People and the Planet- Topic How and why is population changing in different parts of the world? 1.1b) Population change and structure vary considerably between countries at different states of development

Millions The Gambia- Population Pyramid What does this population pyramid show about the population in the Gambia? (2)

Background to The Gambia! The Gambia has a pyramid typical of a country moving into stage 2 of the DTM A very broad base showing a very high birth rate, a high dependency ratio, with many youths in relation to those of working age An increasing number of those over 50 but few over 80 consistent with a falling but still relatively high death rate, due to recent improvements in some aspects of healthcare Basic population statistics Total population- 1.8 million (smallest country in Africa) Age structureAge structure: 0-14 years: 43.4% (male 397,864/female 394,103) years: 53.7% (male 486,140/female 493,868) 65 years and over: 2.9% (male 25,773/female 26,410) (2010 est.) Birth rateBirth rate: births/1,000 population (2010 est.) Death rateDeath rate: deaths/1,000 population (July 2010 est.) Infant mortality rateInfant mortality rate: total: deaths/1,000 live births Total fertility rateTotal fertility rate: 4.96 children born/woman (2010 est.)

The Gambia has a youthful population, as children are needed to work to support parents, as life is hard Women have an average of 5 children each as the morality rate for young children is high Gambia is predominantly an Islamic nation, meaning the use of contraception is not wide The Gambia relies heavily on tourism as it is not blessed with many natural resources as its neighbours are.

Problems of a youthful population Pressure on schooling – illiterate (cannot read or write) population. The Gambia’s literacy rate is 40% many children do not attend school for more than a year- the country only spends 2% of its GDP on education, one of the lowest levels of spending of any country in the world Pressure on food supplies - famine, food distribution difficulties. Natural disasters accentuate this problem e.g. droughts. Pressure on health services – a growth in diseases being spread around and not being dealt with adequately to stop the spread. Pressure on housing- government struggle to build enough houses for all the people who need them

Describe the population of the Gambia (3)

Describe how life expectancy in Gambia compares to rest of the world (3)

Describe how literacy rates have changed (3)

The Gambia’s population- video Watch the video and make notes on the following

TASK Make a fact file about the Gambia Describe what the issues are relating to its population Why is the Gambia’s population changing? What does the future hold? Why?

Practice Question Explain 2 problems faced by countries with youthful populations, like the Gambia (4)

Answer hints Explain 2 problems faced by countries with youthful populations, like the Gambia (4) Basic answer (0-1)- describes 1 problem, usually too many people to feed Good answers (2 marks)- one described problem with linked basic explanation, such as young people need support and too many places strain on working population Excellent answer (3-4 marks)- 2 well explained answers, need for extra food and risk of famine, also education lack of it causing future issues