Q1. Explain how authorities collect information about Population. (6)
• Governments uses censuses to measure population, in the UK it occurs every 10 years with the last being in 2022. One detailed questionnaire is sent to every household that one person in each household is nominated to fill in.
• Each birth, death and marriage must be registered at a local registry office by law in the UK. Each birth must be registered within 6 weeks of the birth and each death within 2 weeks of the event. Marriages must be carried out by a authorised person like a priest or minister.
• Mini censuses of samples from previous censuses can be carried out more frequently to indicate changes or trends between other censuses. Governments usually do this as they cannot afford to a full census less than every ten years.
Q2. Explain why population data may be inaccurate in developing countries. (12)
• Censuses are very expensive and low GNP countries like Kenya don’t have enough funds for them as they have other priorities like education and healthcare.
• There are high levels of illiteracy due to poor education, eg Ethiopia, and the government cannot afford scribes to fill in the forms.
• In countries like Kenya there are many different dialects and languages spoken and the government cannot afford to prints forms in each language and dialect.
• People often travel in search of farmland, eg shifting cultivators in the Amazon, and may be counted twice in a census or completely missed out of one.
• Lots of people tend to not trust the government and because of this, people will feel suspicious about a census and lie in their form.
• Some areas are extremely isolated due to relief and landscape, eg Nepal and the Amazon, so many people may not be counted.
• Also, it can be very difficult to access certain areas, eg the Amazon Rainforest as the only way of access is by boat, causing people to be left out.
• In places like Mumbai, poor housing in shanty towns cause people to constantly move as the housing is chaotic.
• Also, people don’t have a fixed address and homeless people living in shanty towns would not be counted.
• In countries of high birth rates like India, censuses immediately become outdated because of the constant population growth.
• In areas of war like Syria, censuses become impossible as it is too dangerous for people to collect the data and high death rates mean that the population is constantly changing.
• A lack of technology causes censuses to be hand written, this makes it very time consuming and more likely to have human error.
Q3. Explain the impact of a growing population, ie high birth LIC. (10)
TOO MANY KIDS
• High birth rates lead to shortages of schools so most children leave school after finishing primary school.
• Vaccinations become more expensive, eg measles, causing many children to not be fully vaccinated.
TOO MANY ADULTS
• Food shortages lead to high rates of malnutrition and eventually increasing cases of Kwashiorkor.
• High rates of young unemployment lead to an increase on poverty and social problems like Depression.
• This causes the Government to invest in solutions , ie benefits, to these social problems.
• Increase in housing demands causes people to form shanty towns, eg Dharavi, Mumbai, leading to poor sanitation and an increase in decease.
• People may be forced to drink contaminated water as drinking water demands increase, leading to further decease, ie Cholera.
• Global Warming could lead to increased droughts, making this problem even worse.
• Hospitals become overcrowded due to an increase in demands for healthcare, causing a shortage in doctors and medicine.
POSITIVES
• There will be a young active population leading to more jobs being filled by young workers, leading to an increase in government income as more people pay taxes.
Q4. Explain the impact of an ageing population in the Uk. (10)
• Less people are working meaning less people are paying tax to the government, causing the government to increase income tax and council tax in order to make more money.
• Fewer people do unpopular jobs, ie Trades, leading to immigrants filling these job. Provoking racial tension between the immigrants and the locals.
• There is a lack of innovation in businesses which can lead to a decline in the economy.
• Schools may have to close due to a lack of children attending, leading to teachers losing their jobs.
• Pensions become more expensive, leading to the retirement age to increase to over 70 in the future.
• Government pensions will be reduced and public sector workers will have to work longer to make up for the cuts in their pension schemes.
• These cuts lead to strikes by public sector workers, eg teachers, leading to school closures and children’s education being affected.
• There will be a mass increase in elderly diseases like Arthritis and Alzheimers, putting a lot of pressure on the NHS.
• The government can’t then afford to build more nursing homes or provide benefits to pensioner, eg Home Help.
• Younger family members then feel pressured to abandoned their careers in order to look after their elderly relatives.
Q5. Explain the reasons for a voluntary migration that you have studied (Poland to Uk) (10)
A voluntary migration I have studied is Poland to the UK. There are problems (Push factors of Poland) which have encouraged people to migrate.
• Due to a baby book in the 80’, there are many young people who are unemployed with young unemployment being over 40%.
• Most polish jobs are in manufacturing factories, eg food processing factories, that are difficult jobs that offer poor pay.
• Many homes in cities like Warsaw are depressing concrete flats and high rise flats from the Soviet Era that are run down and poor to live in.
• There are fewer university places for Poles as they are taken up by foreign students that offer higher fees.
• Government provided healthcare is very inefficient for poor people, and those people cannot afford the private high quality healthcare that is available.
There are benefits (Pull factors of the Uk) that attract people to the UK.
• Pre-Brexit, the Uk had no limits for Polish migrants coming to the UK, so over the years a large Polish community has been established that attracts more Poles to the UK.
• Budget airlines like Ryanair offer cheap flights from Poland to the UK, ie Krakow to Edinburgh.
• There is high demand for low paying jobs ,like plumber and hotel worker, theatre taken up by incoming Poles for work.
• Also there is a high demand for professional workers like Doctor or Nurse in the NHS, with the NHS employing over 4000 polish doctors.
• The UK minimum wage is double the minimum wage of that in Poland, with jobs that offer less working hours and better working conditions.
Q6. Explain the impact of Poland to UK migration on either Poland of the UK. (8)
POLAND
ADVANTAGES
• As young people migrate out of Poland, more jobs become available for those still living there.
• There will be less pressure on services like Health and Education, so class sizes will be reduced and waiting lists times for treatments will go down, saving the government money.
• Money gained from family members abroad, typically young men, can be sent back to their families in Poland to pay for daily essentials or any other expenses.
• When many migrants return home to Poland they return with new found skills. Allowing Poland to improve in their technology industries, healthcare and education.
DISADVANTAGES
• As young adults leave the country, many elderly people and children are left behind, dependant population, causing the government to gain less income from taxes.
• Many young men who leave create a imbalanced between the male and female population. Leading to families to become broken as single mothers left in Poland struggle to cope without their partner.
• This imbalanced cause birth rates to decrease which create problems of schools closing down and teachers losing their jobs.
• Buildings and farmland become abandoned and run down as old people left binned are unable to work on farms in order to maintain them.
UK
ADVANTAGES
• More people work in undesirable jobs, eg cleaner, as the demand for workers in these jobs increase in the UK.
• Poles are used to their hardworking culture and are willing to work long hours for wages. Unlike most Brits.
• The government gains more tax payers as Eastern Europeans contribute 5 billion pounds to the economy each year.
• Polish children boost the amount of students in schools that face closures, preventing the school having to close.
DISADVANTAGES
• Many right-wing Brits believe that Poles are taking their jobs as Polish people are willing to work longer for less pay.
• More social housing is built as the demand for housing increases as more migrants come to the UK, causing the government lots of money.
• As Poles qualify for the NHS, waiting times increase and the NHS is put under a lot of pressure to provide healthcare to both migrants and local Brits.
In poverished areas of the UK, many Poles are severely affect by crime and violence as people believe that they are taking their jobs and housing.
Q7. Explain the reasons for a forced migration you have studied. (10)
A forced migration I have studied is Syria to Lebanon. There are problems ( Push factors of Syria) that cause people to have to Leave Syria.
• Many towns have developed into dangerous combat zones, increasing the chance of death from crossfire of bullets and other weaponry.
• Lots of areas have been destroyed by bombings, causing homes that remain too dangerous to live in due to threat of bombings.
• There are shortages of clean water as water pipes and sewage systems have been destroyed by bombs.
• There are shortages of food as farmers leave their lands to fight on the front lines and farmland gets destroyed by bombs, leading to decreased soil fertility and making the land less productive to farm on.
• Shortage of healthcare as hospitals are overwhelmed by the increase of wounded soldiers.e
There are benefits (Pull factors of Lebanon) that attract Syrias to migrated there.
• Of the first five years of the the civil war, Lebanon allowed millions of migrants to enter the country without border controls.
• Refugee camps were set up by the UN with clean drinking water, food, shelter and healthcare.
• Living standards were already better in Lebanon than Syria even before the war, with a life expectancy of 79 years.
• Pre-Covid, Lebanon had a large economy based on Tourism with many low paying jobs for Syrians to fill.
• Before the Beirut explosion, Lebanon had a very good human rights record, being the only Arab country with independent tv companies that didn’t have links to the government. A polar opposite to the strict Assad regime.
Q8. Explain the impact of a forced migration you have studied (on the receiving country) (10)
• The government spends millions on food and shelter for Syrian migrants, leading less money to invest in improving living standards.
• There have been many reports of local Lebanese workers being sacked from their jobs to make way for Syrians who are willing to work longer for less.
• Refugees have had a bad impact on the Lebanese economy, as tourists and investors are put off coming to Lebanon as more refugees migrate there.
• This causes Lebanese people to be pushed into poverty as the economy declines.
• Most of the refugee camps supported but the UN are makeshift, with people living in terrible conditions.
• The were wars between religious groups in Lebanon for many years and the incoming refugees cause tension between the groups and reignite the conflict.
• As more refugees migrate to Lebanon, the amount of people who can work increases. Which has led to labour supply being increased by 40% and cause job shortages for many people.
• Over 80% of Syrian children migrating don’t go to school, with health services being overwhelmed by the amount of physically and mentally injured patients they have coming from Syria.
