World+population

**UNIT 12 WORLD POPULATION ** 
 * SOCIAL STUDIES. Summaries in English ** 

Around 6,500 million people inhabit the world. Until the 17th century, population growth was very slow. The birth rate was high, but a lot of people died from **hunger and epidemics **. The growth rate started to increase at the end of the 18th century due to **technical improvements ** in agriculture and industry, which increased food production. Moreover, life expectancy increased with **advances in medicine **. The largest increase in population ocurred in the 20th century. This is described as a **demographic explosion **. World population almost quadrupled. It rose from 1,700 million in 1900 to 6,000 million in 2000. Today, world population is growing by about 80 million people a year, although the rate of increase is slowing down.
 * POPULATION FIGURES **

The Earth’s population is not distributed evenly. In general, people live in environments that have: In contrast, very hot or very cold areas, and places with very little or abundant rain, are sparsely populated.
 * THE DISTRIBUTION OF THE POPULATION **<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">
 * **<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Plenty of water **<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">. This is necessary for survival and for economic growth.
 * **<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">A temperate climate **<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">. Temperatures are mild all year, and rain is plentiful but not excessive.
 * **<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Valleys and plains **<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">. These are usually areas with fertile soil, which is good for agriculture, building and communications.
 * **<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Sources of ** **<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">energy **<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">, such as minerals or petroleum.

Some regions of the world are very densely populated:
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">WHICH REGIONS ARE MOST DENSELY POPULATED? **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Population density **<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> is the relation between the number of inhabitants and the area they occupy.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Most of these regions are in the **<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">northern hemisphere **<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Most people live in the **<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">temperate zone **<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">The most populated continent is **<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Asia **<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> (only China and India have about 2,500 million people).
 * **<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Urban areas **<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> are usually much more densely populated than rural areas.

The **<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">birth rate **<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> is the number of children born in a year for every thousand people. The **<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">fertility rate **<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> relates the number of babies to the number of women of childbearing age (between 15 and 49). Until the 19th century, birth and fertility rates were very high all over the world. At the end of 19th century, the birth rate fell in **<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">developed countries **<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">, but remained high in **<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">developing countries **<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">. Today, birth and fertility rates are also declining in poorer countries. Although they are still much higher than in the developed countries. The average birth rate is around 20 births per 1,000 people, although it varies considerably from one place to another: Africa (40/1,000) and Europe (10/1,000). The average fertility rate is 2,7 children per woman. In order to maintain the population and guarantee **<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">replacement rates **<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">, women should have an average of 2.15 children, but this is not happening in developing countries. Different factors contribute to birth and fertility rates:
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">BIRTH RATE AND FERTILITY RATE AND THEIR EVOLUTION **<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">
 * **<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Socio-economic factors **<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">. In poor countries, children work from an early age and they look after their parents when they are old because there is no state welfare system. In contrast, in developed countries children are an economic burden.
 * **<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Cultural factors **<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">. The number of children is smaller when women have had more education. The role of religion is very important too. There are more children in societies where religion has a strong influence.
 * **<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Demographic policy **<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">. In many underdeveloped countries, the governments try to reduce the birth rate through family planning policies. However, in rich countries people obtain incentives for having children.

It is the relation between the number of deaths and the population in the same year, expressed in a number per thousand. The mortality rate was very high until the 19th century, when it began to fall in developed countries, thanks to improvements in healthcare and nutrition. The mortality rate is 9/1,000 today. However, some countries still have high mortality rates, because of epidemics, famine and wars. This rate refers to the number of deaths per thousand children under the age of one. The figure has fallen to 55/1,000 today. Infant mortality is an excellent indicator of a country’s economy.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">THE MORTALITY RATE **<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">INFANT MORTALITY **<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">LIFE EXPECTANCY **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Life expectancy **<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> at birth refers to the number of years someone is expected to live. People’s life expectancy has increased, although there are big differences: 40 years in Africa while is around 80 years in developed countries.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">POPULATION GROWTH **<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">

The difference between the number of births and deaths is called **<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">natural growth **<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">. The natural growth rate is the relation between the number of births and deaths per 100 inhabitants in a year. Today, the world’s growth rate is about 1.2%. The **<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">overall growth rate **<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> takes migration into account.

The developed countries population is growing older, because life expectancy is high. Again, in many developing countries more than a third of the population is under 15 years old. Population growth brings different problems with it. In developed countries, the high number of population aged 65 or over, increases the expense of healthcare, pensions, old people’s homes. In developing countries, the population is growing faster than the economy. This leads to unemployment and poverty. Many developed countries introduce **<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">pronatal policies **<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">. They create kindergartens, give subsidies to large families, or reduce parents’ working hours. Some poor countries introduce antinatal policies. Spain has more than 46 million inhabitants. Since the 1980s, the natural growth rate has fallen. There are two reasons for this: <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Consequently, the Spanish population is ageing. The Spanish population is not distributed evenly. The differences are at three levels:
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">YOUNG AND AGEING POPULATIONS **<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">POPULATION POLICIES **<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">SPANISH POPULATION **<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Spanish women have an average of 1.32 children, one of the lowest in the world.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Spain has one of the highest life expectancy rates in the world.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">60% of the population lives in Andalusia, Catalonia, Madrid and the Valencian Community.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Inland **<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">provinces **<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> are more sparsely populated than coastal and island provinces.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">In most provinces, most of the population lives in cities.