Fertility

"Geography is the study of The Earth as the home of people" Yi-Fu Tuan 1991

Its about people and the decisions people make in their lives.

How place affects people’s decisions and how people’s decisions affect the place we live.

Population Change =

Birth rates – Death rates +/- Migration

Population change varies over time and space

• Demographic Transition Model can show change in a country over time or differences between countries now.

Pop increase results from high birth rate

• The birth rate of a country is dependent on…

• the fertility rate (the average number of babies a woman will have)

• And the age structure of the country’s population.

For a high birth rate you need a high number of women of child rearing age 15-50 years old.

• So a country with an ageing pop will have a declining birth rate. (Japan 1995=10 2007=8)

• A country with a young mean average age of pop will have a high birth rate. (Uganda 2007=48)

Age Structure

Total Number of Children

Global distribution of elderly people (+65)

Fertility Rate

Trends• General trend of decreasing fertility rates

1970s global average was 6 now 2.59 (2007) (CIA Worldfactbook)

• Replacement level 2.1 (child mortality, more boys than girls)

• Countries in Southern Europe, Eastern Europe and East Asia below replacement level. Global pop decline in the future?

Japan fertility compared to other MEDCs

• Japan – 1.23

• UK – 1.66

• Sweden 1.66

• USA – 2.09

“In societies which make breeding and working compatible, women tend to do both.”Economist (July 28 2007)

CIA Worldfactbook

Fertility Rates and Human Behaviour

• Demographics is a study of the sum of many different people’s individual decisions.

• The use of birth control is the key factor affecting fertility rates.

Fertility Rates and Birth Control

• The fertility rate will depend on what social, political, economic, cultural and environmental factors combine to affect individual people’s decision on birth control.

• To understand the link between development and fertility you have to observe how these factors which affect birth control change as a country develops.

What is development? How do we measure it?

Economic growth - increase in eco activitiy, total value of goods and services produced (GNP, PPP)

Development - improve quality of life, social well being, satisfy pop’s needs and wants (Safe water, education, life expectancy, happiness)

Sustainable Development – Satisfy the needs of the present without compromising future generations ability to meet their own needs (Bruntland commission) (ecological footprint, use of resources, pollution levels)

Birth ControlFactors which decrease the likelihood of birth control

Factors which increase the likelihood of birth control

Environmental

Social

Economic

Political

Now highlight the factors which you

think are more likely as a country

develops.