Geogs Got Talent
For all you talented geographers out there, this is the page where you can debate current geographical issues and potentially earn some money at the same time.
Each term we will post a current geographical issue to this page. All you need to do is reply with a Word document, Powerpoint or Movie.
The best repsonse will recieve a £15 voucher with the second best response receiving a £10 voucher and the third, a £5 voucher.
Autumn Term 2009
Watch the video clip below and answer the following question:
The UK’s population is 61.4 million. Should we be worried?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4bhe5XkjCY
The following link taken from the Observer newspaper on Sunday 27th September 2009 might give you some more information
1 Comment
8 November, 2009 at 7:05 pm
The UK’s population is 61.4 million. Should we be worried?
Population is an important issue for all countries as it determines the recourses needed to sustain the population and controls the age balances. In July 07- June 08 the population of the UK rose to 61.4 million.
I think we should be worried because, with an increasing population the UK may run out of land as the population density increases, an increased population means a reduction in resources and lower food supplies, raw food materials and jobs.
MEDCs normally have a low population growth because the contraceptive pill has been available since 1963, and abortion has been legally allowed since 1968. Unlike in LEDCs the UK has a lower infant mortality rate due to better healthcare, and no need for children to be used as economic assets. Also there is more sex education and people are encouraged to family plan.
Life expectancy has increased from better diets. People are better educated from schools and public advertising like ‘5 a day’ or ‘Salt- full of it’ so people will eat better diets. Free healthcare from the NHS has made healthcare open to more people so this increases life expectancy; rapid health developments have reduced the number of deaths. Vaccinations in children have immunised generations from diseases like Polio. Children have free healthcare up to the age of 16, unless they go into further education in which case it continues.
Better healthcare has lead to the original baby boomers from post WWII living longer and therefore be more dependant on younger people. This means high levels of health care are needed and facilities like housing and public transport, not to mention pensions, all of which would need to be provided by younger generations. By 2020 19% of the UK’s population will be OAPs; this is a concern because the demands of old dependants cannot be met if there are not enough young people to pay taxes for their needs.
An increased population may cause more urbanisation from people hoping to find jobs in the city. If the increased population worsens, it may result in Shanty towns similar to that in Rio de Janeiro from people made homeless because of unemployment. Also a decrease in food supplies and raw materials would create mass ciaos from people fighting for food, or rationing enforced.
To control an increasing population, methods can be used from other countries like ‘One Child Policy’ in China, or sterilisation in India and family planning in Mauritius, The One Child Policy has been effective in China, but it is highly unpopular, it has caused a gender imbalance, which would be a problem if implemented in the UK because there would be an age and gender unbalance. Sterilisation has highly unpopular in India, and it would be an ethical issue to force it on men or women. Family planning seems the nicest option; however it is available already with the NHS.
On the other hand, because according to the Demographic Transition Model, Britain is in stage 3, which means that the population is in slow increase so as it is a natural small increase we need not be worried. Also young people would be needed to pay taxes for the facilities for an increasing number of old dependants, most the baby boomers from post WWII.
Furthermore, unhealthy lifestyles will lead to more deaths in the UK. Increasing crime from murders and gun and knife crime will lead to more deaths adding to the death rate. These added and more should add to death rates, balancing out the birth and death rates.
To conclude, I think to get a better answer to ‘Should be worried about an increase to 61.4 million people in the UK”, we need to look at Birth and Death Rates. The birth and death rates are needed:
If birth rates are low and death rates are low it shows that the increase in population is similar to that of the Demographic Transition Model and there is no worry about the increase in population.
If birth rates are high and death rates are low it shows the population is in increase because of the number of births so we should be worried and take action to slow or reduce the number of births.