1. Without accounting for migration,
Birth and Death Rates:
Factors of Influence
Without accounting for migration,
the annual rate of population growth equals the BR minus the DR. This value is called the rate of natural increase.

2. Factors Influencing Birth Rate – Number of Women and their Ages
There are a number of factors that determine birth rates.
For instance, the number of women in the total population determines how many births will occur in a country over a given time period.
The range in ages for the female population is also a factor in how high the birth rate figures may be for a country.
Generally women from the ages of 15 through to 49 can bear children. Therefore, a country’s population containing more women in this age category is likely to produce more children than a population with more women either too young or too old to have children.

3. Factors Influencing Birth Rate – Cultural Implications & Religion
Culture and religion are examples of other factors that are strong determinants of birth rates.
There are cultures and religions that encourage and favour larger families while there are others who prefer and promote smaller family sizes.
In some countries and cultures, the economic status and vibrancy of a family is directly linked to the number of children.
Families with low income tend to have more children in order to bring more income into the family.
Therefore, a family’s low income can mean that there is no money for birth control and access to family planning.

4. Factors Influencing Birth Rate – Medical Conditions and Health Care Standards
Medical conditions and the standard of heath care can significantly impact and be tied to more infant deaths and childhood deaths in the developing world.
As a result of the uncertainty as to how many children might survive, many women have more children in the hopes that some will survive to reach maturity.

5. Factors Influencing Birth Rate – The Educational Lifeline
The level of education a woman has and their economic status affect birth rates as well.
In societies where women are not treated as equals to men, women generally receive less education and have little input in decision making, including decisions about pregnancy.
In many developing nations the husband determines and/or dictates the size of the family and the number of offspring.

6. Figure 7.16 - Case study on page 170
In many countries, such as Mali, women require their husbands’ written permission before they can buy contraceptive supplies. What do you think the purpose is of the law?

7. Consider the Situation
TINGA
SOW
MOTHER’S GENERATION
Education
no formal education
Marriage
at a young age (16) & only wife of husband
likely at a young age & one of four wives
Children
9 (two died)
30 children in the household from 4 different wives (likely some children died)
Birth Control
available with husband’s permission
unavailable
Husband
unable to adequately provide
able to provide for wives and children
Consider the Situation
Q. 17 on page 173
Compare the circumstances of Sow’s life with those of women in her mother’s generation.
Identify the likely similarities and differences in a chart.
What has not changed significantly? Why not?
What brought about the changes in Sow’s life?

8. The lack of education for girls, the early age of marriage, and the number of children born have not changed significantly during these two generations.
The lack of education and the early age of marriage – combined with, the fear of infant mortality very poor economic conditions that result in the need for children to work to help support the household, and cultural traditions of high fertility – have all contributed to high fertility rates.
The main changes in Sow’s life compared to her mother’s have been brought about by both an economic situation that requires her to seek employment to supplement her husband’s limited wages and the possibility of birth control, which has allowed her to hold down a job.

9. Factors Influencing Birth Rate – The Educational Lifeline
In societies where women become more educated, their status in society generally improves and tends to rise – the direct result leading to autonomy, independence and the ability to thrive against adversity.
Spending more time in school not only helps women become more literate and more apt to locate jobs and improve economic fortune, but potentially develop technological capabilities that can lead to more skill sets and better chances for work in the long-term.

10. Factors Influencing Birth Rate – The Changing Dynamic for Women
Women in these circumstances will often have more rights to make their own choices and be more involved in the decision making process in regards to the family. They are better able to express their opinions, but it also delays marriage and the start of child-bearing.
Educated women in the developing world are more likely to find employment outside the home, and will probably lead to having a smaller family where there are fewer children to care and provide for.
This allows for an increasing presence for women to serve in various roles that increases the status of women and to potentially improve their social standing and to elevate them into positions that may fast track them into valuable leadership roles.

11. Figure 7.15 – Birth rates by country Countries on which continent tend to have the highest birth rates?

12. Population Growth (World & Continents)
Region
Birth Rate
Death Rate
RNI
Doubling Time
WORLD 23 9
1.4 50
AFRICA 40 15
2.5 28
NORTH AMERICA 11 8
0.6
117
ASIA
1.5 47
LATIN AMERICA 25 7
1.8 39
EUROPE 10
-0.1
-700

13. Factors Influencing Birth Rate – Government Population Policies
Government population policies also impact birth rates.
While most countries do not have laws pertaining to fertility (i.e. number of children that a man and woman can have), some, however, have comprehensive population-control programs that dictate the number of children a couple may have.

14. Factors that Contribute to a high birth rate
Q on page 173
Make a list of at least eight factors that contribute to a high birth rate.
There are many factors that contribute to high birth rates.
What do you think they include?

15. Factors that Contribute to a high birth rate
Q on page 173
Make a list of at least eight factors that contribute to a high birth rate.
There are many factors that contribute to high birth rates. They include:
Lack of birth control
Lack of good-quality birth control
Lack of accessibility to birth control
Lack of education, particularly among women
Government population policies that promote high fertility-rates
Strong influence from religious leaders who either prohibit the use of birth control or encourage high fertility rates

16. Factors that Contribute to a high birth rate
Q on page 173
Make a list of at least eight factors that contribute to a high birth rate.
There are many factors that contribute to high birth rates. They include:
High infant mortality rates
High percentage of rural population or low percentage of urban population
The end of a military conflict
Limited economic opportunities for women
Cultural and societal expectations
Lack of government pension plans

17. Factors Influencing Death Rates – Medical Care
There are a wide range of possibilities that impact and help determine mortality rates, including the accessibility, affordability and availability of health services and medical facilities.
Availability to medical services is determined not only by the number of health care professionals and treatment facilities, but also by their spatial distribution (i.e. where are they located and how far from population bases).

18. Factors Influencing Death Rates – Sanitation and Vaccination Programs
As medical services become more available to a population the death rate decreases.
Especially for children and young adults , the majority of deaths are caused by health problems that are very easy and inexpensive to treat.
In may circumstances many deaths could be avoided in the developing world with improved sanitation and vaccination programs. Something so simple as these two things could easily maintain better health and climate a major cause of death.

19. Figure 7. 17 – Leading causes of infant mortality
Figure 7.17 – Leading causes of infant mortality. Although malnutrition does not show up on the graph as a singular cause of death, it plays a role in about half of all infant deaths in developing countries.

20. Factors Influencing Death Rates – Miscellaneous
Besides access to health care, several other factors affect death rates:
Factors Influencing Death Rates – Miscellaneous
Education – Women are usually the principal caregivers of the young, their education will help them maintain their children's health as well as their own.
Availability of food and clean water
The level of economic development
Civil unrest and warring fractions
Environmental and natural disasters
Country’s fertility rate – a large population of babies may increase the general death rate. In addition, child-bearing in a developing country can be dangerous. The more children a woman has, the greater the chance she will have of dying in childbirth from complications.

21. Figure 7. 19 – Death rates by country What similarities do you see
Figure 7.19 – Death rates by country What similarities do you see? What differences?

22. Q. 15 on page 173
How can a high infant mortality rate lead to a high birth rate?
How can a high birth rate lead to a high mortality rate?

23. How can a high infant mortality rate lead to a high birth rate?
High infant mortality rates usually result in high fertility rates because of parental foresight.
Parents who believe that some of their children will die often have more children to ensure they end up with the number of adult offspring they desire.
In developing countries adult children often provide the necessary means of support after the parents are unable to continue working.

24. How can a high infant mortality rate lead to a high birth rate?
How can a high birth rate lead to a high mortality rate?
How can a high infant mortality rate lead to a high birth rate?
A high fertility rate may lead to elevated infant mortality rates.
If parents are having many children it is possible that they may not be able to provide all of them with good quality care because of a lack of time, a weakened physical state from frequent pregnancies, or a lack of financial resources.
In a developing nation with limited medical resources may have problems providing for necessary care.
A higher fertility rate could strain an already stretched medical system.
After infant health care improves and parents realize that the vast majority of children will survive to maturity, fertility levels will start to decline.

25. Q. 16 on page 173
The reason for this is the much lower average age of the populations of a developing nation.
The deaths of older people are one of the main contributors to a death rate.
There are many more children in the developing world.
In a developing nation when an older person dies, he or she represents a small % of the overall population.
How might a crude death rate in a developed country be just as high as that in a developing nation? Hint: Consider the age characteristics of the countries

26. Q. 16 on page 173
In a more developed nation that the average age is much higher because the proportion of senior citizens is much higher than in a developing nation.
In developed countries when seniors die they represent a higher % of the total population.

27. Case Study on page 172
Q. 24
What changes within Russian society caused the dramatic changes in that country in terms of life expectancy?