002 - Hatch, Match and Dispatch

Factual Question:

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

Approaches to Learning

Communication skills - Reading, writing and using language to gather and communicate information -Take effective notes in class.

Thinking Skills - Practicising observing carefully in order to recognise problems.

Key Terminology

- - - - Hatch - Births/ Birth rate/ Fertility Rate
        Match - When and whether people form families/ age at first birth
        Dispatch - Life expectancy/ death rates

Recall

Without using your notes or devices, discuss with your neighbour the following:

What happened to the global population growth rate after 1963?
Roughly how many people are alive today?
Where is the global population projected to peak, and roughly when?
Give one reason why we avoid the terms 'developed' and 'developing'.

Activity One - Skill - Describe

Last lesson you practised describing a graph; overall trend, illustrate that trend with data and then discuss the anomalies. Do remember that a trend is something that happens over timee and you use describing words such as rising, falling, levelling off, etc. A pattern is a distribution over space.

Answer the following questions in full sentences on lined paper.

- 1. Using Figure One, describe the trend of global birth rates. Give at least three figures with dates.
  2. Using Figure Two, use the map view, and describe the global pattern of fertility rates. Name the regions with the highest and lowest values. Remember to give data, this is your evidence. Give at least on country that does not 'fit' the pattern of its region (the anomaly).
  3. Using both Figures 1 and 2, do birth rates and fertilty rates tell the same story? Write at least two sentences to explain your answer.

Useful Resources

Birth Rate

Figure 1 - Our World in Data

Fertility Rates

Figure 2 - Our World in Data

Activity Two - Explanation - Part One

You have now discovered the changes in birth rates across the world but why has this happened? Below is a series of statements. Decide which ones cause birth rates to drop and which ones keep birth rates high. Once you have made your decision write them down in a table which has two columns. The first column should be headed 'Pushes Birth Rates Down' and the second column will be headed 'Keeps Birth Rates Up'.

Statements to Organise

1. Girls staying in education for longer

2. More women in paid employment outside the home

3. Fewer children dying before the age of five

4. The cost of raising and educating a child

5. Access to contraception and family planning services

6. People moving from rural areas to cities

7. State pensions and healthcare for older people

8. The average age at which people have their first child

9. Religious and cultural expectations about family size

10. Government policies that encourage or discourage having children

Activity Three - Explanation - Part Two

Explain why birth rates differ across the world. Use the ley terms below to help you to group the reasons into the geographic factors; Economic, Social and Political.

Group the reasons behind changes in birth rates below into three categories; Economic, Social and Political. These factors are termed 'geographic factors'.
Explain how each factor impacts birth rates. Write at least two sentences to show your 'geography working out'.

Factors Influencing Fertility Rates

Education Women in Employment Lower infant and child mortality Cost

Family planning/contraception Rural to urban movement Pensions

State healthcare Provisions for older people Religion/Culture

Government Policies Average age of first child

Activity Four - Read

It is now time to check if your reasons are similar or different to the researchers. We may also have missed an important factor out. Read the two 'Our World in Data' articles in the 'Useful Resources' book below and identify three main causes behind falling fertility rates. Any anything new to your table in activity two.

Useful Resources

Our World in Data - The global decline of the fertility rate

Our World in Data - Global fertility has halved

Activity Five - Calculate

Answer the following questions, initially by using the table of data below:

Either copy out or collate the table.
Calculate the natural increase (birth rates - death rates).
Suggest the change to the population status, for example growing rapidly, growing moderately, growing slowly, shrinking, etc.
The Democratic Republic of Congo has a death rate of 7.4 but the United Kingdom has a death rate of 9.3. More people die each year, per thousand, in the UK than in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Life expectancy in the UK is around 81. In the Democratic Republic of Congo it is around 62. Explain how both of those things can be true at the same time. Think about 'who' is in each population, not how healthy they are.
Given your answer to question 4, which is the better measure (in your opinion) of how healthy a country is: crude death rate or life expectancy? Explain why in two sentences.
Look at Japan and South Korea. South Korea has a much lower birth rate than Japan, yet Japan is shrinking faster. Suggest why.
Why might a country have a low birth rate and a low fertility rate but still see its total population rise?
Explain why a country may have a natural increase in population.
Explain why a country may have a natural decrease in population.

Useful Resource

Birth Rates/Death rates/natural Increase/Population Status

Activity Six - Summary

Using a coloured post it write down which factor you think has been the most influential in reducing fertility rates. Explain your answer in one sentence. Once you have finished stick it on the classroom door.

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