Social and Religious Studies

Key unit competence: Discuss the population census and its importance.

                                        Learning objectives

At the end of this unit, you should be able to:

Knowledge and understanding

• Define population, population census.
•  Identify effects of over population.

Skills

•  Describe population census, its importance and how it is conducted. 
•  Find out some measures of controlling population.

Attitudes and values

•  Acknowledge the importance of population census and cooperate in giving information. 
•  Show concern about population.

Introductory activity

Discuss the following questions:

1. What is happening in the picture below?

2. Can you remember the population census of 2012?

3. How old were you then?

4. Did you see people visit your home to count your family?

5. How many learners are there in your class?

6. How can you find out how many learners are in your school?

8.1 Population census

A population is the number of people who live in a place. The population of Rwanda is

the number of people who live in Rwanda.

A population census is a survey or a poll. This is when the government gathers

information about the people who live in the country. They do this at a specific time.

They include all the people in the country.

A population census gives us information on:

• how many people live in Rwanda

The census tells us how many people live in each district. Then the government can see

if each district has what it needs for the people who live there.

Activity

1. Role play how to carry out a population census.

Take turns to be:

      a) enumerators

     b) people to be counted and asked questions.

2. Draw up a list of questions you will ask as an enumerator.

3. Write what you find out on the board.

4. Explain how the school can use this information.

8.1.2 Population control

It is important to control the population. To control the population means to make sure the right number of people live in an area. It is a problem if too many or too few people live in an area.

Under-population or low population means there are not enough people living in an area. Over-population or high population means there are too many people living in an area.

Low population happens when people move out of an area. For example, people may move to a city away from a rural area. People do this because there may be more work in the city. High population happens when there are too many people in a small space or area. Then there are not enough resources or supplies for everybody.

8.1.3 The effects of over-population and under-population

Under-population means that there are too few people in an area. This will mean that many resources are wasted. 

For example, schools might be half-empty. Houses might stand empty. 

Old people might live alone with nobody to help them.

If too many people move to cities there may not be enough people left to farm the rural areas. 

So the country might go hungry.

Over-population has very bad effects. When there are not enough resources, people might:

•  starve because there is not enough food
•  live in the streets because there are not enough houses
•  stay away from school because there are not enough schools.

When there is over-population, it also has a bad effect on the environment. Too many trees are chopped down for firewood. 

We need trees so we can live. Too much land is used for farming. Then there is not enough land for nature parks. 

Wildlife will die. Plants and trees will die. Some of these will become extinct. This means they will be gone forever.

When there are too many people, there is not enough water for everybody.

Many trees are chopped down to make space for people to live.

This is bad for the environment.

We cannot live without water.

If there are too many people, they have to live close to each other in a small

space. When somebody gets sick, the disease can spread easily.

8.1.4 How to control the population

If there are not enough people in the district, we can:

      • give people reasons to live in the district, such as employment, good schools and roads.

      If there are too many people in the district, we can:

     • educate people about the benefits of having only two children per family

     • ensure people know how to plan for pregnancy

    • ask people to move to a less populated district

     • tell people that the whole earth is already over-populated so it is every

     person’s duty to have fewer children.

Activity

   1. What are the effects of under-population and over-population?

   2. How can we control low or under population?

   3. How can we control high or over-population?

Homework

Write four sentences to summarise how to control high population and low

population in your district.

End unit assessment

1. Explain why a population census is important.

2. Suggest how to control the population in your district.

3. Imagine you are a census enumerator. 

     Explain what questions you will ask to get information.