Related links to Spatialworlds
Geogaction
Spatialworlds website
GeogSpace
Australian Geography Teachers' Association website
Population change as time goes by
Populations, including the demographic variables of total number of people, age
breakdown, sex ratios, birth rates, death rates and rate of growth are not
static but change over time as the conditions in a country change for the
better or worse. In most countries, such change involves development and the
associated improvements in health and social conditions as a result of
industrialisation and economic improvements in a country. The following sites
attempt to explain the modelling and subsequent visualising of such changes over time via the DemographicTransition Model (DMT). The DMT is a model that describes a predicted
and in most cases expected population change over time. It is based on an
interpretation begun in 1929 by the American demographer Warren Thompson, of
the observed changes, or transitions, in birth and death rates in
industrialized societies over the past two hundred years or so. Although
not perfect and as always there ar exceptions to the model (rule), the
DMT over the years has been frequently used by demographers as a visualisation of the way population changes over time as a result of economic development. In fact, the task
for students to find those exceptions to the model is quite a valid and
creative way to use the model to understand the demography of
population change. For example, an exception to model is when a country is
still developing and have a religious imperative for keeping birth rates high
OR they have a national crisis such as war or disease that is keeping
life expectancy low. A few examples are conflicts in Afghanistan or the
AIDS crisis in Sub-Saharan Africa.
* Videos explaining the impact of development on a countries population and the Demographic Transition Model (DTM)
http://wn.com/demographic_transition_theory
http://wn.com/demographic_transition_theory
* A detailed look at the stages of the DMT
* A good summary of the DMTstages
* A summary video of DMT
* Worth looking at the Age-Sex Pyramid animation showing the movement through the stages of the DMT (from youthful population to the ageing population).
* Youthful and Ageing populations
* Ageing population video
* More animations to aid understanding (simple, a little annoying but useful)
* How many people?
