Social 11/21/31: Wealth,
Economies, and Population
Economy Definitions
• Wealth: All the goods and services (including
knowledge) that are produced and distributed
within society.
• Resources: Those things which are used to
produce goods and services (wealth)
individuals within a society need or want.
• Scarcity: The relationship that occurs when
needs and wants exceed the limited resources
available to meet those wants.
• Cost: The value of all the other things we have
to give up in order to get that desired thing.
• Standard of Living: The measure of the
quantity and quality of goods and services
available to people as well as leisure,
surroundings, recreation, meaning, and
purpose in life.
– The perception of standard of living depends upon
people’s expectations.
– There is a constant debate about what criteria is
used to define an acceptable standard of living.
• Factors of Production: Land, labour, capital,
and entrepreneurship are used in various
combinations to produce goods and services.
– Land is the raw materials in their natural state
which are used in the production of goods and
services.
– Labour is the work done by people in the
production of goods and services.
– Capital are all the goods (tools, machinery,
factories, etc) used to produce other goods.
– Entrepreneurship is the organization necessary to
bring all the resources together so that the
production of goods and services can occur.
Population Definitions
• Natural Increase: The difference between the
numbers of births and deaths in that
population.
• Birth Rate: The annual number of live births
per 1000 population per year.
• Death Rate: The annual number of people
dying per 1000 population per year. It is
determined by:
– The level of nutrition available to a population,
– The levels of sanitation, and
– The ability to treat and control disease.
• Fertility Rate: The number of births per 1000
women in their childbearing years (the ages of
15 and 44).
• Population Change: Can occur in short periods
of time and makes it difficult for governments
to meet the changing needs of the population.
• Carrying Capacity: A country’s ability to
provide resources for human needs on a long
term basis without being harmed.
• Urbanization: The increase in population in
cities. Urban populations have tripled in the
past 35 years.
Population Pyramids
• A population pyramid is a graph that shows the
spread of various age groups in a population,
which forms the shape of a pyramid when the
population is growing.
• It consists of two bar graphs, with the population
plotted on the X-axis and age on the Y-axis. One
bar graph shows the number of males and the
other shows the number females in a particular
population. Males are shown on the left and
females on the right.
• Population pyramids are often the most
effective way to graphically depict the age and
sex of a population.
• A great deal of information about the
population broken down by age and sex can
be read from a population pyramid, and this
can determine how developed a country is.
• A population pyramid also tells how many
people of each age range live in the area.
There tends to be more females than males in
the older age groups, due to females' longer
life expectancy.
Types of Population Pyramids
• Look at the population pyramid from
Afghanistan in 2005. What can we tell about
Afghanistan’s population?
• Look at the population pyramid from China in
2005. When did they have a population
boom?
Your Assignment
• Look at the Census data from 2006 and make
a population pyramid for Canada.
• Use your chart to answer the questions about
Canada’s population.