Youthful Populations by rgamesby
The past 200 years of population growth has been rapid and its pace is quickening. Many argue that this exponential pace of growth is unsustainable and the Earth can only support so many people with so much food and so much water. Dwindling non-renewable energy resources also point to a problem of having limited resources relative to a growing population.
At country level this can be all the more clear. Whilst having enough workers in the population to exploit resources and provide taxes for a government can be viewed as a good thing, having a youthful population has both positives and negatives.
Source
Many countries have youthful populations because they have very high birth rates and slowly decreasing death rates and slow rises in life expectancy. Their pyramid is actually a pyramid shape as shown below!
Positives
The good thing about having a youthful population are that there are lots of potential workers for the future. If there is a natural resource or industry that needs lots of labour, it can be in bountiful supply. This then generates tax income for the country. The reality is that many countries that have youthful populations do not have adequate economic activities to realise this potential.
Issues
There is high dependency in countries that have youthful populations. This means that there are lots of children reliant on few adults to provide for their needs. This hits the tax base of a country and also means that the few resources countries have are inadequate. This means that vital services such as education, health and sanitation can suffer.
Solutions
The Population Reference Bureau recommends that to improve the quality of life in youthful populations we should;
Improve the quantity and quality of schooling.
Expand school
enrolments, especially for girls, and ensure minimum standards of
quality— a driving force for improved quality of life and for lowering
fertility. Ensure that secondary school and university education is
relevant for the skills needed in the workforce.
Enact and enforce
laws to prevent early marriage (before age 18).
Girls who marry
young typically have children early and have more children than their
peers who stay in school longer and marry later. They are also less able
to contribute to the productive sectors of the economy.
Bring the job market into the 21st century
.
Ease barriers to
starting work and encourage flexibility in hiring and job mobility. Also
encourage private-sector firms to invest in training. Ensure equal
access to employment for male and female youth.
Expand and reinvigorate family planning programs, especially in the most disadvantaged areas, to delay births, reduce unintended pregnancies, and improve maternal and child health. Link HIV prevention efforts (key for young people) to efforts to reduce unintended pregnancies.
Search the IDB website for population pyramids that show youthful populations.
For a youthful population you have found, research what the government of that country is doing to tackle the issues of having a youthful population.
Describe and explain the patterns on the map opposite
Watch the videos below and take notes on how population is managed in Kerala, India.
Try this annotation exercise
Population control in Kerala
