Population and Migration

How and why populations change

A population is never still. It grows or shrinks as people are born, die and move, and its shape shifts as it ages. This theme is about reading those changes. The module works through four ideas: - Population change: how birth rates, death rates and migration together decide the size of a population. - Population structure: how a population pyramid shows the ages and sexes of the people.\n- The demographic transition: how the balance of births and deaths shifts as a country develops. - Migration: why people move, and how it affects the places they leave and the places they join. Urban growth and world development each have their own module. Here the focus is population itself, and the movement of people.

Words for population and migration

Five terms you need before you use them. Learn what each one means.

Match each migration idea to what it means

Push factors against pull factors

Migration is usually explained by two forces working together. Keeping them apart is a common exam point.

Push or pull?

People leave a rural area because there are almost no jobs to be found there. In this case, what kind of factor is the lack of jobs?

• A push factor, since it drives people out of the area they are in
• A pull factor, since it attracts people in
• Forced migration
• Natural change

Tap the two causes of forced migration

Tap the TWO situations that describe forced migration.

• People fleeing a war zone for their safety
• People escaping a natural disaster such as a flood
• People moving abroad for a better-paid job
• People choosing to retire to a warmer region

Reading a population pyramid

A population pyramid looks technical, but its shape tells a clear story once you know how to read it. A wide base means many young children, which points to a high birth rate and a fast-growing, youthful population, often in a lower-income country. A narrow base with a wide top means few children and many older people, an ageing population, often in a higher-income country. The shape also shows dependency: a country with very many children, or very many elderly, has a large group who depend on the working-age adults in the middle. Read the shape first, and the population story follows.

Pick the true population facts

Select the TWO statements that are true.

• Natural change is the birth rate minus the death rate
• A wide-based population pyramid suggests a high birth rate
• A pull factor is something that drives people away from a place
• Migration only ever harms the place that people move to

Order the demographic transition

Put the stages of the demographic transition in the order a developing country typically passes through.

• Both birth and death rates are high, so the population is fairly stable
• Death rates fall as health improves, so the population grows fast
• Birth rates then fall as families choose to have fewer children
• Both rates settle low, so the population is stable again
• With few children born, the population slowly ages

Two populations, two shapes

Compare two countries by looking at the shape of their populations, and see how much the shape tells you. A young country: many children are born each year, and the graph is broad at the bottom and narrow at the top. A youthful population grows quickly and needs many new schools. An older country: fewer children are born, people live longer, and the graph is narrow at the bottom and wide near the top. An ageing population needs more healthcare and pensions. People on the move: working-age adults sometimes leave the younger country to find jobs in the older one, which needs their labour to support its many retired people. Read the shape of a population and you can tell its story: how fast it is growing, how old it is, and why people may be moving between the two.

Complete the population facts

The number of live births each year for every thousand people is the _____ rate. The birth rate take away the death rate gives the natural _____. A factor that drives people away from a place is a _____ factor. A graph of the ages and sexes in a population is a population _____.

Build a population point

Choose the words that complete this statement about population and migration.

Work out the population change

A country has a birth rate of 24 per thousand and a death rate of 9 per thousand. Net migration adds another 3 per thousand. Take the death rate away from the birth rate to find the natural change, then add the net migration. What is the overall population change, in people per thousand?

Read the movement

Read each case and choose the best answer, then think about why.

• A family leaves their home because a war has made it unsafe to stay. What kind of migration is this?
• A country has a rapidly ageing population with fewer and fewer young workers. What is a likely challenge?
• A city receives many young working-age migrants. What is one likely benefit for the city?

Explain population change and migration

A student in the year below does not understand how populations change and why people migrate. Explain it using what this module has covered.

• Explain what natural change is and how it is worked out
• Explain what a population pyramid shows
• Explain the difference between push and pull factors
• Explain the difference between voluntary and forced migration
• Finish by explaining one balanced impact of migration on a receiving area