002 - Aging Societies

Geographic Knowledge and Understanding

Policies associated with managing population change, focusing on:

- policies related to aging societies

- pro-natalist or anti-natalist policies

Concept

The power of a government influences the possibility of the successful implementation of a population policy.

Aims

Key Terminology

Define the terms above by using the 'Useful Link' below:


Useful Link

Activity One - Describe

It is always good to start with a visual of the issue before we start to discuss any solutions. We are going to focusing on Japan and the general causes of the changes in population size. 


The Maths

Mean - the average - add up all of the numbers and divide by the total number of values.

Medium  - the middle value when the numbers are in order of size

Mode - is the number that occurs the most frequently

Activity Two - Watch

You have hopefully now realised that there is a strong correlation between the dependent section of society and the decline in overall population in Japan. In fact it won't take many generations for the population to decline drastically due to the large amount of elderly residing in the country.  For this task we are going to work in teams of three or four. Each team are going to be given a specific resource to watch or read and I would like you to structure your notes around our four official Ps and our fifth unofficial one. Once you have collated your notes each team will give the rest of the group the 'highlights' of the article (with data) to broaden out the knowledge each team has. 


Useful Resources

The Geography Concepts - Note Taking Grid

Sexless in Japan

BBC News

Can also watch - 'No sex please, we are Japanese'


Activity Three - Pro-natalist policy - Japan

Now you know some of the issues that are caused by an ageing population you can understand why some countries may want to develop government led policies that hope to increase the fertility rates of women within their country. We are going to be sticking with Japan and will be investigating what they are doing and the subsequent reaction that people have to the changes. Answer the following questions using the resources in the 'Useful Resources' box:


Activity Four - Ageing Society Policies

Creating policies that aim to increase the birth rates of a country is not the only way to tackle the issue. Relaxing a migration policy could help because as we have seen in the USA migrants from Latin America tend to have slightly larger families. There are other problems created by the growth of an ageing generation and the issues are as widespread care for the elderly to an increase in 'grey crime'. Read the articles below and make notes on the following points:

Exam Style Question

‘Solving the aging population in Japan is as simple as enforcing a two-child policy.’ Discuss this statement. [10 marks]

Google Document