The Economic Burden of Children in the UK

The economic burden of raising children has become a key ingredient in falling birth rates in the more economically developed world.

Watch the Panorama investigation to discover the true costs of raising children in the UK.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01cz4bx/Panorama_The_Cost_of_Raising_Britain/

Unhealthy State - Life Expectancy and Health

A new study reveals how unhealthy the UK is and its impact on Life Expectancy

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/8652074.stm

Ageing Population - The increasing cost of Social Care

The increasing ageing population in the UK continues to cause problems for those involved in Social Care and Welfare. Recent reports highligh the concerns many have for the future:

Follow this link to the BBC story and then explore the links from this page. You will find some excellent material to support your notes on Ageing Population.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/8488219.stm

AS MUST WATCH VIDEO

http://numaga.com/global/bbc-horizon-how-many-people-can-live-planet-earth-hd

The video to help with a huge chunk of the course:

BBC Horizon - How Many People Can Live on Planet Earth?

use the links below to see six parts of the above documentary - watch it, repeat and make notes from. Great case study material.

Just Do It!!!!

The Changing Population Structure of the UK

Homework question:

Outline the social, economic, demographic and political implications of an ageing population in the UK. (12)

Your answer to this question should reflect the fact that you have read a range of material on the topic of an ageing population in the UK. This means that it will include factual examples and statistics to back up your ideas.

Sources of information should include:

• Growing Grey article
• Ageing Population notes
• Population Change Articles
• Geography in the News article
• BBC Ageing webpages
• Global Ageing

Plus there is a huge amount of information on this topic available on this blog and the Internet
http://gsalgeog.blogspot.com/2008/02/ageing-population.html

Europe of the future: Germany shrinks, France grows, but UK population booms

The UK population is on the increase again. For the first time in a generation the annual birth rate has approached 2.0 (1.9 Office for Nationa Statistics August 2008). Click on the cartoon to find out more.

Use this background information and the links to augment your class notes.

Problems associated with Youthful Populations

Whilst several countries in the MEDW are experiencing the increase in an ageing population and its inherent socio-economic problems, many countries in the developing world are experiencing the phenomenon of a 'youthful population'. This too has inherent socio economic benefits and problems.


There are several problems associated with youthful dependency (0 - 14 years):


1. Pressure on housing – not enough housing, people living in slums. This is very common around the big cities (New Delhi), where millions of people live in shanty towns with no running water, roads, sewage of any kind.

2. Pressure on schooling – illiterate population. India’s literacy rate is 60%, Cambodia’s literacy rate is 69%.

3. Pressure on food supplies - famine, food distribution difficulties. Natural disasters accentuate this problem e.g. droughts


4. Potential for further population growth as these young people grow older, get married and have children. This will contine to add pressure to schooling, food supplies, housing and health services.


5. Pressure on health services – a growth in diseases being spread around and not being dealt with adequatly to stop the spread.


6. Pressure on working populations (economically active) to support the young and old.



Benefits


Click on the link here and make notes on the benefits associated with a country going through the transitional window of a youthful population.



Read the articles linked below then answer the question for homework.






India's Population Bulge







India's Youthful Population


India's Demographic Bonus





HOMEWORK

Answer the following in Word and email to SD@gsal.org.uk



Using examples describe and explain the consequences of a youthful population (12)

Rural to Urban Migration

Task
Use the resources linked to from this page to produce the following:

1. A detailed annotated version of Lee's Model that summaries Rural to Urban population

movement in Brazil.

2. A written description of how Ravenstein's Law can be applied to Rural to Urban population

movement in Brazil.

RESOURCES


Use the Abstract and Introduction of Migration in Brazil in the 1990s, Norbert M. Fiess and Dorte Verner, The World Bank, 2002.

The two faces of Sao Paulo, Daniel Howden, 12 March 2007.

Brazil poor feel benefits of Lula's policies, Steve Kingstone, 18 September 2006.

Brazil's youth in poverty escape, Jo Wright, 30 July 2005.

European Population Boom?

Across Europe many governments are now recognising the trend of decreasing birth rates and realsing the long-term implications this trend will have on the economically acvtive future generations to support an ageing population. As a consequence of this there have been some interesting developments to counter the trend.

Click on this BBC article http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4837422.stm to see how different European governments are encouraging women to have more children.

Click on the link below for more information about Italy paying 10,000 Euros for each child....An article from the Guardian http://observer.guardian.co.uk/europe/story/0,,1081021,00.html here is an alternative way to increase their population.