as part of population policy, he said.

An annual planning day of governments should be held to discussion population, he said.

Population Growth and Decline in Singapore

Z

ero, possibly even negative population growth" was the 1972 slogan proposed by the prime minister of Singapore, an island country in Southeast Asia. His country's population, which stood at I million at the end of the Second, World War, had doubled by the mid-1960s. In support, the government decreed "Boy or girl, two is enough" and refused maternity leaves and access to health insurance for third or subsequent births. Abortion and sterilization were legalized, and children born fourth or later in a family were to be discriminated against in school admissions policy. In response, birth rates by the mid-1980s fell to below the level necessary to replace the population, and abortions were terminating more than one-third of all pregnancies.

"At least two. Better three. Four if you can afford it" was the national slogan proposed by that same prime minister in 1986, reflecting fears that the stringencies of the earlier campaign had gone too far. From concern that overpopulation would doom the country to perpetual Third World poverty, Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew was moved to worry that population limitation would deprive it of the growth potential and national strength implicit in a youthful, educated work force adequate to replace and support the present aging population. His 1990 national budget provided for sizable long-term tax rebates for second children born before the mother is 28. Not certain that financial inducements would suffice to increase population, the Singapore government annually reviews its offer to take 100,000 Hong Kong Chinese who might choose to leave when China takes over their territory in 1997.

Paste this sheet and answer the following questions in your workbook

1) What was the Singapore Government’s policy on population growth in the 1972?

2) Why was this policy implemented?

3) How did they encourage this policy?

4) What was the consequence of this policy in 1980’s?

5) What was the policy of the Singapore Government in 1986?

6) How did they encourage this new policy?

7) What were the implications if they did not change their policy?

|1.2 |The changing rate of the world’s population |

Birth Rate: How many live births per 1000 people

Death rate: How many deaths per 1000 people

Rate of Natural Increase: ([pic]) %

[pic]

Figure 1 Comparison of rates of natural increase (source: )

• The human species dates back at least 3 million years.

• They were originally hunters and gatherers with the total global population not exceeding 10 million.

• However, as agriculture was introduced, communities evolved that could support more people.

• World population expanded to about 300 million by A.D. 1 and continued to grow at a moderate rate.

• After the start of the Industrial Revolution in the 18th century, living standards rose and widespread famines and epidemics stoped in some regions.

• Population growth accelerated.

• The population climbed to about 760 million in 1750 and reached 1 billion around 1800

• World population growth accelerated after World War II, when the population of less developed countries began to increase dramatically.

• After millions of years of extremely slow growth, the human population indeed grew explosively, doubling again and again; a billion people were added between 1960 and 1975;

World Population Milestones

|World Population Reached . . . |

|1 billion in 1804 |

|2 billion in 1927 (123 years later) |

|3 billion in 1960 (33 years later) |

|4 billion in 1974 (14 years later) |

|5 billion in 1987 (13 years later) |

|6 billion in 1999 (12 years later) |

Table 3

Source UNESCO Teaching and Learning for a Sustainable future 2002 CD ROM Griffith University

• Throughout the 20th century each additional billion has been achieved in a shorter period of time.

• Human population entered the 20th century with 1.6 billion people and left the century with 6.1 billion.

[pic]

Figure 2 (source )

• Spatially, most of the rapid population growth rate has occurred in the developing countries of the world.

• That is, the economically poorer countries which can not afford the rapid increase of people are the ones that are getting more people.

Doubling Times

• Population grows geometrically (1, 2, 4, 8 …), rather than arithmetically (1, 2, 3, 4 …), which is why the graph shows an exponential growth

• This exponential growth rate in population geography is often examined by how long it will take for a population to double.

• The term used to indicate a population doubling rate is called DOUBLING TIME.

• So, if a population was 1,000 in the year 1950 and it doubled to 2,000 by the year 1970. We would say the doubling time has been 20 years. The shorter the doubling time the greater the population growth rate is. Short doubling times are worrying as the resources, infrastructure needed to cater for the increase in population are often not available.

Table 4. Estimated Doubling Times (source )

|World Population Growth and Approximate Doubling Times since 1 C.E. |

|Year |Estimated Population |Doubling Time (Years) |

|1 |250 million | |

|1650 |500 million |1650 |

|1800 |1 billion |150 |

|1930 |2 billion |130 |

|1975 |4 billion |45 |

|? |8 Billion |? |

• A simple formula is used to predict how long it will take for a population to double

69 .

(rate of natural increase)

Rates of Natural Increase and Doubling Times

|Region |Pop in 2008 |Birth Rate |Death Rate |Rate of Natural |Doubling Time |Projected year of |

| |(millions) | | |Increase | |doubled population |

| | | | | | |(2008 + double |

| | | | | | |time) |

|World | | | | | | |

|Africa | | | | | | |

|Nth America | | | | | | |

|Sth America | | | | | | |

|Central America | | | | | | |

|Asia | | | | | | |

|Oceania | | | | | | |

|Europe | | | | | | |

|Australia | | | | | | |

Table 5

Rates of Natural Increase and Doubling Times

|Region |Pop in 2008 |Birth Rate |Death Rate |Rate of Natural |Doubling Time |Projected year of |

| |(millions) | | |Increase | |doubled population |

| | | | | | |(2008 + double |

| | | | | | |time) |

|World | | | | | | |

|Africa | | | | | | |

|Nth America | | | | | | |

|Sth America | | | | | | |

|Central America | | | | | | |

|Asia | | | | | | |

|Oceania | | | | | | |

|Europe | | | | | | |

|Australia | | | | | | |

Table 5

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Figure 1

[pic]

Figure 2

Age Sex Structure

• Another important tool in analysing the rate of change in a population is age and sex structure.

• The age-sex structure determines potential for future growth of specific age groups, as well as the total population.

• For these reasons, the age structure has significant government policy implications. A population of young people needs a sufficient number of schools and, later, enough jobs to accommodate them.

• Countries with a large proportion of older people must develop retirement systems and medical facilities to serve them.

• Therefore, as a population ages, needs change from childcare and schools to jobs, housing, and medical care.

Population Pyramids

• The age-sex structure of a country can be studied through population pyramids.

• Males are shown on one side and females on the other.

• The overall shape of the pyramid is an indicator for slow growth, fast growth, or decline.

• The horizontal bars show the percentage (or in some cases the actual numbers) of males and females in each age group.

[pic] Three Patterns of Population Change, 2000

Figure 3 Source: United Nations, World Population Prospects, The 1998 Revision.

• The country pyramids shown above represent different stages of population growth going on today.

• The first pyramid, representing the population of the Democratic Republic of Congo, with its wide base and narrow top, is typical of a young population. This shape is the result of high birth rates that feed more and more people into the lowest bars and in turn shrink the relative proportion at the oldest ages. As the death rate declines, more people survive to the reproductive ages and beyond. The births they have further widen the base of the pyramid. This shape is common in many less developed countries that have experienced improvements in life expectancy but continue to have high birth rates. It reflects both a history of rapid population growth and the potential for future rapid growth.

• The second pyramid is typical of a slowly growing population. The United States is an example of a country in slow growth. The United States has had declining fertility and mortality rates for most of this century. With lower fertility, fewer people have entered the lowest bars of the pyramid, and as life expectancy has increased, a greater percentage of the "births" have survived until old age. As a result, the population has been aging, meaning that the proportion of older persons in the population has been growing. This trend was interrupted by the postwar baby boom, 1946–1964, when birth rates climbed again. (The bulge of the baby-boom generation can be seen in the pyramid for ages 35–54 in 2000.) After 1964, birth rates continued their downward trend until the late 1970s. As the last members of the baby boom approached their childbearing years during the 1980s, the number of births rose again, peaking in 1990. These children, the youngest generation, are represented by the slightly widening base of the pyramid. Even though the number of births per woman is lower than ever before, the population continues to grow because of the children and grandchildren of the huge baby-boom generation.

• The third pyramid shows countries that have reached zero population growth or are experiencing negative growth because of low birth rates and an old age structure coupled with minimal net migration. While Germany's death rate exceeds its birth rate, its population continues to grow because of migration. Pyramids in which the proportions of the population are fairly evenly distributed among all age groups are representative of many highly industrialized societies. Germany's old population reflects an extended period of low birth and death rates. While fewer children have been born, most of those born survive through to old age. The net effect is zero growth or no natural increase. Germany's pyramid also shows the effect of higher mortality among males. In an industrialized society, females generally outnumber males after age 40. This trend is particularly evident in Germany's oldest age group.

.

Answer the following questions in your work books.

1. What characteristics does a population pyramid showing rapid growth have?

2. What type of countries does this represent?

3. What characteristics does a population pyramid showing slow growth have?

4. What type of countries experiences this?

5. What characteristics does a population pyramid showing zero or negative growth have?

6. What type of countries experiences this?

7. Why is it important to analyse the age sex structure of a society?

|1.3 |The changing distribution of the world’s population |

[pic]

Figure 4. World Population Distribution by Region, 1800–2050 (source )

• In 1800, Asia had 65 percent of the world’s population and Europe had 21%

• By 1900, Europe's share of world population had risen to 25 percent, caused by the population increase that accompanied the Industrial Revolution.

• Some of this growth spilled over to the Americas, increasing their share of the world total

• However, Europe is predicted to lose its share of the world’s population by the year 2050 down to 7%.

[pic]

[pic]

Using information from the map in figure 4 and your knowledge of population geography so far, complete the following cloze exercise.

The Changing distribution of the world’s population.

The distribution of the world’s population has a distinct pattern of where people are and will be. In 2008 it was estimated that the world’s population was __________ people. The region with the most people in 2008 was ________, which is _______% of the world’s population. The next highest region is _________, which has about _____% of the world’s population. Central and South ___________ has _____% of the world’s population. Unfortunately, these regions have many of the poorest countries in them, too. These figures show that most of the world’s population are distributed in __________ D___________ countries. In contrast North A__________ and E__________ collectively have _______% of the world’s population. In these regions many of the world’s w_____________ countries are located in them.

Proportional Symbols

To calculate the radius of your circle (the measurement for your compass)

Step 1 Calculate the Square root [pic]of the number you need to draw a circle for.

Step 2 Choose a scale for the radius based on the numbers you have just calculated.

Step 3 Divide the number you have taken the square root of by the scale you have chosen.

Step 4 Draw circles

|Location |Population (millions) 2008 |Square Root |Divide by chosen scale |

|World | | | |

|Africa | | | |

|North America | | | |

|Sth and Central America | | | |

|Oceania | | | |

|Asia | | | |

|Europe | | | |

|Middle East | | | |

|2.0 |Spatial Patterns of Fertility and Mortality |

• Geographers have noticed that there have been changes in FERTILITY RATES and MORTALITY RATES over time.

• These two rates have experienced change over time on a global level because:

o Increased industrialization, urbanization and general wealth of people

o Better sanitation, health services and education

o Wars and natural disasters

|2.1 |Spatial Patterns of Fertility |

1. Read pages 243-245 of the text book

2. Complete questions 4.37 to 4.46 in your work books.

3. Copy out questions and answer in full sentences

|2.2 |Spatial Patterns of Mortality |

1. Read pages 249 to 251

2. Complete questions 4.56 ,

4.57,

4.58,

4.59 (a , b, c)

4.60

3. Copy out questions and answer in full sentences

|2.3 |Results of Declining Fertility and Mortality Rates |

1. Read page 254

2. Summarise the key points of this text.

|3.0 |Types, volumes and directions of population movements |

“One of the main characteristics of our globalised world is the movement of goods, money and people. This is not new in itself, but the speed with which it is happening and the sheer volumes involved are unprecedented”

Source: UNESCO Sources, January 98, Issue 9 7, page / 2

Population movement is often referred to as Migration. Migration from one region to another has been an important factor in the spread of civilizations, spread and diffusion of culture, and the spread of knowledge and technology. Population movement has taken place at different scales from the macro (nation to nation) to micro (region to region). There have been many reasons why population movement occurs. They have been classified as PUSH FACTORS (forced) and PULL FACTORS (voluntary) Figure 3.1 highlights some of the push and pull factors for migration. What is apparent is that there are two clear categories of population movement; INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION and RURAL-TO-URBAN MIGRATION. There are clear patterns in the rate and directions of these types of movements.

1. International Migration

The volume of international migration has increased according to the Population Reference Bureau. In 2005, 3 percent of the world’s population were international migrants. Thus, the number of international migrants worldwide rose from 75 million in 1965 to over 196 million in 2005 showing a significant increase in this form of Population Movement. There are two types of International Migration; Refugee Migration and Labour Migration

(i) Refugee Migration

A Refugee is any person who is involved in international migration because they have escaped their place of residence due to an authentic fear of being persecuted because of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion. That is, they are pushed out of their country. It is estimated that during the twentieth century that over 140 million people were unintentional International migrants (or refugees), who for some reason have been forced to leave their place of birth. Also, it has been observed that most refugees since the 1950s have originated from developing countries. Figure3.2 shows that since the mid 1970s, there has been an increase in the number of global refugees peaking in 1993 with over 18 million refugees (caused by the Balkan wars and genocide in Rwanda and Somalia). Table 3.1 shows that in 2005 Palestine, Afghanistan and Iraq (middle east countries) produced half of the 12 million refugees that occurred in that year. Table 3.2 highlights that the middle east experienced the highest intake of refugees followed by Africa.

The regions taking the greatest number of refugees were Africa and Europe. The countries producing the highest number of refugees were Palestine and Afghanistan

|Table 3.1.Countries producing the most amount of refugees |

|December 2005. |

|Country |Total refugees |

|Former Palestine |2,971,600 |

|Afghanistan |2,192,100 |

|Iraq |888,700 |

|Myanmar |727,100 |

|Sudan |670,000 |

|Table 3.2. Regional intake of refugees December 2005 |

|Region |Total intake |

|Africa |3, 176,100 |

|America’s and Caribbean |475,000 |

|Europe |5300,200 |

|Middle East |4,855,400 |

|East Asia and The Pacific |1,029,400 |

|South and Central Asia |1,953,600 |

(ii) Labour Migration

Labour migration is another form of International Migration where people move to work from one country to another. It involves millions of people. Developments and innovation in the speed, scale and availability of transport has meant that it is now easier for people to undertake travel and leave their homeland. There are two types of Labour migration; Migrant Workers and Skilled International Migration

(a) Migrant workers .

Migrant labourers perform jobs that are not filled by workers in the host country. They are often poorly paid and unskilled occupations. Many migrant workers return home after a work season or a couple of years. They repatriate most of their earnings to their families in the countries where they were born.

Estimates of migrant workers' remittances have been placed at more than $67 billion annually, making labour second only to oil in global trade. In Yemen, remittances in the early 1990s were valued at 150 per cent of the country's total exports. In Pakistan and Egypt, they were worth 75 per cent. The Philippines alone provides 3.5 million migrant workers in 120 countries worldwide. Within Europe, Filipino workers are second only in number to migrant workers from Turkey. In Italy alone, there are 160,000 Filipinos.

While economic globalisation has made labour more mobile, it has also seen the work available become more temporary. The era of permanent settlement, which characterised post-war migrations, is now over. Labour markets in many countries now look for workers - both skilled and unskilled - to occupy specific jobs with a fixed duration. A trend in the 1990s was the feminisation of labour migration, particularly Asian labour migration.

(b) Skilled international migration

As cities like London, New York and Tokyo have strengthened their hold on global finance and banking, they have become global marketplaces for skilled migrant workers. London is now a major global focus for accountancy, advertising, management consultancy, law and other business services. Expatriates generally tend to spend anything from two to four years in these global cities. Out of the 16 most senior banking management positions in London, 10 are expatriates, all from Japan. Global cities are important locations for migrants for three reasons:

• the prevalence and agglomeration of banking

• specialist employment opportunities existing within corporate headquarters

• the high salaries and 'fast-track' careers that can be obtained within transnational companies.

Highly skilled labour also travels the global village. With Internet access in nearly every country, the highly educated are increasingly 'on-line' and in touch around the world. In 1998 more than 250 000 African professionals were working in the United States and Europe. Immigrants with skills in computing technologies are in high demand - in the European Union alone, 500 000 information technology jobs go unfilled because of lack of national skills. The United States offers a special visa to professional immigrants to keep high-tech industries staffed.

Source: Human Development Report, (1999), United Nations Human Development Committee

2) Rural-urban migration (country to city movement)

One of the most common trends in population movements today is the massive influx of people from rural to urban areas in developing countries. This is often an internal movement within a country. It was estimated that at the end of the twentieth century, one-third of all populations of Africa and Asia, and two-thirds of that of Latin America, were living in cities. United Nations projections show that 60 per cent of the world's people will live in urban areas by 2025. There is an increasing number of mega-cities with populations over ten million, especially in developing countries. The bright lights of the city serve as a powerful magnet (pull factor). In all countries and in all regions, the number of urban inhabitants continues to grow faster than the capacity of cities to provide jobs, houses, water, sanitation and other basic services for them. Only 40 per cent of migrants are lucky enough to find employment in low paying jobs in the formal sector. Many are forced to enter other kinds of self-employment in the informal sector, such as street selling, scavenging, begging, crime and prostitution.

Even the cheapest public housing is beyond the means of many migrants. They are often forced to construct their own dwellings with whatever materials they can get their hands on. These are known as 'shanties or slums' which, have a lack water supply, sewerage and waste disposal facilities, and are located away from the affluent city centre.

Access to clean water is a vital issue for people living in cities. While in developed nations most of the population has ready access to clean water, this is not the case in poorer countries of the world. In Asia, 29 per cent of urban residents have no convenient access to clean water, in Africa 26 per cent and in Latin America only 12 per cent are lucky enough to have this basic necessity.

|3.0 |Types, volumes and directions of population movements |

1. Define the terms that have a box around them in the body of the text above.

|Term |Definition |

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2. Refer to figure 1

a) Choose TWO pull factors and explain how they pull people to migrate?

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b) Choose TWO push factors and explain how they push people to migrate?

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3. In the table below identify and define the different type of population movement and indicate the volumes and directions of these movement.

|Type of Population Movement |Definition |Volume |Directions |

| | |(How many?) |(Where from and to?) |

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4. What proportion of international migrants are refugees?

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5. Refer to Table 1 and Table 2

a) List the three regions that took the highest number of refugees in 2005.

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b) List the three countries that produced the highest number of refugees in 2005.

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6. What types of jobs do migrant labour workers perform?

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7. Approximately how much money is remitted by migrant workers each year?

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8. Identify and explain two recent labour migration trends.

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9. What type of workers do global cities attract?

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10. What proportion of Africa and Asia's population are living in cities in the year 2000?

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11. What is a squatter/slum settlement? Explain why you think such settlements occur?

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HOMEWORK

Exam style question

Examine the types, volumes and directions of population movements?

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|4.0 |Issues arising from the changing size and distribution of population including environmental, economic and social impacts |

A cancer is an uncontrolled multiplication of cells; the population explosion is an uncontrolled multiplication of people. Treating only the symptoms of cancer may make the victim more comfortable at first, but eventually he dies - often horribly. A similar fate awaits the world with a population explosion if only the symptoms are treated. We must shift our efforts from treatment of the symptoms to the cutting out of the cancer. The operation will demand many apparently brutal and heartless decisions. The pain will be intense. But the disease is so far advanced that only with radical surgery does the patient have a chance of survival.

Quote by Paul Erlich

There are two predominant opposing theories to the impacts of population growth:

• One is that world population is growing too fast for the world and its resources to cope. (Malthusian world view)

• The other suggests that we will always have the technology and innovation to cope with any pressure we as humans place on our environment.

|4.1 |Environmental Impacts |

• Many environmentalists argue that large populations are not necessarily bad for the environment. But it is the rich countries with smaller populations that cause the most environmental damage because of their consumption lifestyles:

o The richest 20% consumes 86% of all goods and services and produces 53% of all carbon dioxide emissions.

o The poorest 20% consumes 1.3 per cent of goods and services and accounts for 3% of carbon dioxide (C02) output.

o USA has 5% of the world's population but generates 19 % of the world's waste.

• However, population growth does have immediate environmental consequences not related to consumption:

o Two-thirds of the world's population lives within 60 kilometres of an ocean, inland sea or freshwater lake: 14 of the world's largest mega-cities are coastal. Their impact includes

▪ increasing amounts of sewerage and other waste,

▪ the drainage of wetlands

▪ development of beaches

▪ destruction of prime fish nurseries.

o At least 300 million people live in regions that already have severe water shortages. By 2025, the number could be three billion.

o The world's forests have shrunk from 11.4 to 7.3 square kilometres per 1000 people since 1970. This loss is concentrated in developing countries, mostly to meet the demands for wood and paper by the industrial world.

• The global emission of carbon dioxide (CO2) has quadrupled since 1950.

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|4.2 |Economic Impacts |

• Natural resources become scarcer as they are being consumed by an ever-growing number of people. When resources are in shorter supply but demand for them is high, this forces their prices up. This has the economic effect of favouring the rich who can afford them to the detriment of the poor.

• The quality of life for individuals falls as living conditions become congested. With a more congested population, there is more of a risk of the spread of disease. There is also deterioration in health conditions due to polluted skies and water supplies in both developed and developing countries.

• Rural populations suffer from 'brain drain' as those with skills migrate to urban centres in search of employment.

• Increased populations can have a significant impact on the economy of a country. Essential services and welfare systems are pushed to the limit. There is an increased need for the provision of services for the poor.

• The increasing size of the dependent population, especially those over 65 years of age who have longer life expectancies, puts economic strain on those who are working.

|4.3 |Social Impacts |

• As resource scarcity and economic inequality increase, social, ethnic and political tensions increase, along with migration and immigration as responses.

• As shortages of essential resources such as farmland, water, forests and fisheries worsen; conflict between countries and between locals over these resources increases.

• With increased populations, it is predicted that there will be increased social stresses and crime. Recent studies have shown that population tends to have an effect on the mental health of a nation. Instances of antisocial behaviour, mental illness, and even homicidal and suicidal tendencies, increase with population density.

• Another social impact of increased populations is the pressure on governments to attempt to control population size. This has many impacts and creates a social and moral dilemma for those involved in decisions related to family planning.

Answer the following questions in your workbooks

1. Why is the population debate such a controversial issue?

2. Outline the two opposing theories to population growth.

3. Construct a mind-map in your notebook that summarises the alarming environmental, economic and social impacts of global population pressure.

4. Refer to the cartoon below. Which opinion/s do you agree with most? Justify your choice by supporting it with other information you have learnt so far.

5. Exam style question

Discuss the issues arising from the changing size and distribution of population including environmental, economic and social impacts

Population Geography Revision Test

1. What was the estimated world’s population in 2008?

2. Name the top three most populated countries.

3. Define the terms

a. Birth Rate.

b. Death Rate.

c. Rate of Natural Increase.

4. What was the birth and death rates like for much of the world’s history before the 20th century?

5. With reference to birth and death rates, why did the world’s population begin to grow during the 20th century?

6. Where did most of the population growth occur in the world during the 20th century?

7. What was the population of the world at the beginning of the 20th century?

8. What was the world’s population leaving the 20th century?

9. Why are Doubling Times a good indicator of the rate of population change?

10. How does an analysis of the age sex structure of a population show the possible rate of change in a population?

11. What regions are experiencing a decline in population rates? Why?

12. What does the term Total Fertility Rate (TFR) mean and why is it preferred over Birth rates as a measure?

13. What regions of the world have a high TFR?

14. What does the term Infant Mortality Rate mean?

15. What is the term used to describe the movement of people?

16. What are the two broad factors for population movements?

17. What type of migration is it when people move from one country to another?

18. What is refugee migration?

19. Where does most refugee migration occur?

20. How many refugees were there world wide in 2005?

21. What is labour migration?

22. What are the TWO types of labour migration?

23. Define the term rural-to-urban migration.

24. What regions of the world experience rural-to-urban migration the most? Why?

25. What have been some of the impacts of rural-to-urban migration particularly in developing countries?

26. Identify and describe TWO environmental issues related to population growth?

27. Identify and describe TWO economic issues related to population growth?

28. Identify and describe TWO social issues related to population growth?

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Handout

Figure 3.1: PUSH and PULL factors influencing migration

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