Population
Note Cards
Age Distribution
 DEF - (Population pyramid)
is two back-to-back bar
graphs, one showing the
number of males and one
showing females in a
particular population in fiveyear age groups. This is
important because you can
tell from the age distribution
important characteristic of a
country, whether high guest
worker population, they just
had a war or a deadly disease
and more.
Cairo Conference
 DEF – 1994 conference in Cairo that recommended stabilizing
world population growth.
 EX - The plan calls for improved health care and family
planning services for women, children and families throughout
the world, and also emphasizes the importance of education for
girls as a factor in the shift to smaller families.
Carrying Capacity
 DEF - The largest number of people that the
environment of a particular area can support.
 EX – Las Vegas, may have an ample amount of
electrical power and inexpensive land, but in a place
that receives just a few inches of rain a year, water
should guide planting and limit growth. By this
rule, the population of Las Vegas, like many other
arid and semi-arid regions, has probably already
surpassed is sustainable carrying capacity.
Child Mortality Rate
 DEF - Number of deaths per thousand children
within the first five years of life.
 Child mortality rate for the world in 2009 was 60
per 1,000 children under age 5. This was an
improvement from 89 deaths per 1,000 children in
1990.
Cornucopian Thinking
 DEF In the late 1980s, when many argued that stricter population
controls needed to be placed on countries with high TFR in order to
stimulate development, many economists argued that INCREASING
POPULATIONS STIMULATE RATHER THAN HINDER
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT.
 Cornucopians believe that with increasing populations come
increasing opportunities for innovation.
 EX - Esther Boserup was a cornucopian, who proposed the theory
that farmers will adopt new and modern methods to keep up with
demand caused by an increasing population.
 The Cornucopian theory was well espoused by the economist
Julian L. Simon who was born on February 12, 1932 & died on
February 8, 1998.
 Cornucopians believe that the problem in such instances arises out
of poor distribution and inadequate planning in the current
economic and political systems.
J Curve
 DEF - This is when the
projection population show
exponential growth;
sometimes shape as a J
curve. This is important
because if the population
grows exponential our
resource use will go up
exponential and so will our
use as well as a greater
demand for food and more.
 The shape of a line graph of
population graph when
growth is exponential.
S Curve
 DEF - traces the cyclical
movement upwards and
downwards in a graph. So
named for its shape as the
letter "s"
 Relates to growth and decline
in the natural increase.
Natalism
 DEF – Pro Natalist - Concerned with promoting
population growth.
 EX – Pro natalist policies can be found in western
Europe.
 DEF - Anti Natalist - Concerned with limiting
population growth.
 EX – China has anti natalist policies.
Demographic equation
 DEF - The formula that calculates population
change. The increase (or decrease) in population is
births minus deaths plus (or minus) net migration.
This is important because it helps to determine which
stage in the demographic transition model a country is
in.
 EX - NIR = CBR – CDR
Replacement Fertility
 DEF - The total fertility rate at which women would
have only enough children to replace themselves
and their partner.
 The replacement rate is the number of children each
woman needs to have to maintain current
population levels or what is known as zero
population growth for her and her partner.
 EX – A family of only two children.
Thomas Malthus
 DEF – British economist, who
became the 1st critic to note that the
world’s population was increasing
faster than the food supplies
needed to sustain it.
 He wrote An Essay on the Principle
of Population as it Affects the Future
Improvement of Society.
 Population increases at a geometric
(exponential) rate, while food
supplies grow at an arithmetic
rate.
Neo-Malthusians
 DEF –They support international programs for
population limitation through birth control and
family planning.
 Many Neo=Malthusians,advocate “Zero Population
Growth” in which the number of births and
immigrants are equally counteracted by the number
of deaths and emigrants.
 EX - Paul Ehrlich, who wrote, Population Bomb in
1968, was a neo-Malthusian.
Population Agglomeration
 DEF - any distribution of population other than the uniform distribution
 Agglomeration is a jumbled cluster or mass of varied parts.
 Population agglomerations can be found in East, South and South East
Asia, as well as Western Europe.
Contraception
 DEF - The voluntary control of fertility.
 EX – The Pill, sterilizaation, family planning.
Demographic Transition DEF - High birth
rates and death rates are followed by plunging death rates, producing a huge
net population gain, this is followed by the convergence of birth rates and
death rates at a low overall level.
Epidemiological transition
 DEF – The focus on distinctive causes of death in
each stage or the demographic transition.
 EX – In stage 1, pestilence and famine, are forms of
epidemiological transition. The Black Plague.
Demographic momentum
 DEF – Describes the
concept that population
will continue to grow even
after fertility rates decline.
This phenomenon occurs
when a large segment of a
population is young.
Momentum in growth occurs
because that generation will
give birth to more people than
the preceding generation and
continue a trend of population
growth. The momentum will
continue to increase unless
slowed by decreasing the birth
rate or increasing the death
rate.