Week 14 - November 26, 2007

Chapter 15 - Population, Urbanization, and Environment. Demography is the study of human population. Fertility is the incidence of childbearing in a country’s population. Demographers measure fertility using the crude birth rate or the number of live births in a given year for every thousand people in a population. Mortality is the incidence of death in a society’s population. Demographers measure mortality using the crude death rate or the number of deaths in a given year for every thousand people in a population. The infant mortality rate is the number of deaths among infants under one year of age for every thousand live births in a given year. Life expectancy is the average lifespan of a society’s population. Migration is the movement of people into and out of a specified territory. It may be voluntary or involuntary. Voluntary migration may be explained by “push” or “pull” factors. Movement into a territory is termed immigration and is measured by the in-migration rate. Movement out of a territory is termed emigration and is measured by the out-migration rate. The net-migration rate is the difference between the in-migration rate and the out-migration rate.

Demographic transition theory is a thesis linking population patterns to a society’s level of technological development. There are four stages involved with this development:
1. Stage 1, preindustrial; high birth rates, high death rates
2. Stage 2, onset of industrialization; high birth rates, lower death rates
3. Stage 3, industrial economy; declining birth rates, low death rates
4. Stage 4, postindustrial economy; low birth rates, steady death rates
1. Critical EvaluationThis approach suggests that technology holds the key to population control. It is compatible to modernization theory but not to dependency.