1 - Under Pressure - Population

The End of the Nation State?

This unit focuses on the components of global population change, specifically the factors affecting the birth and death rates. An investigation of how population change is linked to the economics of a country. Students will also explore the methods in which countries try, and control population growth and decline.

Sheffield University

Image One - Population Growth

Key Concept

Change - how have the birth and death rates changed within different countries and regions?

Related Concepts

Culture, Management and Intervention - how do differing cultures impact population change? Can the population size of a country truly be controlled?

Global Context

Globalization and Sustainability - Is the growth in global population sustainable?

Explorations to Develop - Population and Demography

Statement of Inquiry

Demographic change is a cultural process that is influenced by globalisation and a need to be more sustainable, and this in turn affects the management and intervention strategies that are implemented in different places.

Inquiry Questions

Factual Questions: Remembering facts and topics

  • How has the global population changed over time?

  • How do the different geographic factors influence the changing demographics of a specific place?

  • How can population pyramids be used to tell a story of 'change' within a given place?

  • Where does the global population live and how is this changing?

Conceptual Questions: Analysing big ideas


  • To what extent is population changed (influenced) by the levels of development of a country?

  • To what extent have increased global links impacted where people (population) live?

Debatable Questions: Evaluating perspectives and developing theories

  • To what extent is the management and interventions placed on people influenced by resource sustainability?

  • Can the political intervention of population policies ever be sustainable?

Unit Outlines and AtL Sheets for Under Pressure - Population

Updated - Blank Unit of Inquiry Grid
2022-2023 Individuals and Societies - Approaches to Learning Grid