Chapter 15

POPULATION & DEMOGRAPHY

 Introduction:
Population
is the number of persons occupying a
certain geographic area, drawing substance
from their habitat, and interacting with one
another. Demographers commonly define
population as a collective group of individuals
occupying a particular place at a given time.
Population Growth
is a major factor in energy consumption,
housing, shortages, inflation, food security,
unemployment and environmental degradation.
 Demography
(from Greek word demos means people)
as the statistical study of human populations with
regard to their sizes and structure, sex, age,
marital status and ethnic origin, and the changes
like changes in birth rates, death rates, and
migration. (Collins Dictionary of Sociology, David
& Gary)
is the statistical analysis and description of
population aggregates with reference to the
distribution, vital statistics, age, sex and related
factors.
 Demographers
are people who gather data about the size, distribution,
composition, and change in population in order to describe them.
Ibn Khaldun (1332-1406)
regarded as the
Father of Demography
for his economic analysis of
social organization which
produced the first scientific and
theoretical work on population,
development and group
dynamics.
Demography has the following
primary tasks:
To ascertain the number of people in a given area
To know the resources available for their support
To determine what changes, growth or decline this number represents and explain
this causes of changes
To estimate on this basis the future trends
To know the different kinds of people who may make up any given population with
regard to their physical, mental and cultural characteristics
To categorize people on the daily basis of characteristics like age, sex, marital
status, occupation, income, nationality, race, ethnic group, religion and other
characteristics
To ascertain the distribution of people among the different countries and regions,
both rural and urban
 Importance of Demography and
Demographic Data
The everyday activities of all human beings affect community patterns
and levels of use of natural resources, the state of environment, and
the pace and equality of economic and social development. (Cairo
1994)
Numbers of people are always significant correlate social life.
Demographic data provides a basis for predicting future trends and
making informed decisions.
 Sources of Demographic Data
Population Census
-population count
Vital registration statistics system
-birth, death, marriage and
divorce
Sample or Special surveys
-survey of households
Demographic data gathered an
processed by Government agencies
Components of Population Change
Population change occurs as
growth or decline.

3 variables or components:
Fertility (births)
Mortality (deaths)
Migration (immigration and
emigration)
Components of Population Change
1. Fertility
refers to the actual number of children born to a woman or
group of women.
 Fertility
A simple way to measure fertility is to get the crude birth rate: the
number of registered births per 1,000 of the population in a given area
at a specified time.

Registered number of births in a year x 1,000

CBR =
Total mid-year population

*CBR - annual number of live births per 1000 people.

 Fertility
Several factors that affects the Population of the Philippines like social
and cultural values, Filipino customs, traditions and beliefs.
These include:
Having a large family is traditional
Perpetuation of the family name and surname
Support or security during old age
Additional child means an additional help in the farm
Traditional values of fatalism and Talaga ng Diyos.
Belief that God will provide in all our needs
 Belief that a large family is a happy family; the bigger, the merrier.
Macho image, or image of virility of fathers having big family
Help in housework and earning a living
Early marriages
Lack of knowledge of and/or indifference to family
Lack of motivation to limit family size
Permissive atmosphere which is conducive to premarital sexual
relationship
Adherence to the pro-life advocacy
Roman Catholic Churchs disagreement on certain contraceptive
methods
Blind adherence to the biblical passage; Go forth and multiply
 Belief that children are priceless and wealth by themselves
Negative perception in the family planning program
Desire for a balance in the sexes
Tax deductions for additional dependents
Bigger income tax on single individual
Wedding and honeymoon leave with pay
Maternity and paternity leave with pay
Components of Population Change
2. Mortality
refers to the number of deaths per 1,000 of the total mid-year
population in a particular place at a specified time, and is measured by
the crude death rate.
 Mortality

Registered number of deaths in a year x 1,000

CDR =
Total mid-year population

*CDR - annual number of deaths per 1000 people.

The most dramatic factor in the explosive rise in population is a
worldwide decline in mortality brought by the following:

Advance science and technology

Intensified nutrition and diet
Hygiene and sanitation
Introduction of safe water supply
Improved ways of sewage waste
New medical discoveries
Improved medical services
Extension of vaccination and inoculation
Adoption of public health services
Use of antibiotics
With the improvement of mortality conditions, life expectancy naturally
increases.

Life expectancy
refers to the average number of years a person can expect to live
at the time of birth.
Components of Population Change
3. Migration
refers to the spatial
movements of a person or group of
persons from one place to another,
more or less for permanent
residency.
People migrate for a variety of reasons:

Economical Overpopulation
Political Resource pressure
Social Differential technology
Psychological Great opportunities
Religious
Educational
Medical
The push and pull factors are set of forces involved in any migration.

Push
refers to the unfavorable or unattractive
conditions which impel a person or group of
persons to move out of an area.
These includes natural disasters (famine,
floods or volcanic eruptions) or internal
disorders (war and other forms of
conflicts).
Pull
refers to the favorable conditions or
attractions which lure a person or group
of persons to move into that area.
These are favorable climate,
employment opportunities, peace and
order and others.
Migration maybe internal or international.

Internal migration
is the spatial movement of a person
within a country.

International migration
is the spatial movement of a person
from one country to another.
Immigration- when one enters the country
of destination.
Emigration- when one leaves to move into
another.

Filipinos migrate to other foreign countries

due to brain drain or brawn drain.
 POPULATION PYRAMID
It refers to two-dimensional graph used to display the age and gender
structure of a population.
 SOME CHARACTERISTICS OF
POPULATION
Age structure
Sex composition
Dependency ratio
Population density
Age Structure
refers to the proportion of people
at the different age levels.
The Philippine age structure is
relatively young. Most Filipinos are
young and we still expect our
population to be youthful in the
years to come.
Sex composition
refers to how the total population
is composed in terms of being
males or females.
The predominance of males
implies employment opportunities
like farming, mining and heavy
industry.
The predominance of females
implies employment opportunities
like clerical, domestic jobs and
service-related work.
Dependency ratio
Refers to the proportion of the 0-4
and the 65-over age levels per one
hundred person aged 15-64
With the young age structure in the
Philippines, dependency ratio is
high compared with other
developed countries. It implies
heavy financial support for more
dependents.
Population density
Refers to the number of persons that
can be equally and statistically
distributed per square kilometer in a
given geographical area considering
the population in the said area.
It is brought by urbanization,
migration and high birth rate.
 World Population Growth
Anthropologists have estimated that people
have been on this earth for about a million
or two million years ago.
Accurate data of population during
humankinds early years are difficult to
estimate, but information based on
circumstantial evidence show that
population then was about 125,000 when
people where then hunter-gatherer.
(Ehrlick and Holden, 1997)
TABLE 1: WORLD POPULATIONS, YEAR 0 TO NEAR STABILIZATION
TABLE 2: 15 MOST POPULOUS NATIONS
 PHILIPPINE POPULATION
SITUTATION
TABLE A:
Population Distribution
by Region: 2000
TABLE B: Provinces with More Than One Million Population: 2000
Theories on Population Growth
and Decline
 Malthusian Theory
English scholar Thomas Malthus
(1766-1834) whose theories appeared in
An Essay on the Principle of Population
(1798), theorized pessimistically that
population was uncontrollable and that it
would, at future date, reach and then
exceed a level at which the planet could
sustain the incredible high population
numbers.
Human populations are inescapably caught
in conflict between their need for food
and the passion between sexes.
Overpopulation is defined as any population level that cannot be
sustained by the geographic area in which it is located.
Marxian Theory
Karl Marx took exception to the
Malthusian doctrine. Marx believed
that the problem was not [primarily
one of population but one of the
ownership of the means of
production and inequitable
distribution of societys wealth.
Capitalism as creating surplus
population so as to drive down
wages and maximize profits.
The Demographic Transition Theory
The concept demographic transition refers to three characteristics:

Stage I: Both birth and death rate are high and stable.

Stage II: Birth rate remains and death rate declines.

Stage III: Low but fluctuating birth rate and low with steady death rate
and both are balance.
CONSEQUENCES AND IMPLICATIONS OF RAPID
POPULATION GROWTH
Nearly half the world population are undernourished to the point of low vitality and high
vulnerability to starvation disease and death.
Most people live in poverty, the resources needed for capital development are used up, and
unemployment is high.
Overcrowding occurs, public services are stained, and the environment is polluted.
Excessive environmental destruction and degradation in order to produce food by any possible
method.
Many children are pushed to work for sustenance of their everyday life through child labor and
prostitution, and mendicancy.
 The high ratio of children to the adults of working age who must provide for their education
and welfare not only places a severe strain on the national budget, but tends to hamper
improvements in the efficiency of education and health services to the nation's service.
Criminality and illegal activities like drug trafficking, robbery, carnapping, white slavery due to
poverty are increasing.
Migration to urban centers has led to problems of congestion, slum and squaterrism, urban
poor, and other urban problems.
Quality of education deteriorates, as there are not enough classrooms, teachers, books, and
instructional materials.
Moral and spiritual degradation is on the rise (sex, flesh trade, immoral acts, growing
materialism, lack of spirituality)
Facts that ecologists regard rapid population growth
as a major straining factor:
Continuous depletion of the earth's renewable resources has been
going on in a leaping rate;
Extinction of at least half a million of plant and animal species;
Worldwide deforestation and unstoppable loss of several inches of
topsoil from croplands;
Fossil fuels like petroleum will become a scarce commodity in the near
future due to an excessive utilization of them at present;
Water supplies and per capita wood growing stock have been
dramatically decreasing;
Environmental pollution has led to global warming and greenhouse
effect
MEASURES ON POPULATION CONTROL
Population explosion

refers to the remarkable increase

in population brought about by a
stubbornly high birth rate and
declining death rate. The rapid and
dramatic rise in world population that
has occurred over the last few
hundred years.
 Measures and Programs on Population control

A number of resolutions to come up with programs aimed at curbing

population explosion have been adopted by United Nations Organization
and its member countries in three previous conventions:
World Population Conference in Bucharest, Romania in 1974
International Conference in Population in Mexico, 1984
International Conference and Development in Cairo, Egypt in 1994
Measures and Programs on Population control
Adoption of planned parenthood or family planning as a
national policy of many countries.
Disseminating information on family planning through
government agencies and even private institutions.
Legalization of abortion as a means of deterring
unwanted pregnancies in the United States and many
European countries.
Re-educating the people concerning their beliefs and
practices which favor big family size.
Softening of the Roman Catholic Church on the use of
contraceptives or artificial birth control methods.
Measures and Programs on Population control

Control of the Population Explosion must be a slow process.

Three things are certain:
First, population can be reduced by conscious and deliberate control of
reproduction by individuals, families, or societies.

Second, the more people earn and learn, the fewer children they want;

Third, a truly determined, highly organized nation can check its population
explosion relatively fast.
End