POPULATION and STANDARD OF LIVING

Standard of Living
It shows how well off an individual or nation is over a period of life.It is generally measured by using per capita GDP, life expectancy, literacy rate, infant mortality rate etc.
Important measures of standard of living
 GNP per head: It is the most important indicator of standard of living
                             Gross National Product
GNP per head = -------------------------------
                               Total population
 Life expectancy: It refers to the average number of years of life for male and female.
 Literacy rate: It refers to the percentage of the people who can read and write.
 Population per doctor: It is the ratio of the number of doctors to the number of people in a country.
 Number of people holding TV , refrigerator, car etc
 Number of students enrolled in secondary school.
 Number of beds in hospital
If the above indicators are high and below indicators are low, the standard of living will be high.
If the above indicators are low and below indicators are high, then standard of living will be low.
 Population growth: It is the difference between birth rate and death rate.
 Crime and suicide rate
 Infant mortality rate: It refers to the number of deaths of infants per year per 1000 of live birth.
 Rate of inflation
POPULATION
 It is the total number of people living in a country over a period of time.
 Trends in population mean changes in population over time.
 High rate of population growth is experienced by poorer regions of the world.
Factors affecting population growth
1. Birth rate
The number of births per population per year.
Number of live births
BR = ---------------------------- x1000
Total population
2. Death rate:
The number of death per thousand of population.
Number of deaths
DR = ------------------------------------ x 1000
Total population
Natural increase in population:- When birth rate is more than death rate, it is called natural increase in
population
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3. Fertility rate: The average number of children a women bear in her lifetime.
4. Net immigration:
 It is the difference between emigration and immigration
 Emigration – People leaving from the country
 Immigration—People coming to the country
 If immigration is more than emigration, population will increase.
Optimum Population
 Optimum population is that which gives the highest income per head of population.
 It is the best and most desirable size of a country’s population.
 If a country’s population exceeds the optimum level, it is said to be overpopulated and if it is below that level ,it is under populated.
Structure of population (Distribution of population)
The population of a country can be divided, based on the following categories.
 Age
 Sex
 Occupation
 Region
 Age distribution
According to age, population can be divided in to
1. Working age group
2. Dependant age group
Working age group
It contains people above the school leaving age (16 years) and below the retirement age (64 years)’
Working population
Working population is the proportion of working age group who are employed or seeking
employment
Dependent age group
All those who are below the school leaving and those who reach the retirement age.
(0 – 15 and 65 and above)
Number of dependent age group
Dependency ratio = ---------------------------------------- X 100
Number of working age group
Optimum population
Total population
Out put per head of population
 Ageing population:
 A country is said to have an ageing population when the average age of the population is high
 It is mostly experienced by developed countries.
Reasons
 low birth rate ( because of better medical facilities, education, family planning)
 low death rate ( because of the advancement in medical fields, better standard of living)
Economic effects
1. Higher government spending on things demanded old people like pension, health care service and social services.
2. Higher dependency ratio
3. Low labour mobility – As old people are less mobile
 Younger age Population:
 A country is said to have younger age population when average age of population is less.
 Experienced by developing countries
 High birth rate ( ignorance of family planning programmes, lack of education, prejudices etc)
 Low death rate ( because of slow improvement in medical facilities)
Economic effects
 High dependency ratio
 Increase in the demand for the goods demanded by younger generation like education, entertainment, providing jobs etc
 Sex distribution:
 It refers to the number of males relative to the number of females in the population.
Reasons for high female ratio
High life expectancy of females.
Economic effects
 More dependency ratio : In many countries females depends up on males
 Pattern of demand will be towards those goods demanded by females like cosmetics
Sex composition
 This means the classification of the total population in to males and females.
Sex ratio
It is the number of males per 100 of females in the population
Population pyramid
It is a diagram that displays a population’s age and sex compositions.
 Occupational distribution:
It is the distribution of working people in various occupations
 Regional distribution:
It is the distribution of population among regions
 Age distribution among developing and developed Countries
Developing countries
 High birth rate and death rate
 High infant mortality rate
 Low life expectancy
 Younger age population will be higher
 40 – 45% of population will be younger
 4% of population will be older
 Dependency ratio will be higher
Developed countries
 Low birth rate and death rate
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 Low infant mortality rate
 High life expectancy
 Ageing population will be higher
 20 – 25% of population will be younger
 15% of population will be older
 Dependency ratio will be lower
 Occupational distribution of population among developed and developing countries
Developing countries
 Most of the labour will be in primary sector
 Self employment will be lower
 Manual workers are high
 Part time job will be lower
 Public sector occupation will be higher
Developed Countries
 Most of the labour will be in tertiary and secondary sector
 Self employment will be higher
 Non manual workers are high
 Part time job will be higher
 Public sector occupation will be lower