Assignment 8 Population Growth and Economic

Development
Population Growth & Economic Development: Causes, Consequences, and
Controversies

A. Definition of Terms: Define each and give an example. Indicate sources and references.

1. BIRTH RATE
Meaning: Frequency of live births in a given population, conventionally calculated as the annual
number of live births per 1,000 inhabitants.
Example: If 35 births occur per year per 1000 individuals, the birth rate is 35. Often this rate is
expressed as a percentage, in this case 3.5 per 100, or 3.5%.
Source: Birth rate | statistics. (n.d.). Encyclopedia Britannica.
https://www.britannica.com/science/birth-rate

2. DEATH RATE
Meaning: The ratio between deaths and individuals in a specified population during a particular time
period: the incidence of deaths in a given population during a defined time period (such as one year)
that is typically expressed per 1000 or 100,000 individuals
Example: A crude death rate of 9.5 (per 1000 people) in a population of 1 million would imply 9500
deaths per year in the entire population.
Source: Definition of DEATH RATE. (2023, May 11). Death Rate Definition & Meaning - Merriam-
Webster. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/death+rate

3. DEMOGRAPHIC TRANSITION
Meaning: A long-term trend of declining birth and death rates, resulting in substantive change in the
age distribution of a population.
Example: The huge expansion of human numbers: four billion have been added since 1950.
Source: Demographic Transition - an overview | ScienceDirect Topics. (n.d.). Demographic Transition
- an Overview ScienceDirect Topics. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-012373960-5.00515-3

4. DOUBLING TIME
Meaning: The amount of time it takes for a given quantity to double in size or value at a constant
growth rate.
Example: If the population of a growing city takes 10 years to double from 100,000 to 200,000
inhabitants and its growth remains exponential, then in the next 10 years the population will double
to 400,000 and 10 years after that to 800,000 and so on.
Source: M. (2015, March 24). What is Doubling Time and How is it Calculated? - Population Education.
Population Education. https://populationeducation.org/what-doubling-time-and-how-it-calculated/
5. FAMILY-PLANNING PROGRAMS
Meaning: Organized outreach activities, often under government auspices, that distribute
information, services, and supplies for modern means of fertility regulation.
Example: A delivery system that includes, at a minimum, community clinics and referrals to
secondary and tertiary health centers for complications, side-effects, sterilizations, and, were legal,
abortion services. In many cases, the delivery system includes community-based household
distribution systems.
Source: Family Planning Programs | Encyclopedia.com. (n.d.). Family Planning Programs |
Encyclopedia.com. https://www.encyclopedia.com/social-sciences/encyclopedias-almanacs-
transcripts-and-maps/family-planning-programs

6. RATE OF POPULATION INCREASE

Meaning: The annual average rate of change of population size, for a given country, territory, or
geographic area, during a specified period.
Example: A population is growing by 1.6% each year. For every 1000 people in the population, there
will be 1000 0.016 16 × = more people added per year.
Source: Indicator Metadata Registry Details. (n.d.). Annual Population Growth Rate.
https://www.who.int/data/gho/indicator-metadata-registry/imr-
details/1120#:~:text=Definition%3A,year%2C%20usually%20multiplied%20by%20100.

7. REPRODUCTIVE CHOICE
Meaning: Freedom of individuals to control decisions regarding contraception, abortion,
sterilization, and childbirth.
Example: Prenatal services, safe childbirth, and access to contraception.
Source: Reproductive Rights - an overview | ScienceDirect Topics. (n.d.). Reproductive Rights - an
Overview | ScienceDirect Topics. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-012373960-5.00478-0

8. FERTILITY RATE
Meaning: The number of children born alive to women of that age during the year as a proportion
of the average annual population of women of the same age.
Example: (147,890 / 2,583,748) x 1000 = 57.2
The total fertility rate (TFR) is the sum of the age-specific birth rates of women in five-year age groups
multiplied by five in this example.
Source: Definition - Fertility rate | Insee. (n.d.). Definition - Fertility Rate | Insee.
https://www.insee.fr/en/metadonnees/definition/c1872#:~:text=The%20fertility%20rate%20at%20
a,women%20of%20the%20same%20age

9. HIDDEN MOMENTUM OF POPULATION GROWTH

Meaning: The increasing tendency in population growth even after birth rates have sustainably
declined.
Example: Japan reached its peak population of 129 million in 2009, despite its TFR remaining below
replacement levels since 1985.
Source: https://homework.study.com/explanation/what-is-the-hidden-momentum-of-population-
growth-and-why-is-it-important-in-the-malthusian-model.html. (n.d.).
https://homework.study.com/explanation/what-is-the-hidden-momentum-of-population-growth-
and-why-is-it-important-in-the-malthusian-model.html
10. LIFE EXPENTANCY AT BIRTH
Meaning: The average number of years that a newborn could expect to live, if he or she were to pass
through life exposed to the sex- and age-specific death rates prevailing at the time of his or her
birth, for a specific year, in a given country, territory, or geographic area.
Example: In a population with a life expectancy at birth of 50, there may be few people dying at age
50. The life expectancy at birth may be low due to the high childhood mortality so that once a person
survives his/her childhood, he/she may live much longer than 50 years.
Source: Indicator Metadata Registry Details. (n.d.). Life Expectancy at Birth.
https://www.who.int/data/gho/indicator-metadata-registry/imr-
details/3131#:~:text=Definition%3A,%2C%20territory%2C%20or%20geographic%20area.

11. MALTHUSIAN POPULATION TRAP

Meaning: The theory that as the human population grows there is increasing pressure on earth's
resources, which in turn acts as a check on the further rise in population.
Example: If a new invention doubles agricultural productivity, that doubles food per person.
Source: The Malthusian trap. (2022, September 28). The Malthusian Trap - the Hindu.
https://www.thehindu.com/specials/text-and-context/the-malthusian-trap/article65943594.ece

12. MICROECONOMIC THEORY OF FERTILITY

Meaning: The microeconomic theory of fertility offers a contribution to the understanding of fertility
in two ways: the first is the theoretical-methodological standpoint that birth is the outcome of
decision making on the level of the individual, along with their maximization behavior; the second is
the involvement of economic variables among the factors which explain births.
Example: If there is an upward shift in income, it is possible to afford both more children and
consumer goods.
Source: Mijatović, B. (2000, January 1). On Microeconomic Theory of Fertility | Stanovništvo. On
Microeconomic Theory of Fertility | Stanovništvo. https://doi.org/10.2298/STNV0004059M

13. TOTAL FERTILITY RATE (TFR)

Meaning: Defined as the total number of children that would be born to each woman if she were to
live to the end of her child-bearing years and give birth to children in alignment with the prevailing
age-specific fertility rates.
Example: The TFR is the sum of the age-specific birth rates multiplied by five or (351.4 x 5 = 1757.0).
Source: Demography - Fertility rates - OECD Data. (n.d.). theOECD. http://data.oecd.org/pop/fertility-
rates.htm

14. UNDER – 5 MORTALITY RATE

Meaning: The probability a newborn would die before reaching exactly 5 years of age, expressed
per 1,000 live births.
Example: In 2021, 5.0 million children under 5 years of age died.
Source: Child Mortality - UNICEF DATA. (n.d.). UNICEF DATA. https://data.unicef.org/topic/child-
survival/under-five-mortality/
15. MORTALITY RATE
Meaning: A measure of the frequency of occurrence of death in a defined population during a
specified interval.
Example: If there are 25 lung cancer deaths in one year in a population of 30,000, then the mortality
rate for that population is 83 per 100,000.
Source: Principles of Epidemiology | Lesson 3 - Section 3. (2012, May 18). Principles of
Epidemiology | Lesson 3 - Section 3.
https://www.cdc.gov/csels/dsepd/ss1978/lesson3/section3.html#:~:text=Mortality%20rate,to%20m
easure%2C%20illness%20or%20death.

16. NATURAL INCREASE

Meaning: The difference between the numbers of births and deaths in a population; the rate of
natural increase is the difference between the birthrate and the death rate.
Example: The birth rate is 20/1,000 and the death rate is 5/1,000. Following the formula for finding
RNI. So, Nicaragua's rate of natural increase is 1.5%.
Source: Population - Dynamics of Natural Increase, Migration, Fertility, and Momentum. (n.d.).
Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/science/population-biology-and-
anthropology

17. NET INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION

Meaning: The difference between the number of immigrants and the number of emigrants.
Example: At the start of the year, country A had a population of 1,000,000. Throughout the year
there was a total of 200,000 people that immigrated to (entered) country A, and 100,000 people
that emigrated from (left) country A.
Source: https://esa.un.org/unmigration/documents/worldmigration/2013/Chapter2.pdf

18. POPULATION – POVERTY CYCLE

Meaning: A phenomenon where poor families become impoverished for at least three
generations.
Example: Children who are not in school are at greater risk of exploitation and early marriage.
They're on track for a much lower income once they grow up. This limits the future for their own
children, thus repeating the cycle of poverty generation after generation.
Source: What is the cycle of poverty? (2021, March 4). Breaking the Cycle of Poverty | World Vision
Canada. http://www.worldvision.ca/stories/child-sponsorship/what-is-the-cycle-of-poverty

19. POPULATION PYRAMID

Meaning: Represents the breakdown of the population by gender and age at a given point in time.
Example: An infographic which depicts the age groups within a population upon a vertical axis,
while the populations within each sex are depicted on the horizontal axis.
Source: Definition - Population pyramid | Insee. (2021, November 2). Definition - Population
Pyramid | Insee.
https://www.insee.fr/en/metadonnees/definition/c1230#:~:text=The%20population%20pyramid%2
0represents%20the,horizontally%20and%20the%20ages%20vertically.
 20. YOUTH DEPENDENCY RATIO
Meaning: The population ages 0-15 divided by the population ages 16-64.
Example: Assume that the mythical country of Investopedialand has a population of 1,000 people,
and there are 250 children under the age of 15, 500 people between the ages of 15 and 64, and
250 people aged 65 and older. The youth dependency ratio is 50%, or 250/500.
Source: WISH: Age Dependency Ratios. (2014, October 10). Wisconsin Department of Health
Services. https://www.dhs.wisconsin.gov/wish/population/ratio.htm

B. What is the relationship between the age structure of a population and its dependency burden? Is
the dependency burden higher or lower in developing countries? Why?
- The dependency ratio is the age distribution of the non-working population (young/old
dependent groups) to the working population (15-64 years). As a result, the responsibility for looking
after dependents grows as there are more people who are too young or are not employed. We find
that the dependency burden is higher in developed countries because of the better standard of living
and programs they offer.

C. Describe briefly the theory of the demographic transition. At what stage in this transition do most
developing countries seem to be? Explain your answer.
- In Stage 1, both birth rates and death rates are high and the natural increase in population was
close to zero. In some years, births exceeded deaths; in other years the opposite occurred. In Stage 2,
the introduction of modern medicine lowers death rates, especially among children, while birth rates
remain high; the result is rapid population growth. Many of the least developed countries today are in
Stage 2. In Stage 3, birth rates gradually decrease, usually as a result of improved economic conditions,
an increase in women's status, and access to contraception. Population growth continues, but at a
lower rate. Most developing countries are in Stage 3. In Stage 4, birth and death rates are both low,
stabilizing the population. These countries tend to have stronger economies, higher levels of
education, and better healthcare. Most developed countries are in Stage 4.