Global Population Trends
Purpose:
· Analyze and compare human population trends in nations of divergent economic development.
· Factor in the impacts of various historic events on populations to predict future growth and social conditions.
Introduction:
In this project you will analyze and compare population growth in underdeveloped, developing, and developed countries. You will correlate the growth trends with demographic factors for your three countries.
Procedure:
1. Using Microsoft Explorer, Access the US Census Bureau International database at http://www.census.gov/population/international/data/idb/informationGateway.php . Under Select Report select Population Pyramid Graphs. Use your list of countries and your assigned group number to select one country from each list of underdeveloped, developing, and developed nations. Create three population pyramids for each of your three countries for the years 2015, 2035, and 2050.
2. Paste your pyramids into a word file (right click on the pyramid and select Copy), stacking the three pyramids for each country on one page. You will need to resize your pyramids to make them fit on one page. Tip: use Narrow Margins (0.5” for all margins) under the Page Layout. Resize so that they are the same width, although be aware that the scaling might change over time. Print out your three pages with your nine pyramids for your group.
3. Using the pyramids and the information you find on the following websites (or other websites you find in your research), complete the analysis section of this activity on your own sheets of paper.
Websites:
http://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/rankorderguide.html
http://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2091rank.html (infant mortality ranking)
www.census.gov/ipc/www/idb/informationGateway.php (click on Country for statistics)
http://www.prb.org/DataFinder.aspx
http://unstats.un.org/unsd/demographic/default.htm UN data base- search for country and can also enter specific search terms along with country name such as Angola, water.
http://data.worldbank.org/country
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_food_energy_intake
Analysis: (Answer on a separate piece of paper)
1. Analyzing the pyramids for each of the three countries in turn, discuss how the pattern is predicted to change over time and how this relates to the growth rate. Focus on the shape of the pyramid and how the pyramid varies in the youngest segments of the population.
2. What patterns do you see in the differences and changes in the male/female ratios?
3. Compare the oldest age group in each of the countries for current data as well as the prediction for 2035 and 2050. What is predicted for life expectancies in each of the countries? What reasons would you give?
4. Consider how the overall population of each country will fare as time progresses.
a. Will conditions for the people likely improve or degrade? Explain.
b. Are any of the countries likely to have a high rate of emigration due to resource degradation?
5. Use the database to find the growth rate for each of your countries.
6. Use the websites listed in the procedures section to find the following additional demographic information about each of the three countries you have selected. Correlate this information with the population growth rate of each nation and explain the reason(s) for any correlation.
A. Safe drinking water.
B. Infant mortality rate. (include both rate and ranking from CIA World Factbook website)
C. Urbanization
D. Literacy rate of women
E. Daily food intake
7. How might a cholera epidemic (water-borne bacterial disease) affect the population growth rate?
8. How might a reduction in the infant mortality rate affect the population growth rate? (Think carefully about this one- how does the infant mortality rate of the three different countries correlate to their different growth rate.) Explain why it would have this affect.
9. How might increased employment opportunities for women affect the population growth rate?
10. Name two additional events (not used in previous questions) that would have the effect of causing a nation’s population to continue to increase rapidly. Briefly explain why the population would continue to rise.
11. Select two additional events (not used in previous questions) that would have a stabilizing effect on the population of a country. Explain why these factors would stabilize the population.