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Unlock This CourseIn Measuring Development you used numbers such as GDP per capita and the Human Development Index to compare countries. Demographic data gives us another set of clues. It is information about the people in a country: how many are born, how many die, and how old they are. This lesson shows how that data changes as a country develops.
You already know birth rate, death rate and natural increase from Why Cities Grow at Different Speeds. Remember, natural increase is the birth rate minus the death rate. Here we use them to compare levels of development.
Key terms:
The figures below are invented to show the typical pattern. Kelvania is a high-income country and Tarnova is a low-income country.
Low fertility rate. Women often study, work and use family planning, so families are smaller. Good healthcare keeps the death rate low for its age structure, though an older population stops it falling very far. Natural increase is small.
High fertility rate. Children may help on farms and some babies may not survive, so families are bigger. Birth rates are high, so natural increase is high and the population grows fast.
Notice that the death rate does not always look very different. Kelvania has an older population, so many older people die each year even with excellent healthcare. Always compare more than one figure.
These two measures are very good indicators of development because they depend on healthcare, clean water, food and education.
As a country develops, healthcare improves, so both rates fall. Fertility often falls a little later, as families choose to have fewer children when they expect their babies to survive.
A population pyramid shows the population structure. You met the basics in Population Pyramids for Rural Areas: each bar is an age group, and males and females are on opposite sides. At country level the shapes tell a story about development.
A wide base and sides that slope steeply inwards, a shape like a triangle. Many children, because of the high fertility rate. Few old people, because fewer people live to old age. The narrow top shows this.
A narrow base and a wide middle and top, closer to a column or a barrel. Fewer children, because of the low fertility rate. Many older people, because healthcare is good and people live longer. This is an ageing population.
Tarnova needs more schools and jobs for its young people. Kelvania needs more care homes and pensions for its older people. Population structure shows what a country needs as well as how developed it is.
Examiners may give you a table or two pyramids and ask what they show. Follow three steps.
Using the table: Tarnova's natural increase is 26 per 1,000 (38 - 12 = 26). Kelvania's is 1 per 1,000 (10 - 9 = 1). Tarnova's population is growing 26 times faster, which fits a lower level of development with high fertility.
The table shows demographic data for two countries.
(a) Calculate how many more children per woman Country Y has than Country X. [1 mark]
(b) Explain how the data suggests that Country X is more developed than Country Y. [3 marks]
(a) 4.8 - 1.5 = 3.3 more children per woman (1).
(b) Country X has a much lower infant mortality rate (4 compared with 58), which suggests better healthcare, clean water and food (1). Country X has a lower fertility rate (1.5 compared with 4.8), which suggests women have more education and access to family planning (1). Low figures for both fit a country with a higher level of development and human welfare (1).
For "explain" questions with data, quote a figure from each country, then say what it tells you about development. Figures alone gain no marks without the link.