Population

Terms you need to know

 Birth Rate:- Average number of births per thousand people.

 Death Rate:- Average number of deaths per thousand people.
 Rate of Natural Increase = Crude Birth Rate- Crude Death Rate
 Overpopulation:-When an area’s population is too large to be supported by its
available resources.
 Demographic Transition Model:- Graph suggesting sequence of change in
relationships between birth and death rates.
 Population Structures:-It is the percentage of males and females in different age
groups. Depends on population’s birth and death rates and life expectancy of a
particular area. It is divided into age groups and into males and females.
 Population Pyramid:- A population pyramid is a graphical representation of
population structures.
 Employed:-All persons of ten years of age and above who worked one hour
during the reference period and were either “paid employed” or “self employed”.
 Primary Occupations:-All such occupations that extract raw materials directly
from earth or sea eg fishing , farming , mining , forestry, animal husbandry.
 Secondary Occupations:- Includes occupations which process and manufacture
the primary products eg cloth making , garment making, furniture making etc
 Tertiary Occupation:- Occupations which provide services eg teaching, banking,
counseling, insurance, bus driving, politician, tourist guides, hotellers etc
 Unemployment:- State of being unable to find a paid job. This situation occurs
when authorities are unable to generate enough economic opportunities for skilled
and unskilled workers. This situation creates a wide gap between demand and
supply of labour force.
 Disguised Unemployment/Underemployment:- When number of workers in an
area is more than is actually needed.
 Population Distribution:- It refers to the spread of people in an area. The
distribution is normally uneven and it changes as time passes.
 Population Density:- Number of people living per unit area. The density of
population is obtained by dividing the total population of a country(province,
district etc) by its area.
 Migration:-Movement of people from one area to another. Migration can be of
different types depending on course, duration, distance, origin, destination.
 Immigrants:- People who arrive in a country from other countries. Immigrations
increase population of a country.
 Emmigrants:- People who leave a country for other countries. Emmigrations
decrease population of a country.
  Internal Migration:-Migration within a country eg rural to urban migration,
seasonal migration
 International Migration:- Migration to other countries.
Notes

Reasons For High Population Growth:-

Economical
 Child labour is common in Pakistan. Therefore large families are considered to be
advantage.
Social
 Early marriages
 High illiteracy rate/ People are unaware of problems caused by high birth rate
 Strong desire for sons
 Effective control over natural climatics eg flood , droughts, epidemics
 Joint family system
 Children wanted as security for old age

Religious
 Deterministic outlook of Muslims. They believe that Allah gives Rizq to everyone
 Family Planning programmes meet opposition on religious grounds

Political
 Frequent change of governments hinders consistency of population welfare
projects
 Migration of Afghan refugees in Pakistan between 1979 and 1990 due to Russian
Afghan war

Problems caused by high population growth:-

 Government has insufficient money to pay for needed developments
 Not enough schools
 Not enough facilities for elderly….
….geriatric wards in hospitals/old age homes
….doctors/nurses
 More jobs are needed by people/Unemployment
 Increase in pollution
 Low life expedency
 Child labour may increase
 Shortage of food/medicinal supplies etc leads to increased imports. Economic
progress is halted
 Poverty increases. People don’t get basic facilities of life
 Increasing problems in housing and settlements leads to formation of
slums/Kaccha Abadis
 Wide gap between production and demand. Prices rise cause inflation and cost of
living rise steeply
  Increase in crime rate
 Dense traffic on roads lead to traffic problems eg traffic jams, road accidents etc

Solutions to reduce population growth and its problems:-

 Initiating population welfare programs to counsel people about the problems of
population growth
 Increase in literacy rate by opening schools, colleges etc
 Creating more jobs eg by industrialization so that rate of economic development
outstrips rate of population growth.
 Setting up of education institutions for females so that early marriages can be
avoided
 Getting service of Ulemas to convince people that population growth is not
against religion
 Doing telivision campaigns to increase mass awareness

Interpretation of Demographic Transition Model

Stage 1:- High birth rates and death rates. Little possible increase in population

Reasons for high birth rates

 No birth control or family planning programs were in existence
 Large families were taken as a matter of pride
 Early marriages
 Farming was the main occupation/Children needed to work on land
 No use of contraceptives/Contraceptives not affordable
 Use of contraceptives against religion
 Desire for sons
 Children wanted as security for old age
Reason for high death rates
 High infant mortality rate/Children used to die of diseases like cholera,
malaria etc
 Shortage of food due to traditional methods of farming
 Poor hygienic facilities
 Little development in medicinal science/ little use of antibiotics and life
saving drugs
 Poor means of transporting doctors/medicines in needed areas

Stage II:- Birth rate remained high, death rate fell

Reason for fall in death rates

 Increased medicinal facilities. Increase in number of hospitals/ increased use
of antibiotics and other life saving drugs
 Improvement in sanitation and water supply
 Increase in food production due to better farming methods
  Decrease in infant mortality rate
 Better transportation system to move doctors/food to places where they are
needed
 Vaccination Programs (House to house vaccination facilities)
 Balanced diet/better nutrition
 Increase in doctors/nurses /medical colleges
 Free treatment in government hospitals
 Foreign aid

Stage III:- Birth rate fell

Reasons for fall in birth rates

 Campaigns conducted by family planning programs and NGO’s like “Subz
Sitara Clinics” and “Chabi ka Nishan” etc
 Increase in literacy rate
 More female members of society have become career oriented/Decrease in
number of early marriages
 Increase in machanisation and industrialization/Fewer manual labour needed
on farms
 Improvement in living standards / More desire for material wealth than
children

Problems associated with increase in dependent age group (0-14 years) and (65 and
above) / decrease in working age group (15-64 years)

 Dependency ration increases

 Comparatively fewer workers to pay for /feed more young and old
 Government has insufficient money to pay for needed developments
 People/Industry cannot afford to pay high taxes
 Not enough workers to increase social services….
…..more competition for industry /farms to get workers
…..more competion for armed services to get recruits
 Not enough schools
 Not enough teachers
 Not enough facilities for elderly……
…..geriatric wards in hospitals/old age homes
…..relatively less doctors/nurses
 More jobs will be needed as 0-14 age group moves up
 Child labour may increase
 Shortage of food/medicinal supplies leads to increase in imports halting
economic progress

Reasons for workforce concentration in primary occupations:-

  Tradition/Inheritance
 Low standard of education means secondary/tertiary occupations not open to
workers
 Large percentage of population live in rural areas
 Areas of Pakistan are suitable for farming
 Growing population requires feeding
 Pakistan has an agro based economy
 Pakistan is rich in minerals e.g. limestone/salt/petroleum/natural gas
 Forests are an important source of fuel
 Fishing employs many in coastal fishing/some involved in inland fishing
 Development of manufacturing industry started comparatively late
 Low standard of living has inhibited tertiary developments

Why people employed in tertiary occupations increasing:-

 Rising standards of living so greater demand for services

 Increase in literacy rate
 More population attracted by higher pay in tertiary services
 Rural to urban migration tends to mean a change from primary to tertiary
occupation
 Growth in tourism
 Extension of road network
 Growth in recreational activities
 Fewer people making their own clothes/grow their own food therefore need
for more shops
 Government efforts to improve services….
….drive to improve educational standards so more teachers/lecturers needed
….improving medicinal facilities so more doctors/nurses needed

Causes of Unemployment:-

 High rate of population growth

 Mechanized farming is becoming popular and fewer workers are needed on
farms
 Popualrity of use of computers and information technology. Demand for
manual labour has gone down
 Cultural restraints. People spend much in marriges and festivals and invest
little in economic activities eg industry, trade, farming
 Mismatch in demand and supply of labour force
 Many people who migrate from rural to urban areas remain unemployed
 Political instability has affected investment by foreign companies and
industrial growth in Pakistan

Why illiteracy rate is higher in Pakistan?

  Pakistan is a poor country/lack of money
 Lack of schools/colleges in rural areas
 Many only have primary education/leave school early
 Schooling is not free/Parents can not afford to pay for schooling
 Private schools are very expensive
 Insufficient teachers/not enough teachers training colleges
 Most of population are rural
 Many in rural areas do not value education
 Children made to work from a very young age
 Girls are often not allowed to attend schools by parents
 Some landlords do not allow tenants to send children to school
 Many remote/isolated areas
 Many (people in remote areas) are nomads/semi nomadic

Reasons why female illiteracy is higher than male illiteracy:-

 Traditional attitudes (especially in rural areas)…

…..women’s place is in home
…..male dominated society
 Poorer teacher to pupil ratio in girls’ school
 Fewer girls given schooling
 Lack of “girls only” school
 Families spend limited money on boys’ education rather than girls’

Ways in which high illiteracy rate affects industrial growth:-

 Illiterate workers may produce low quality goods/ donot understand

technical matters
 Lack of skilled operators
 Lack of skilled management
 Lack of entrepreneurs
 Illiterate bosses fail to plan properly
 Discourages investors
 May need to import expensive skilled labour halting economic progress
 Illiterate workers provide cheap manual labour

Importance of training and literacy:-

 Increase in literacy ratio will reduce pressure on land in rural areas

 Literate labour can make economic activities more productive
  Trained and skilled labour have better job opportunities in country and
abroad
 Literate families are more concerned about standards of living and are
aware about advantages of small families
 Increase in agricultural yield as more farmers will use modern farming
techniques

Reasons for Rural to Urban Migration

Rural Push Factors

Urban Pull Factors

Rural Push Factors

 Unemployment…...
…due to mechanization
…due to insufficient farmland with increasing population
 Insufficient food / famine
 Drought
 Water logging/salinity
 Problems due to landlords/ zamindari/ feudal systems
 Poor law and order situation
 To escape from revenge/ lack of cultural freedom
 Lack of educational facilities
 Low standard of living/ poverty
 Lack of health facilities
 Lack of electricity/ gas
 Lack of clean water
 Poor sanitation
 Limited shopping facilities
 Limited entertainment facilities

Urban Pull Factors

 Better employment opportunities
 Modern amenities such as better health facilities, gas, telephone, means of
communication etc
 Better education
 Better job opportunities and high income
 Better entertainment and recreational facilities
 Better law and order situation
 Cultural / religious freedom
 More reliable sources of food

Consequences of Rural to Urban Migration on Urban Areas:-

  Burden on civic facilities eg electricity, water, telecommunications etc
 Increase in crime rate and violence
 Burden on housing facilities/ Formation of slums or kaccha abadis
 Increase in pollution
 Traffic Problems eg increased traffic jams and road accidents
 Composition of population is disturbed. As more male members come in
percentage of male members of population increase

Consequences of Rural to Urban Migration on Rural Areas:-

 Composition of population is disturbed as more male members migrate to
urban areas

Reasons for Emigration from Pakistan:-

 Lack of jobs in Pakistan
 For higher wages/higher standard of living
 Poor law and order situation
 For higher education
 To support family in Pakistan
 Better living standards in abroad
 For medical treatment
 Political Reasons/ to seek more liberal way of life
 Government encouragement so that foreign exchange is sent back

Positive Points of Emigration:-

 Overseas Pakistanis send remittances in the form of foreign exchange
 Emigration encourages flow of information technology in the country
 Pressure on limited employment opportunities relieved
 Overseas Pakistanis invest more capital in Pakistan than locals because of
their high income
 Helps to form cultural ties between nations

Negative Points of Emigration:-

 Loss of expertise
 Limits tertiary services
 Effects economic / scientific progress
 May increase imports halting economic progress

Reasons For Seasonal Migrations Within Pakistan

 To avoid scorching summers/ severe winters

 In mountains take animals up to higher pastures in summer/ when snow
clears…
…bring animals down to valley pasture for winter
 Move from mountain areas in winter to find jobs in plains…
….go back to farm in summers
 Nomadic movements in search of pastures/ water
 Work in cotton/ sugar mills after harvests then return home when work
finishes
 Move from active flood plain / summer bed of river to higher ground then
back when safe
 Ski instructors go to resorts in winters/ rich enjoy summer holidays in hill
stations etc.