Populations in Transition
Population Change
Explain population trends and patterns in births (Crude Birth Rate), natural increase and mortality (Crude Death Rate, infant and child mortality rates), fertility and life expectancy in contrasting regions of the world. Analyse population pyramids. Explain population momentum and its impact on population projections.
ExercisesDefine:
Draw:
Questions: |
Case StudiesJapan: an aging population
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FH0GNdjvWXQ http://www.economist.com/blogs/banyan/2014/03/japans-demography |
Responses to High and Low Fertility
Explain dependency and ageing ratios. Examine the impacts of youthful and ageing populations. Evaluate examples of a pro-natalist policy and an anti-natalist policy.
ExercisesWatch the videos. What kind of policy are they promoting? (They reflect real problems these countries are experiencing but are just funny commercials made by private companies: don't use it as a proper example!)
Define:
Questions:
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Case StudiesFrance: an example of a pro natalist policy
1939: code de la famille o Financial support for mothers who stay home to raise their kids o Financial support for holidays o Banned the sale of contraceptives (up to 1967) Vichy: (War) Need more babies for reconstruction. Family is at the center of the policy After WW2: Support after 3 kids o Long maternity leave, with pay (20 to 40 weeks). o Housing subsidies o Early retirement for mothers o Public transport o Tax cuts until your kid is 18 o Recently, extension of paternity leave (share) State investment: Subsidized nurseries, free kindergarten High fertility rates --> Growing population Birth rates stagnate, but because of the extension of life expectancy, aging population The Chinese One Child Policy
In 1979 they introduced a policy requiring couples from China's ethnic Han majority to have only one child (the law has largely exempted ethnic minorities). It has remained virtually the same ever since.
The one-child policy relies on a mix of sticks and carrots. Depending on where they live, couples can be fined thousands of dollars for having a supernumerary child without a permit, and reports of forced abortions or sterilization are common. (Blind rural activist Chen Guangcheng made international headlines in 2005 for exposing just such a campaign by family-planning officials in Eastern China; he was later imprisoned on charges his supporters say were retaliatory.) The law also offers longer maternity leave and other benefits to couples that delay childbearing. Those who volunteer to have only one child are awarded a "Certificate of Honor for Single-Child Parents." Since 1979, the law has prevented some 250 million births, saving China from a population explosion the nation would have difficulty accommodating. Time, Monday, July 27, 2009 ZHANG YIMOU, the celebrated film director and arranger of the 2008 Summer Olympics’ opening ceremony in Beijing, was accused last week of being the latest high-profile violator of China’s one child policy. The People’s Daily, the Communist Party mouthpiece, alleged that Mr. Zhang had fathered seven children with four different women. The news has ignited an angry online debate, with Internet users condemning the unequal application of a 1979 law that stipulates every couple may have just one child (or two for ethnic minorities and for rural couples whose first child is a girl). The truth is: for the rich, the law is a paper tiger, easily circumvented by paying a “social compensation fee” — a fine of 3 to 10 times a household’s annual income, set by each province’s family planning bureau, or by traveling to Hong Kong, Singapore or even America to give birth. For the poor, however, the policy is a flesh-and-blood tiger with claws and fangs. In the countryside, where the need for extra hands to help in the fields and the deeply entrenched patriarchal desire for a male heir have created strong resistance to population control measures, the tiger has been merciless. Village family-planning officers vigilantly chart the menstrual cycle and pelvic-exam results of every woman of childbearing age in their area. If a woman gets pregnant without permission and is unable to pay the often exorbitant fine for violating the policy, she risks being subjected to a forced abortion.According to Chinese Health Ministry data released in March, 336 million abortions and 222 million sterilizations have been carried out since 1971. (Though the one-child policy was introduced in 1979, other, less-stringent family planning policies were in place before it.) New York Times, May 2013 China's one-child policy to be relaxed as part of reforms package, The Guardian, November 15, 2013 China has revealed a range of substantial reforms that will affect tens of millions of people, including loosening its one-child policy and abolishing its controversial labour camps. Chinese state media revealed the reforms on Friday night in a 22,000-word report detailing the results of the third plenum, a closed-door annual meeting of about 400 top party leaders, that has historically been used as a launching pad for substantial reforms. Couples in which one member is an only child will be allowed to have two children, China's state newswire Xinhua reported , citing the results of the plenum which ended in Beijing on Tuesday. While most people in China are still only allowed to have one child, some groups, including ethnic minorities, disabled people, and couples in which both members are only children, are allowed to have two. Critics have called the controversial one-child policy, introduced in 1979 to keep population growth in check, outdated and cruel. In the cities, it has created a demographic crunch, catching second-generation only-children in a financial bind as they struggle to support two parents and four grandparents. In the countryside, it has fuelled a rise in sex-selective abortions, as many rural families prefer boys to girls, and a host of human rights violations – abductions, forced abortions, extralegal detentions – as family planning authorities use extreme measures to keep birth rates low. |
Movement Responses - Migration
Discuss the causes of migrations, both forced and voluntary. Evaluate internal (national) and international migrations in terms of their geographic (socio-economic, political and environmental) impacts at their origins and destinations.
ExercisesDefine
Draw the Lee's Migration Model diagram State 3 push factors and 3 pull factors Describe the main patterns of migration
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Case StudiesFilipino Migrants (economic migration)
http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/inpictures/2012/12/20121217981786357.html Main facts:
Migrant workers in the UAE http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/22/abu-dhabi-migrant-workers-conditions-shame-west Compare it with the population pyramid of the UAE: populationpyramid.net Illegal migration across the Mediterranean http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/interactive/2014/08/interactive-perilous-passage-2014828134348526438.html Reflect on Push / Pull factos Analyze the patterns: main hubs and routes (Libya, Lampedusa, Ceuta Melilla, Turkey). |
Gender and Change
Examine gender inequalities in culture, status, education, birth ratios, health, employment, empowerment, life expectancy, family size, migration, legal rights and land tenure.
ExercisesDefine:
Explain what is the Gender Inequality Index or the Global Gender Gap Index Discuss the correlation between gender equality and human development
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Case StudiesSee Planet Geography: 2 case studies:
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