POPULATION

Population refers to the number of a specific group of people living in a particular area at a particular
time. It can also be referred to as a group of objects or organisms of the same kind or species. It can also
be referred to as the number of people living in an area in a country.

The study of population is known as demography. Demography can also be referred to as the statistical
study of population or scientific study of human population including their size, composition,
distribution, density, growth, causes and the results of changes in these factors.

Ways of collecting data about the population

1. Population census: organized official counting of the entire population in a specific area. During
census taking information gathered includes the following: literacy levels, marriage, occupation,
race, age, gender, etc. in Botswana it is done after every ten years.
2. Vital statistics/ vital registration: it is the continuous counting of vital events (life events) such as
births, deaths, marriage, migration, adoption, divorce, etc, in between census years.
3. Sample surveys: method of collecting data by obtaining information from a sample or selected
group of the total population e.g. sample survey on birth and deaths in Gaborone would give an
idea of the whole country’s trends.

Population census

Ways of census taking

De-facto: It is the counting or enumeration of people who are actually present in the country at the time
of counting or enumeration.

De- jure: It is the counting or enumeration of people who are present during the time of counting/
enumeration including those who are temporarily outside the country e.g. those studying abroad.
Enumeration of people who belong in a given territory whether they are there or not on the census day.

Importance of studying population

- To get statistics which are important for economic planning and development of the country.
- It helps in demonstrating the distribution, composition, growth and movement of the
population.
- It helps measure the development in an area e.g. population growth rate, literacy, etc.
- For government to see future trends and allows it to plan accordingly.
- For the government to plan for future spending on pensions and allowances.
- To estimate on how many children will require schooling in the year ahead.
- To plan for highly populated areas for more services like water, shops, and health facilities.

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 Problems experienced when studying population

- People may be hostile in giving away personal information.

- Remote areas or parts of the country may be difficult to reach.
- Lack of skilled enumerators or inadequate training of enumerators resulting in inaccurate
information collected.
- The whole operation is expensive.

Terms used in population

Disease: an illness or disorder caused by an infection or just a natural growth like cancer.

Birth rate: the number of live births per 1000 people/ population in a given year.

Death rate: the number of deaths per 1000 people/ population in a year.

Mortality rate: the number of deaths from a certain cause in a given year. The number of deaths during
a particular period of time among a particular group or type of people.

Population growth rate: it is a percentage by which a country’s population is growing each year. It
reflects natural increase or population change.

Natural increase: this refers to the difference between birth rate and death rate and it occurs when the
birth rate is higher than the death rate.

Natural decrease: this refers to the difference between birth rate and death rate and it occurs when the
death rate is higher than the birth rate.

Growth rate: increase in population due to natural increase and migration.

Population density: the number of people per square kilometer in an area. It is obtained by dividing the
total population by the total area of the country.

Baby boom: the dramatic rise in birth rate in USA following world war II (2).

Population dynamics: population changes.

De- population: state of population decline.

Under population: it is when the available resources exceed the demand of a given population.

Over population: it is when resources available are not able to meet demands of a given population.

Fertility rate: the number of children given birth to by childbearing women per 1000 people.

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Life expectancy: the average number of years a newborn is expected to live given the current mortality
levels.

Optimum population: the population size which is considered to be the most desirable for the full
utilization of resources in a country.

Population pressure or explosion: this is when the population is growing at a much faster rate than the
available resources.

Effects of demographic tendencies on economic development, education and health

Birth rate

Economic development

- Pressure on facilities so more money will be needed to improve the already existing ones or to
build new ones.
- Depletion of natural resources such as land.
- Demand for goods and services will be high and the supply low making the inflation rate higher
so more people will be poor since they won’t afford to pay.
- High unemployment rate due to more people competing for jobs making poverty worse.
- High crime rate which further makes the economy go down because those who cannot find jobs
will find means of surviving through crime. Investors may be scared to invest in countries with a
high crime rate leading to under development of a country.
- If the birth rate is low facilities will be underutilized which means money would have been
wasted building such facilities.

Education

- Illiteracy and under performance: due to the high teacher- student ratio some students may not
get proper attention from the teacher resulting in them failing.
- Low educational standards: more money will be needed for educational material such as books,
computers and money wont meet such demands so standards will be lowered looking at the
educational material available.
- Shortage of education facilities such as classrooms and this will put a strain on ones already
there.
- If the birth rate is low there will be fewer students for teachers to teach so teachers will be left
jobless and facilities will be underutilized.

Health

- There will be pressure on health facilities so some might not receive proper medical care as a
result. For example: there may be a shortage of hospital beds so some may have to sleep on the
floor or some may be sent home despite the fact that they need to be admitted in hospital.

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 - Poor services may be offered due to pressure on health personnel such as nurses, doctors, and
auxiliary staff so they may be too tired or exhausted to attend fully to patients.
- It may lead to spread of diseases especially communicable diseases.
- As the population increases rapidly its potential for disrupting the earth’s eco- system grows and
so pollution of air, water, land would result which is harmful to human health.

Diseases

Economic development

- More money will be spent on research and medication so there will be less or no money for
developments in the country.
- There will be no productivity due to a lot of absenteeism.
- Loss of skilled personnel if the diseases result in death.

Education

- Under performance: if the teacher is sick students will be left with no one to teach them so
there will miss out on a lot leading to them failing. Under performance can also be a result of
absenteeism by sick students so they will miss out on a lot.
- The education system will be crippled since the country will be forced to channel money that
was intended for education to health institutions.
- Low educational standards: more money will be needed for medication and there will be less or
no money for educational material such as books, computers so standards will be lowered
looking at the educational material available.
- No productivity of teachers due to a lot of absenteeism by teachers.

Health

- Pressure on health facilities due to more people needing medical services and less facilities to
meet such demands.
- Poor or sub-standard services since the health personnel will be too exhausted due to them
attending to a lot of patients.
- The government will spend more money on public health education to sensitize people about
diseases.

Death rate

Economic development

- Loss of skilled manpower such as doctors, entrepreneurs.

- There will be need to train people to replace deceased ones.
- More money will be needed to control the cause for death leading to more expenses.

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 - Low production since people responsible for production will be deceased so the inflation rate
will be affected which leads to a high dependency rate. More people will be destitute and they
will rely on the government.
- A lot of natural resources such as land will be depleted as more burial land will be needed.
- Businesses for mortuary owners will be boosted so they will make more money and pay more
tax which will be used to develop the country.
- Some facilities will be underutilized which means more money would have been wasted.

Education

- It will improve since some corpses can be used for studies and that will improve education
(medicine).
- If teachers die there will be no one to impart skills and knowledge on students.
- Teachers will be left jobless since there will be less students to be taught.
- Scientists will research more on causes of death.

Health

- Scientists will research more on the cure for deadly diseases.

- Shortage of health personnel e.g. doctors since they will be dead so there will be more deaths
because there will be no one to help patients.
- It will improve since corpses will be used for research and new discoveries can be made to
improve medical care and cure for diseases.

Factors which contributed to a high birth rate in the past

- Lack of education-people with little or no education tend to have many children

- Lack of advisers such as nurses, doctors, family welfare educators, who could teach people on
the problems of high birth rate.
- Early marriages -some people married at an early age therefore tend to have many children
because they started having children at an early age.
- Tradition- some traditions encourage large families, and childlessness is not accepted
- Desire for specific sex - some people tend to have so children because they prefer a particular
sex, more especially for boys
- Social prestige- traditionally, a family that has many children is held with high respect / regard
- old age security- some people give birth to many children so that they can take care of them
when they are old
- Source of labour- large families use children as source of cheap labour. The names given even
indicated the roles to be played by such individuals.
- There were no contraceptives.
- To prove sexual virility - some couples give birth to many children to prove their reproductive
performance.

Polices aimed at reducing high birth rate

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 - One or two child policy.
- Forced abortions or sterilization.
- Fines or tax for families with more than the required number of children.
- Paid maternity leave for the first required number of children.
- Modification on marriage law so that marriage age increases.
- Advertising through the media such as television, radio, newspapers.
- Free contraceptives or selling them at subsidized prices.
-

Factors contributing to low birth rate now

- Availability of family planning or contraceptives, some are for free.

- Increased desire for material possessions rather than large families e.g. car, house.
- Low infant mortality rate therefore less need to have many children.
- Emancipation of women enabling them to follow their own careers rather than being solely child
bearers.
-

Factors contributing to death rate

- Diseases and plaques.

- Famine, poor diet, uncertain food supplies.
- Poor hygiene- no piped water, no water, no sewage disposal.
- Little medical science- few doctors, hospitals.
- Wars
- Natural disasters.
-

Reasons why death rate may drop

- Improved medical care.

- Improved sanitation or good hygiene.
- Improved transportation or distribution of food, doctors, medical supplies (medication).
- Improved infrastructure- roads or reduction of accidents e.g. accidents e.g. highways.
- Improvements in food production (quantity and quality) or good eating habits.
- Improved education especially health education.
- Reduction in deadly diseases.
- Low rate of diseases or reduction in pollution.
- Improved health status.

Factors affecting population growth

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 - Death rate
- Birth rate
- migration

Effects of teenage pregnancy on the individual, the family and the community

Teenage pregnancy is the pregnancy that occurs in individuals aged 13 to 19 years.

Causes of teenage pregnancy

- Poverty, rape, ignorance, incest, ignorance, prostitution, lack of contraceptives,

experimentation, peer pressure, lack of knowledge on the use of contraceptives, alcohol and
drug abuse.

Individuals

- Infection with sexually transmitted diseases especially HIV/AIDS.

- Dropping out of school and not having the opportunity to continue with school.
- Committing illegal abortions which may land her in jail or lead to sterility or death.
- Death due to complications during delivery.
- Difficulty or complications during delivery due to the body being not developed enough to
handle the pregnancy.
- Isolation and shame due to other teenagers not wanting to be associated with her.
- Stress, depression.
- Financial problems since they have to support themselves and the baby and the father of the
baby may not support the baby financially.

Family

- Financial problems or change in the family budget due to the fact that there will be an extra
mouth to feed.
- Conflict may arise between parents since they may accuse one another for the pregnancy.
- Loss of loved one and having the responsibility of taking care of an orphan.
- Shame and embarrassment because of an illegitimate child and the family may be considered
lawless or immoral.

Community

- Crime rate may increase since some teenagers may not have continued with school and may try
to make ends meet through crime such as theft, prostitution.
- Economical burden on the government as it needs to increase its resources to cater for the
increased birth rate. The government will have to spend more on immunization drugs, tsabana.
- More illiterate teenagers in the community who may not have skills to perform certain jobs.
- Loss of future leaders and having the burden of caring for orphans by providing food baskets or
building orphanages.

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Sexually transmitted diseases or infections (STD’s or STI’s)

These are infectious diseases which spread through having sexual intercourse with an infected person.

Causes

Bacteria, virus, fungi.

Acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS)

It is caused by a virus called human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). The disease weakens the resistance of
the body and makes it defenseless against infections. It weakens the body’s immune system. It has no
cure but people can leave with the virus for many years. To control it one needs to take antiretroviral
drugs.

Transmission

- Unprotected sexual intercourse with an infected person.

- Blood transfusion.
- During pregnancy from an infected mother to her foetus.
- Breastfeeding from an infected mother to her foetus.
- Sharing sharp objects such as injections or needles with an infected person.

Signs

- Unexpected weight loss more than 10% of body weight within 1 to 2 months.
- Diarrhoea which lasts more than 4 weeks.
- Persistent swollen glands especially on the neck and armpits.
- Persistent or long standing dry cough accompanied by shortness of breath.
- Sores on the body

Gonorrhea

It is caused by bacteria and spread through unprotected sexual intercourse.

Signs

- Pain or burning sensation when urinating.

- Thick yellow or greenish yellow or whitish discharge from the vagina or penis.
- Pain in the lower abdomen.

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Women may experience the signs or nothing at all. Women can pass it to the baby during birth which
leads to blindness since the bacteria invade the baby’s eyes. In men it leads to sterility. The cure is
penicillin.

Syphilis

It is caused by bacteria.

Signs

- Ulcer on penis or vulva 1 week to 3 months after infection.

- Painless sore on the genitals, lips, mouth or anus.
- Rash on body.
- Lump or swelling in the genital area.

Genital warts

Caused by virus.

Signs

- Tiny warts like growth or cauliflower like lumps in genital usually multiple.
- Warts are usually not painless.
- There may be some itching around the genital area.

Genital herpes

Caused by virus.

Signs

- Painful blisters or sores on the penis and vagina.

- Itching or burning before the blisters appear.

Effects of HIV / AIDS on the individual, family and community

Individual

- Education is affected if one is a student, dropping out of school.

- Depression due to stress and anxiety caused by the knowledge that the disease has no cure.
- Loss of self esteem because of the stigma attached especially how one gets infected.
- Death since the disease has no cure.
- Loss of income or loss of job because as the disease progresses one’s capacity to perform his or
her duties efficiently is compromised.

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 - Financial problems because one has to spend more on food, supplements and medical bills
instead of self development.
-

Family

- Loss of income if the patient is a breadwinner.

- Financial problems since money will be needed for medical care, special foods and
transportation.
- Family break up or conflicts as blame is put on each other especially in cases where a sick or if
one of them has the disease and the other one does not.
- Shame, stress due to the stigma attached to the family.
- Reduced social life as time is spent on caring and catering for the needs of the individual instead
of other activities like networking with friends or attending social functions.
- Loss of loved one which can cause a lot of grief or depression to family members.

Community

- Expenditure on other developmental issues is reduced as resources are diverted to the health
sector.
- The community experiences low economic growth when a sick dies since tax payers are lost.
- Loss of skilled personnel or manpower as professionals such as doctors, nurses, entrepreneurs
die.
- More pressure is put on health facilities e.g. hospitals, clinics and there will be need to expand
them to cater for the growing number of patients.
- Increased number of orphans in the community and it will be responsibility of the government
to take care of them by building orphanages, food baskets and paying their school fees.
- Low productivity since people won’t perform their jobs efficiently since they are weak.
- Depletion of land since more land will be used for graveyards instead of using it for industries
and residential purposes.

PARENTING

Parenting is the act of bringing up children by meeting their physical, social and emotional needs. It can
also be referred to as the skill in caring for and nurturing a children by meeting their needs whether or
not you are their biological parent.

Parenthood: being a natural or biological mother or father of the child.

Family: it is a group of persons related to each other by blood, marriage, adoption or assimilation. It can
also be defined as a basic unit of society which acts as a support for its members and which transmits
values from one generation to the next. It can also be defined as a group of people of living together for
a period of time, caring for one another, having common goals and sharing resources.

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Types of families

1. Nuclear family: it consists of parents and their children only. Children in a nuclear family may be
related by either birth or adoption.
2. Extended family: it consists of parents, children and other relatives such as uncles, aunts,
grandparents. It can also be described as a family made up of a group of people of people who
are related and living together and who consist of more than two generations e.g. when a
grandparent moves in with the son or daughter’s family.
3. Single parent family: it is a family which consists of one parent, that is, either the mother or
father and children. It is caused by factors such as death of one parent, divorce, choice, one of
the parents being in an institution such as prison, illegitimacy (when a child is born out of
marriage or out of wedlock).
4. Blended family: it is a family which consists of a mother and father and their children from
previous relationships, the children may be from both or one of them. It can also be referred to
as a family formed when a couple with children from previous families marries.

Roles of a family

- Physical needs: families provide basic needs of family members such as food, clothing and
shelter. Families protect each other and also provide care and security to the younger ones in
which they can develop into useful members of the society.
- Emotional development: the family promotes emotional development of each member as it
gives a sense of belonging since each member has a place and role to fill. After acquiring a sense
of belonging family members feel accepted and secure. Family also provides a sense of intimacy.
It promotes the development of positive self concept in its members. The love and support from
family members help build self confidence which helps make individuals develop to be
productive members of the society.
- Personal growth: individuals learn social skills through interaction with family members and they
can contribute with such skills in community projects. Each member’s skills and talents can be
refined and expanded in the family. It provides a climate for learning as each member learns
from others. Families train children to be productive citizens.
- Socialization: it helps in transmitting norms, values and culture of the family. It provides an
atmosphere where parents can ensure the child’s behavior is in harmony with others in the
community. Families help children learn how to interact with different people since family
members have different personalities so they will learn to tolerate them making it easier to
tolerate other people in the outside world.
- Management of resources: it helps teach children manage resources effectively they own in
common.
- Reproduction: it helps produce, nurture, care for and protect children so that they can provide
manpower for the family and community.

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Stages in preparation for parenthood

1. Dating

It is an appointment or social arrangement with a person of the opposite sex. It is an opportunity for
one to get to know someone of the opposite sex in an atmosphere of fun and relaxation. It provides
affection and closeness without long term ties. It can also be described as a friendship between a
male and female. The experiences that both of them share as a dating couple tie them closer. Dating
can lead to courtship if the couple realizes that it’s more compatible.

2. Courtship

This is a stage whereby a couple becomes more serious or committed about each other and begins
to think of the future and the chances that they may be building a long term relationship. They may
introduce each other to their family members and even get engaged. It can be described as the
process of developing a close relationship with a person of the opposite sex with the idea of
marrying. Courtship sometimes leads to marriage.

3. Marriage

It is a legal union of a man and woman to become husband and wife. It is a social institution which
marks the beginning of family life involving a man and woman. It is a formal, usually legally
recognized agreement between a man and woman to become husband and wife. Children born
from this union are accepted by society as legitimate. Marriage is looked upon as an
accomplishment whereby a woman regards herself as having gained the respect of society. It is a
stage where children are supposed to be born.

Environmental and socio economic factors that affect the upbringing of children

 Type of family: the type of family may influence how a child turns out to be, a child growing in a
single parent family may grow to be a problem child due to lack of love and security from both
parents. The single parent may be over indulgent and over protective to make up for the missing
partner which may result in them being spoilt.
 Poverty: it may lead to frustration resulting in one committing crime to get materials or
possessions that others have in order to fit in with others. It may lead to self abuse whereby one
offers himself or herself to older people “sugar mummies and sugar daddies” for support,
maintenance and material acquisition. It may also lead to one having a low self esteem due to
one feeling he or she is not good enough and this may affect learning and choices that one

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 makes in life. It can be motivating for one since the individual may work hard to change the
situation he or she is in.
 Education: educated parents may have access to information which will help them raise their
children to be responsible people.
 Human related abuse or violence: children may grow up with a low self esteem or grow up to be
abusive people.
 Substance abuse: children may grow to be addicts since they may have easy access to
substances.
 Family break up or divorce: children may grow to be problematic people due to lack of love and
security form both parents. They may also grow to be individuals who lack trust or are insecure
due to the fact that one of the parents left. They may also grow to be manipulative people
because they may learn that from manipulating both parents to get what they want.
 Religion and culture: these influence upbringing because there will be values, rules that one has
to abide by and the child may grow to be an obedient person.
 Peer pressure: positive peer pressure may make children grow to be positive people and
negative peer pressure may make children grow to be negative people who do wrong things
such as crime. For example, a child who grows with peers who give positive feedback and do the
right things is more likely to do what the peers do and to be confident.
 Death: children may grow to be insecure people due to lack of love from the parent or parents.
They may not have their needs met
 Health factors: health conscious parents may influence their healthy habits on their children and
they may grow to be health conscious people.
 Media: may result in a low self esteem since media may portray certain images as perfect and
children may feel they are not good enough when they compare themselves to such images.
Children may lose their identity due to adoption of other cultures as seen in the media. Children
may become criminals due to them copying what they see in movies since they can make crime
seem desirable. Children may identify role models who can contribute positively in their lives
since they can copy what their role models do and become ambitious people.
 Location or neighborhood: a neighborhood where there is a lot of crime may result in children
becoming criminals because they are more likely to join gangs and have access to guns.

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