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Why is a country's population important?

Key terms
Population The number of people in a country or area.
Birth rate The number of births per 1000 people.
Death rate The number of deaths per 1000 people.
Infant mortality rate The number of children under 5 who die per 1000 people.
Population growth rate The rate at which the population increases as a percentage.

Look at the key terms above, you need to understand the meaning of each one.

A country's population is very important. If there are too few people, the country cannot grow and develop in the way it needs. If the population is too high, there may be shortages of land, houses, jobs and sometimes food.

How a country's population changes is based on a number of different factors. These include the birth rate, death rate and levels of migration (the number of people moving to or from a country or area).
Find out about migration
Find out about population distribution
 

Some basic points;

  • If the birth rate is high and the death rate is high, the population will be stable.
  • If the birth rate is high and the death rate is low, the population will rise.
  • If the birth rate is low and the death rate is high, the population will fall.

However;

When many people move out of a country or into a country (migration), the population will change. On the next page, we will be looking how the population structure affects the population growth rate.

Look at the descriptions for the birth and death rates below. Which one of the words below would best replace the question mark in the population fields?

Rising
Falling
Steady
Birth rate
Death rate
Population
High
High
?
High
Low
?
Low
High
?
Low
Low
?

 

 

 

 

 

 

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