1.3 Population structure

Question 1

identify and gives reasons for and implications of different types of population structure

Answer 1

• wide bottom, narrow top: usually LEDC, high birth rates, low death rates, youthful population, increasing
• narrow bottom, wide top: Germany, low death rates, high life expectancy, ageing pop, high dependency ratio, decreasing

shows:
amount of males and females at each age
birth rates, death rates
life expectancy
youthful vs ageing
dependency ratio

reasons:
economic development
migration
war
family sizes

Question 2

case study

a country with a high dependent population

Answer 2

LEDC Bangladesh: youthful population
MEDC Germany: ageing population

Key Facts:

• Low birth rate (8 per 1000 per year)
• Low death rate (10 per 1000 per year)
• Natural decrease ( 2 per 1000 per year)
• Low fertility rate (1.8 babies per woman)

Key issues:

• Too many old people
• Population decreasing (bad for economy)
• Not many workers, most people are retired - don’t add to economy and still money must be invested on them (hospitals, old people homes, retirement money)
• Workers pay more taxes for retirement money bc there’s too many old and not enough young
• Grey vote: traditional country

Solutions

• Increase birth rate
• Encourage people to work until later in life
• Encourage migration
• Increase financial budget