We are thinking about how the world’s population (and different countries / continents’ population) is changing and why.

First a snap shot

An excellent link to show estimated births and deaths (as well as CO2 emissions) across the planet – click on it to view in full:

http://www.breathingearth.net/

How has the world population changed in your lifetime?

Use the following animation to explore some key facts about changes in your lifetime:

The World Population and Me [INED Institut National Etudes Démographiques]

Population Growth

This clip gives an interesting view of population change across the world over time since year 1 AD and projected to 2050. Watch it and consider why some places become more densely populated at key times in history. Consider, too, where the majority of population increase has taken place in the last 50 or so years. Finally, do you think this is a realistic presentation of population change? Be prepared to justify your answer.

Now we look at the following series of animations:

How will the world population change in the future? [INED Institut National Etudes Démographiques]

We move on to consider some of the factors that affect birth rate (make sure you can define birth rate):

Births and Family Size [INED Institut National Etudes Démographiques]

Make sure you visit all of the four explanations on the above animation.

While birth rates are changing, so too are death rates. Linked to death rates is the average length of people’s life. If the death rate is falling, people on average are living longer. Watch the following animation:

Understanding length of life [INED Institut National Etudes Démographiques]

… more to follow …

This quick quiz reveals some interesting facts …

http://ourworld.ca/ow2002/quiz02/archives/flashquiz/populatf.html

Now we need to consider what causes population to change …