◄UNIT 9: NATURAL VEGETATION OF THE WORLDUNIT 11:SETTLEMENT AND URBANIZATION IN THE WORLD►

UNIT 10: POPULATION GROWTH IN THE WORLD

  • UNIT 10: POPULATION GROWTH IN THE WORLD

    Key unit competence: The student-teacher should be able to discuss the
                                                 problem of the population growth and the ways of

                                                 controlling the population growth in the world.

    Introductory activity

    Population is one of the main complex issues in geography, its study is essential
    for proper national planning in relation to the provision of social services to
    the people. Today there is fear generally that the rate at which population is
    increasing presents great challenge to the world resources.
    1. Explain the term “population” and its related concepts.
    2. Discuss the factors influencing population distribution in any area.

    3. Compare and contrast the population problems in developed countries
    and developing countries.
    4. Describe the population policies that should be taken by countries to

    control their rapid growth.

    10.1. Human diversities
    Activity 10.1
    The world population is composed of billions of people from different
    countries, speaking different languages, praying from different churches
    and having different cultures. This makes what geographers call “human
    diversity” in the World.
    1. Referring to the paragraph above explain the following concepts:
    i) Human diversity
    ii) Race
    iii) Languages
    iv) Religion

    v) Culture

    Population is the number of people living in an area at a given period. The
    study of population growth, density, distribution and movement is referred to

    as demography.
    Human diversity means understanding that each individual is unique, and
    recognizing our individual differences. These can be along the dimension of

    race, religion, languages and states.
    10.1.1. Race
    The term race refers to similarities of genetic patterns among aggregates of
    individuals of human populations. The varying genetic patterns find their
    expressions in the physical traits of human species. Races can be differentiated
    based on the following aspects:
    • Hair types: People’s hairs also differ. Some have black hair such as
    the Africans, others long, reddish hair such as the Europeans and yet

    others have white, short or brown hair.
    • Skin colour: People of the world have different skin colours. For
    instance, in Africa though all people are black, some are brown. In other

    continents, people are white and others are red like the red Indians.
    • Climatic factors: Races are also differenced by climatic location. For
    example, most people of the tropics are black and others though brown

    have black hairs like those of black Americans.
    Generally, two types of classification of races have been identified;
    a) Phenotypes, in which human population is classified into various groups
    based on their physical features.

    b) Genotypes, in which population is classified into groups based on genetic
    origin of their physical traits.

    10.1.2. Religion
    It is a unifying factor for the people with the same religious beliefs. For
    instance, some religions encourage conversion of non-believers of different
    races or societies such as Christianity, Islamic, Hinduism and Buddhism may
    bring people from all parts of the world and from all occupations together. The

    following figure shows the portions of the main religions in the world.

    M

    10.1.3. Languages
    Various groups of people speak different languages. For instance, people in
    Rwanda speak Kinyarwanda, those of Burundi speak Kirundi, Kenyans speak
    Swahili, etc. There are local languages spoken by a group of people within a
    country as well as national and international languages. Some people speak
    more than one language. The language acts as unifying factor that plays an
    important role in solidarity among the people.
    The languages can be classified according to the number of speakers as it is

    presented below:

    F

    10.1.4. States
    A state refers to a nation or territory considered as an organized political
    community under one government. In this case, a state is taken as a country.
    Nevertheless, in some cases a state is different from a country. A good example
    is the United States of America where a country is made of the union of 50 states.
    State expresses merely the actual organization of the legislative or judicial
    powers; thus, the actual government of the state is designated by the name of
    the state. In that case, people permanently occupying a fixed territory bound
    together by common habits and custom into one body politic exercising, through
    the medium of an organized government, independent sovereignty and control
    over all persons and things within its boundaries, capable of making war and

    peace and of entering into international relations with other states.

    Application Activity 10.1
    1. With typical examples from Africa, identify and describe the
    religions operating on the continent.

    2. Examine the main aspects considered in differentiating the types of races.

    10.2. Population concepts and their related effects
    Activity 10.2
    World wide areas with favourable climatic conditions, abundant natural
    and water sources, fertile soils, social amenities, security and political
    stability tend to pull people settlement and therefore, being world over
    crowded areas. On the other hand, areas with unfavourable climatic
    conditions, infertile soils, abundant natural and water sources and
    limited social facilities tend to limit population settlement hence being
    less populated areas.
    1. Why is under population undesirable in a country?
    2. Referring to above passage, explain the following population concepts:
    i) Optimum Population
    ii) Under population
    iii) Overpopulation
    10.2.1. Optimum population
    It takes place where the population and resources are equal and the human
    population is able to balance and maintaining a maximum population size with
    optimal standards of living for all people.
    The following are the major characteristics of optimum population:
    • The population has the highest quality of life.
    • Each inhabitant receives adequate amount of food, energy, water, and
    air of high quality.
    • Adequate raw material to permit him/her to make all the things and
    devices he/she needs.
    • Adequate medical care, recreational facilities and cultural outlets, etc.
    • Optimum population is the one that enjoys full employment, a
    satisfactory level of life.
    • The optimum population can be regarded as that state of equilibrium
    between the population and the resources, which satisfies the welldefined
    needs of all the members of a community.
    10.2.2. Under population
    It is a situation where the size of the population is below the available resources,
    hence they under-utilize the available resources.
    i) Positive effects of under population
    The following are positive effects of under population:
    • No Congestion: A country with less population experiences little or no
    congestion
    • Employment opportunities, as a result of small size of the population,
    there will be enough job opportunity for the people
    • Increase in social and infrastructural facilities: An under populated
    country experiences a higher per capita in terms of social and
    infrastructural facilities available to the people in the country.
    • Availability of idle resources: The resources available in that country is
    higher than the number of people, hence, many idle resources would
    abound everywhere.
    • Low pressure on social amenities: Owing to low population, there is
    also low pressure on social amenities in the area.

    ii) Negative effects of under population
    The following are negative effects of under population:
    • Underutilization of resources: Resources are highly underutilized in a
    country with low population.
    • Shortage of enough people to defend the country: At times of war and
    emergency, a country might find it difficult to mobilize enough people
    to defend it.
    • Shortage of labour force: The available natural resources capital stock
    and technology cannot be utilized properly.
    • Impossibility of specialization: As the supply of labouris limited,
    specialization and rationalization schemes cannot be undertaken.
    • Low per capita income: The underutilization of resources in the under
    populated countries, leads to a low per capita income.

    10.2.3. Overpopulation
    This refers to a situation where the number of existing human population
    exceeds the carrying capacity of the country.

    The following are effects of under population:
    • Food shortage: Food production cannot be rise in proportion to the
    increase in population. Food production lags behind the increase in
    population due to the influence of law of diminishing returns.
    • Unemployment: The excessive population leads to massive
    unemployment. As the country’s natural resources, capital stock
    and technology are limited. It is not possible to provide employment
    opportunities for all the people.
    • Fall in efficiency of labour: When population increases after a particular
    stage, the number of labour also increases. As a result, each labour
    gets fewer amounts of capital and machinery and this leads to a fall in
    the efficiency of labour.
    • Increase in dependents: The size of working population becomes less
    when compared to the size of children and old-aged persons. As the
    children and old aged-persons come under the category of dependents,
    their nourishment becomes a problem.
    • Pressure on the land increases: The excessive population brings
    pressure on land where land remains less.
    • Decline in standards of living: Shortage of foodstuffs, scarcity of
    houses, unfair distribution of national income lead to the decline of
    the standards of living of the people.
    • Limited transport facilities: Some government in developing countries,
    due to inadequate financial resources, cannot construct and develop
    means of communication and transport to all parts of their countries.
    • Limited educational facilities: Governments in developing countries,
    lack financial resources to invest in education due to the ever-growing
    population.
    • Over exploitation of natural resources, as well as growth in energy
    production from coal, oil and natural gas is having a negative impact
    on the earth surface
    • Shortage in housing facilities: The overcrowding results into the
    development of slums areas and their associated evils such as
    immorality and drug use.
    • Diseases: The overpopulation leads to congestion and easy spread of

    disease such as dysentery, cough, cholera and others.

    Application Activity 10.2
    1. Based on examples of Rwanda; discuss the effects of over population
    to the economic development of a country.

    2. With clear examples, identify negative effects of under population.

    10.3. World population distribution
    10.3.1. Population density
    Activity 10.3
    Critically observe the provided population map and answer the questions

    that follow:

    c

    With your own observation from the map above, identify the densely,

    sparely and moderately populated regions of the World.

    Population distribution is the spread of the people across the world. It
    describes the pattern of where people live. There are places which are sparsely,

    moderately and densely populated.

    m

    Population density is a measurement of the number of people in an area.
    Population density is calculated by dividing the number of people by area.
    Population density is usually shown as the number of people per square
    kilometer. The World population distribution includes the following categories:

    (i) The densely populated areas:
    These are regions with more than 100 people per square kilometer:
    • East and south East Asia including countries like Singapore, China,
    India, Bangladesh, Japan, South Korea, the Philippines and Taiwan.
    • Central and Western Europe including countries like Germany, the
    United Kingdom, France, Italy, Belgium and the Netherlands.
    • The Caribbean countries including Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago,
    Cuba, West Indies and El -Salvador, Eastern USA and south eastern
    Canada.
    • Nile valley and delta about 39 million people live in the Nile-Delta

    region.

    (ii) The moderately populated areas: these are regions with between 25 and
    100 persons per square km. These areas are usually dominated by agricultural
    occupations and typical examples include Australia, Brazil, USA, Argentina and
    Chile etc.

    (iii) The sparsely populated areas    : are regions with few people per square
    kilometer. They include Sahara Desert, the Atacama, Kalahari Desert and
    Australian deserts. The high mountain ranges: Himalayas, the Rockies, the
    Andes, the Alps and dense forests of equatorial regions in the Amazon, Congo
    and outlying islands of Indonesia.

    10.3.2. Factors responsible for the distribution of population in the     World
    The following are factors influencing the distribution of population in the world:
    • Amount of rainfall: Areas that receive high and reliable rainfall over
    1500 mm attract high population densities because they are suitable
    for agriculture.
    • Soils: fertile soils encourage growth of a variety of crops; hence food
    and employment attract people.
    • Pests and diseases: Diseases carriers like tsetse flies and ticks carry
    diseases such as trypanasomiasis and east coast fever that discourage
    farming and settlement in some areas hence a low population density.
    • Altitude: Altitude has an influence on population distribution, for
    example from2700 m above sea level, temperatures are extremely cold
    and severe soil erosion discourage settlements.
    • Vegetation: The natural vegetation of an area is also an important
    influence on population distribution. Dense forests, bush land, deserts
    and swamps are unfavourable areas for settlement.
    • Relief: The rugged mountains discourage settlement. For instance, the
    rift valley and lowlands especially along rivers are unfavourable for
    human settlement while some gentle slope are easy to work and build
    and hence attract more people.
    • Slavetrade: This led to depopulation from areas of origin and led to
    increased population to the areas where they were taken.
    • Migrations: the internal migration such as rural-urban migration leads
    to an increase in population in urban areas and rural-rural migration
    may influence population distribution from one rural area to another.
    • Civil wars: These have reduced population in some regions like
    southern Sudan, Somalia, Democratic Republic of Congo and tribal
    clashes in some parts of Kenya Rift valley numbers causing emigration.
    • Government policies: This may reduce population where land has been
    set aside for establishment of national parks or construction of dams,
    whereas some policies such as establishment of irrigation schemes in
    dry lands or settlement schemes lead to population increase.
    • Industrialization: Industrial towns like Nairobi, Kigali, Kampala and
    Kinshasa have large industrial establishments producing chemicals,
    foodstuff, plastics and textiles which attract people for paid employment
    hence a high population.
    • Energy resources and minerals: Energy resources and mineral attract
    people to settle in a given area. Minerals like coal in their prime age
    have greatly influenced the pattern of population distribution in
    countries like Great Britain, France, and Germany etc.
    • Historical factors: Areas that were occupied by kingdoms especially
    near the King’s palaces attracted a high population due to security.
    • Economic factors. The economic viability of an area lies in its carrying
    capacity and its ability to provide employment opportunities. A specific
    economic system tends to arrange people in a specific distributionalnpattern.
    • Transport and communication: The establishment of roads, railways
    and communication lines attracts dense population due to accessibility of the area.
    • Political factors: Countries that are politically stable attract a high
    population, whereas political instability in some countries can cause
    population displacement and migrations.
    • Demographic factors: The changes in the distribution and density of
    population in the world take place through variations in the rate of
    natural increase (fertility and mortality rates).
    • Natural hazards and disasters: For instance, earthquakes, landslides,
    volcanic eruptions, floods, glacial advances, storms, epidemics, fire,
    and severe droughts constitute the physical disasters. These factors
    have discouraged population distribution in areas where they occur.

    Application Activity 10.3
    1. With the aid of a drawn sketch population map of the world,
    identify the densely and sparsely populated areas.

    2. Explain factors controlling population distribution in Rwanda.

    10.4. Rapid population growth

    Activity 10.4

    g

    The above is a line graph indicating the population growth of U.S. Observe
    it careful and answer the questions that follow:
    i. Compare the population growth in 1970-1980s and 1990-2018s
    ii. What are the causes of the rapid population growth?
    iii. What measures should be taken to control the rapid population growth?

    10.4.1. Causes of rapid population growth
    The following are causes of rapid the rapid population growth rate:
    • Improved health care has reduced mortality rates by diagnosing health
    problems in a timely manner. Use of vaccines has helped to prevent
    illnesses that used to kill many people in the past.
    • Introduction of better farming techniques has boosted the production
    of food. Areas where people die because of drought and famine get
    enough food supply thus saving lives.
    • Increase in the fight against poverty has also contributed to population increase.
    • Immigration has also contributed in population growth in developed
    countries and urban centers. This has led to an increase of population
    in many developed countries.
    • Poor family planning in many families is one of the major contributors
    to population growth.
    • Children are regarded to be a religious duty: Many people have the
    religious belief that having children is regarded to be the holy and
    religious duty of the married couple.
    • Malnutrition due to which many people die every day. Parents are not
    sure that all of the children can be alive. Therefore, they want to give
    birth to the many children.
    • Polygamy where a man gets married to multiple women, and these
    women give birth to more babies.
    • Cultural factors where many people do not want to apply measures
    of family planning. They think it is unholy to use family planning
    measures and prevent conception.
    • The social and religious values and customs are mainly based on the
    traditional attitudes of people. It is the conservative belief that the son
    is necessary to inherit parental property, continue the family line and
    perform the funeral rites.
    • Artificial population increases, this arises from incoming migration
    of refugees and a natural phenomena such as war, flooding, famine
    landslides massively displaces people, forcing them into new lands
    there by rapidly increasing population in the receiving country.
    • Level of education: When you take long at school and come out, you
    have a lower reproductive than a person who dropped out of school
    and married at young years.

    10.4.2. Effects associated with rapid population growth
    The following are some of the effects of rapid population growth:
    • Available facilities become insufficient for the growing population. It
    leads to the falling of living standard.
    • It is difficult to provide suitable employment opportunities for all.
    The result is large-scale unemployment which also causes the living
    standard to decline.
    • Natural resources are over-utilized and their quality degrades.
    • The environment is polluted and environmental problems occur.
    • Crimes such as robbery, theft, murder and abduction increase and
    this leads to killing of people with property and money and stealing
    commercial banks for better looking of life.
    • There are difficulties in finding basic needs such as food, shelter,
    clothing, education and health services.
    • There is deforestation for agriculture and settlement.
    • Land shortage, which results into land fragmentation, conflicts, food
    shortage and famine.
    • Heavy strain on government expenditure in the provision of social
    services and others such as importation of drug and food to sustain the population.
    • It results into a high dependency burden, this leads to low saving capital
    and low capital accumulation, low investments and slow economic

    development of a country.

    10.4.3. Ways of controlling population growth
    The following are some ways of controlling population growth:
    • Family planning: It is to ensure that a woman gets a child when she
    actually wants one. It reduces accidental pregnancies and ensures a 
    controlled family size.
    • Raising the level of education: Education particularly that of women
    is very important in population control. Education changes cultural
    beliefs and attitudes.
    • Increasing employment opportunities for women: As more women
    join career jobs, they tend to be occupied by work and produce fewer children.
    • Increasing income: Increased incomes result in an increased demand
    for durable goods such as electronic goods, houses, furniture and
    leisure activities such as holiday outings, films and theatre shows,
    sports, and music instead of children.
    • Increased security in old age: In some communities where children
    regarded as security in old age, introduction of pension schemes,
    insurance schemes and incomes for old people can substitute as
    security for old age. Efforts should be made to ensure that more people
    are within the National Social Security Fund.
    • Enacting child labour laws: Where children regarded as suppliers of
    labour, strict laws are enforced to restrict the minimum age for child
    employment. For instance, laws might be enacted to make it illegal for

    anybody to employ a child below the age of 16.

    Application Activity 10.4
    1. What are the causes of rapid population growth in developing countries?
    2. What are the effects of rapid population growth in Africa?
    3. Explain the appropriate population control measures to be used in Rwanda.

    10.5. Migration
    Activity 10.5
    When the husband left her alone with four children, Amina decided to
    leave her home country of Nigeria to seek a better life for her family.
    Unfortunately, Amina and her children felt victim to one of the smuggling
    networks that operate between the Horn of Africa and the Arabian Gulf.
    They were held captive for three months by a gang who tried to extort
    money from Amina’s family. Eventually, after a dramatic rescue, Amina
    and her children were referred to IOM (International organization for
    migration) Yemen’s Migrant Assistance and Protection team. They are
    now receiving food, water and shelter thanks to IOM’s assistance.
    1. Identify the type of migration explained from the above passage.
    2. With reference to the passage above, explain the causes of migration.

    Migration is the movement of people from one place to another with the
    intentions of settling permanently or temporarily in a new location.

    10.5.1. Types of migration
    There are various types of migration. It is very important to note that migration
    has often classified into various categories or types. Below is a detailed
    description of main types of migrations:

    Internal migration:     This is the movement of people within the country. It is
    further subdivided into rural-urban, urban-rural, rural-rural, urban-urban
    migrations.

    International migration:     This is the movement of people from one country to
    another. For example, if a person lives Rwanda and settles in USA, this type of

    migration will be called international migration or external migration.

    Permanent migration: This is the type of migration that involves movement
    of people from one place to another without the intentions of coming back to
    the source area.

    Temporary migration    : This type of migration involves the movement of
    people or person from one place to another but with hope of returning back to
    the source area.

    Voluntary migration    : This where people move from one place to another out
    of their own will without being forced. It is their choice to move.
    Involuntary migration: This is when people are forced to move from the areas of origin.

    10.5.2. Causes of migration
    The following are some important causes of migration:
    • Technology factors: The people with more sophisticated technology
    may invade and conquer new areas and this attracts less developed
    societies to migrate.
    • Economic reason: People are forced to migrate, and to settle in the area
    where the conditions reflecting the economic prosperity and offer
    greater employment potential.
    • Underemployment and unemployment: This forces people mostly youth
    to leave their home to the places and countries where the employment
    opportunities are abundant.
    • Overpopulation: an excess of population in area in relation to the
    resources available and technology is known as overpopulation and it
    can force the people to migrate to another area.
    • Social and religious causes: The human desire to stay, work and enjoy
    life with the people of his ethnic, social, religious groups is also an
    important cause of migration.
    • Political policies: The forced and compulsory emigration is always
    found with tragic highlights in human history.
    • Demographic causes: It is obvious that the young groups migrate than
    other age group. They constitute the major force of work force. The
    young energy and skilled, therefore, at present the youth migration is
    more other age group.
    • Diffusion of information: The information network and cultural contact
    widens the horizons for job opportunities hence migration.
    • Rise in the aspiration: Everybody is tempted to enjoy a better standard
    of living. Many present generations with trainings and skills aspire for
    leisure life. Thus, they migrate to other areas in search for jobs with
    high salaries.
    • Wars: War has been an important cause of human migration. For
    instance, the two world wars I, II. The World War I (1914-1919)
    displaced six million people The II World war (1939-1945) displaced
    16 million people
    • Love for adventure: For instance Europeans coming to Africa (Rwanda

    and East Africa).

    10.5.2. The effects of migration in the world
    There are both positive and negative to areas of origin and destination of
    migrants and these are follows:
    Positive effects to areas of destination
    The following are positive effects of migration to the areas of destination/recipient:
    • Simplifies easy exchange of ideas among people of different countries origins.
    • Provision of low-priced labour, thus adding to growth of industries,
    agriculture and the service sector.
    • Migrants provide security services such as banks, shopping centers,
    suburban areas and in National security services to defend the country’s interests.
    • Migrants are a source of revenue to central governments through Visa
    fees, entry fees and work permits.
    • Ready market for produced goods such as electronics, textiles leading
    to growth of the industrial and agricultural sectors.
    Negative effects to areas of destination/ recipient area
    The following are negative effects of migration in destination/ recipient area:
    • Has led to spread of diseases from the origin place.
    • High crime rate for instance robbery, terrorism in Nigeria, Somalia and
    southern Sudan, which have compromised the standard of living and loss of lives.
    • Development of Slum areas, with undesirable results boosts poor
    sanitation conditions which compromise the people standard of living.
    • Congestion on roads leading to delay of service delivery, markets in
    Kampala, Nairobi and Kigali.
    • High unemployment level, for instance Kigali, Bujumbura and Kampala
    led to loss of an income for people to increase their way of living.
    Positive effects on the areas of origin/ donor area
    The following are the positive effects of migration in the areas of origin/ donor area:
    • Reduced conflicts, for instance political migrants from Iraq, Southern
    Sudan Syria, Nigeria and Burundi to have resulted into political stability.
    • Decreases pressure on land for example in China and Indian, this
    generating areas to carry out agriculture, business and development
    of industries at large.
    • Reduction of criminal rate, for instance thieves, thus boosting the
    people’s standard of living.
    Negative effects on the areas of origin
    The following are negative effects of migration in the areas of origin:
    • Insufficient of market for goods, hereafter affecting industrial sector
    and agricultural sectors, and therefore led to under development of rural areas.
    • There are limited investments established in rural areas. For instance,
    lack of standard hospitals, advanced research centers and modern market.
    • Low agricultural productivity in rural due to active youth who run
    way to from rural -urban in search of employment opportunities and
    therefore old people at work with less output causes of shortage of food.

    10.5.3. Control measures of migrations
    The following are some of measures to be taken to control migration:
    • Governments should encourage urban-rural migration in order to
    developed rural areas.
    • Setting up resettlement schemes in rural areas to accommodate the
    landless and less privileged people.
    • Improving of security in rural areas to control high crime rate and this
    enhance rural investments.
    • Provision of employment in rural areas by establishing dairy farming
    to process agricultural products.
    • Setting up rural electrification to develop industries, improve the
    standard of living in rural areas by having access to television, milling
    maize industries, and appropriate light during the night.
    • Improvement of clean water and sanitation facilities in rural areas
    through development of piped water to minimized hygienic diseases.
    • Improvement of communication and transport services in rural areas
    to boost transportation of agriculture commodities and animal’s
    products to urban centers for sale.
    • Setting up micro-finance projects in rural areas to provide loans to
    farmers, business, improved trader capacity, and small-scale industries
    to boost on the standard of living of rural population.

    Application Activity 10.5
    1. With reference to examples, discuss the reasons and the results of
    international migration
    2. Migration has occurred in Rwanda in past years; briefly discuss the

    causes and consequences of migration to Rwandans.

    Skills lab
    Rapid population growth resulted into many problems across the world.
    Identify the problems of population in your local areas.

    End unit Assessment
    1) Describe and suggest reasons for the rapid increase in the world’s
    population in the recent times.
    2) Explain why problems may result in areas of overpopulation and under population.
    3) Describe the relationship between population growth and resources in your country.
    4) With reference to Rwanda, suggest what can be done to control migration.

    ◄UNIT 9: NATURAL VEGETATION OF THE WORLDUNIT 11:SETTLEMENT AND URBANIZATION IN THE WORLD►