Population Module
    Lesson 1 - Where in the world is the human population changing?

    Lesson 2 - How is population change linked to economic development?
    Lesson 3 - How does the social status and education of women affect a country's population?

    Lesson 4 - How can countries work together to solve problems related to population and resources?
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Lesson 2 - Page 1 - How is population change linked to economic development?

Objectives: By successfully completing this lesson, your team will be able to:

  1. Explain how economic development influences birth and death rates in different places.
  2. Examine the age and sex composition of populations for clues about a country's level of economic development.
  3. Describe some of the economic implications of population growth and decline in different places.

General Tips: Here are a few suggestions that can help your team complete this lesson together:

  • Click the icon to open a new window with instructions for completing the lesson's collaborative learning activities (listed as Step 1, Step 2, and so forth).
  • Your team should use the Group Discussion Board (located in the Communication area) to discuss questions that appear in blue boxes.
  • Important vocabulary terms are defined in the Glossary (located in the Documents area).
  • Complete this lesson according to the schedule provided by your instructor. Doing so will ensure that your team learns together.
  • Elect leaders for each local group who can help coordinate the efforts of the entire team.

What are the characteristics of the populations of developed and less developed countries?

As you learned in Lesson 1, population change results from the interaction of three variables: birth rates, death rates, and migration. A country's Rate of Natural Increase usually accounts for the greatest amount of growth in a population, especially within a short period of time. For the world, population growth rates tend to be lower in developed countries and higher in less developed countries (Figure 1).

Figure 1. Population growth through natural increase, 1775-2000.

Human populations are often dynamic. In some places, birth rates rise while death rates remain steady or fall. In other places, death rates are rising along with birth rates. In still other places, both birth and death rates are plummeting.

Populations also vary from place to place in terms of their sex and age composition. In some places, the number of people over the age of 65 outnumber those under the age of 15. In contrast, other countries have disproportionately young populations with relatively few people over the age of 60.

What factors account for population differences from place to place? What are the economic implications for a country having relatively large numbers of young or old people? In this lesson, your team will explore these questions by analyzing statistics, maps, and graphs for relationships between economic development and birth and death rates.