Youthful populations: case
study Gambia
Define key terms “economically active”, “young
dependants”, “old dependants” and “dependency
ratios”.
I can understand how to calculate dependency rations
I can explain problems caused by high numbers of old
dependants in MEDC’s and young dependants in
LEDC’s: case study Gambia
Key terms:
Economically active: The total population between
the ages of 15 and 65 in any country
Youthful population: A population with a high
proportion of young people usually under the
age of 16 or 18
Old dependants: A population with a high
proportion of old people usually over the age of
65
Dependency ratio: A measure showing the number
of dependents (aged 0-14 and over the age of
65) to the total population (aged 15-64).
Dependency ratio:
• Calculated by:
This indicator gives insight into the amount of people of non-working
age compared to the number of those of working age. A high ratio
means those of working age - and the overall economy - face a greater
burden in supporting the aging population.
The young dependency ratio includes only under 15s, and the elderly
dependency ratio focuses on those over 64. For example, if in a
population of 1,000 there are 250 people under the age of 15 and 500
people between the ages of 15-64. The youth dependency ratio would
be 50% (250/500).
UK
Children – Triangular
30%
Adults –
58%
Elderly –
Children
12%
Elderly
graphs This type of
graph may also
be included on
paper1:
Geographical
skills
Adults
UK
Japan
Ghana
Brazil
World
Childre
n
30
22
65
38
45
Adults
Elderly
58
56
33
54
48
12
22
2
8
7
Youthful Populations:
Where/Why?
• High proportion of young people due to
high birth rates and a reduction in infant
mortality. This is due to better nutrition,
education and medical care.
• This may create problems since the
children need feeding, housing, education
and eventually a job.
• Medical care and education has to be paid
for by taxing a proportionally small number
of workers.
Youthful Population Structure
(Population Pyramids)
Seen as a wide base on population
pyramids that reflect high birth rates in
LEDCs.
Youthful Population Structure
(DTM)
• Stage 2:
• This is where the birth rates are high but
the death rates begin to fall.
• This results in the population increasing.
• Lots of countries in the developing world
are at this stage, due to improved medical
care, but poor education.
The Gambia
The Gambia is the smallest African country
95% of Gambia’s population
are Muslim. There has been
a taboo on contraceptives
The birth rate is 40 per 1000
population
A Typical Gambian Woman
Fertility rate:
Other Factors that may lead to a
growing population in The Gambia
The Desire for a large family remains strong.
Larger families are seen as a
sign of security.
The Stigma and cost of contraceptionlinks to religious background.
Case study notes from DVD:
The Gambia
• Youthful populations: Case study Gambia
• Why do Gambian women have so many children?
• What will be the impacts of a large population for
Gambia in the future?
• What has been done abut the youthful population?
Large potential workforce
Cost of schools and clinics
Need to provide food, housing and water to growing
population
High rates of unemployment
Attractive to new investors
Source of innovation and ideas
Large numbers living in slum housing
High crime rates
High rate of population growth
Large market for potential goods
Development of services such as schools
Political instability due to unsatisfactory living standards
Many countries lack economy to take advantage of extra
workers
Example of innovations from a
youthful population
https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=110&v=J
ci-_Vu5UYY
Why and how have young Africans
developed mobile phone technology?
6 mark case study question
from May 2015
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