Theme 1: The Population and Settlements

Case Studies: Population

Over-population: Nigeria

BASIC FACTS:

• Nigeria’s population is 140 million
• 70% earn less than 1 dollar a day  
• Nigeria occupies 3% of Africa but holds 15% of Africa’s population  
• By 2010, more than 40% of the population was living in the urban centers 

CAUSES OF OVERPOPULATION

• Limited access to family planning services and education about contraception. Contraception and other methods of family planning may not be culturally or religiously acceptable.
• The Demographic Health Survey (DHS) of 2013 revealed that a mere two percent of sexually active girls between 15 and 19 use contraceptives.
• Children are a valuable source of labour and income for a family. They can work on the land from a young age and as they get older they can earn money in other jobs.
• Children can help to care for younger children and elderly family members.
• High rates of infant mortality (infant deaths) mean that women need to have many children in order to ensure that some survive through to adulthood.
• It may be traditional or culturally important to have a large family.

PROBLEMS OF OVERPOPULATION  

• Inadequate fresh water for drinking water use as well as sewage treatment and effluent discharge: Lagos has the persistent problem of inadequate water supply which has lead to the unhealthy living conditions.  

• Increased levels of pollution; air, water, noise, soil contamination
• Irreversible loss of arable land and increases in desertification: Parts of the north in Nigeria are currently suffering from encroachment of desert from the Saharan desert.  

• High infant and child mortality: Nigeria’s infant mortality rate is currently 100/1000 births. Comparing that figure with those of developed countries, it shows the growth of population has not created the chance for development of the health system.  
• Increased chance of the emergence of new epidemics and pandemics: For many environmental and social reasons, including overcrowded living conditions, malnutrition and inadequate, inaccessible, or non-existent health care, the poor are more likely to be exposed to infectious diseases.  
• Starvation, malnutrition or poor diet with ill health and diet-deficiency diseases (e.g. rickets): Famine is aggravated by poverty. About 70% of Nigerians live in rural areas and these regions are so underdeveloped that malnutrition has become a constant issue. With the pressure of population on the environment, there is a decline in both subsistence and export agriculture.  
• Elevated crime rate due to drug cartels and increased theft by people stealing resources to survive: Regions with high rate of population are posed to threats of high crime rates. Lagos state for example in the past years has had an increase in crime rate. In Lagos 273 civilians and 84 policemen were killed during robberies and crime

Under-population: Australia

• Under population occurs when there are far more resources in an area eg. food, energy, and minerals than the people
• Australia’s landmass of 7,6 million km2 and has a population of 22 million people. Australia is about the same size as the USA (300 million people) but much of its land is not used. Its density is around 3 people per km². This is very low compared to the Monaco, the most densely populated area in the world with 26150 people per km².
• Australia can export their surplus food, energy and mineral resources  
• They have high incomes, good living conditions, and high levels of technology and immigration.
• Australia is the world’s thirteenth largest economy and has the world’s fifth-highest per capita income.
• It is probable that standards of living would rise, through increased production and exploitation of resources, if population were to increase.
• Australia is rich in natural resources with large reserves of natural gas, oil, gold, uranium and metal ores. Uranium is important in the development of nuclear power around the world. Australia attracts migrant workers to support the exploitation of these natural resources. Australia has the 9th highest immigrant population in the world with 6.7 million, which makes up 28.2% of its population.

Problems caused by under population:

1. Small workforce 
2. More taxes  
3. Ageing population  
4. Not full use of natural resources 

Solutions:  

1. Give benefits to those with children (increasing with number)  
2. Relaxing VISA rules  
3. More people move for job opportunities

Why is Australia underpopulated?

• With low birth and death rates, Australia’s natural increase is low. Health care provision is very good which contributes towards the low infant mortality rates. Adult literacy is high at 99%.
• Population density is higher around the coast where climates are more favourable. Moving inland the land becomes desert and semi-desert. Semi-desert areas could be developed for future population growth. However, water shortages could limit population growth and development in the future.
• Australia has an average population density of 3.4 persons per square kilometre of total land area, which makes it one of the most sparsely populated countries in the world. This is generally attributed to the semi-arid and desert geography of much of the interior of the country.

1. Infant mortality: is 3.1 deaths per 1,000 live births. It is very low and is an important indicator of the overall physical health of a community. Preserving the lives of newborns has been a long-standing issue in public health, social policy, and humanitarian endeavours.
2. Death rate: 6.9 deaths/1,000 population. Death is the final common outcome of many health and nutrition problems It is a single indicator which can signal a broad range of health problems
3. Birth rate: 1.74 births per woman
4. Migration: Australia has the 9th highest immigrant population in the world with 6.7 million, which makes up 28.2% of its population.

High rate of natural population growth: Niger

BASIC FACTS:

• A landlocked LEDC in West Africa, with a hot dry climate including desert areas  
• Its population has grown from 1.7 million in 1960 to 13 million in 2008  
• This is a 2.9% growth rate, it’s expected to reach 56 million by 2050

FERTILITY RATE:

• 7.1 births per woman  
• Nearly half the population is under 15  
• Only 5% of the population uses birth control  
• The life expectancy is 44.3  
• 90% of people earn their living through agriculture

CAUSES:

• Limited access to family planning services and education about contraception. Contraception and other methods of family planning may not be culturally or religiously acceptable.
• Children are a valuable source of labour and income for a family. They can work on the land from a young age and as they get older they can earn money in other jobs.
• Children can help to care for younger children and elderly family members.
• High rates of infant mortality (infant deaths) mean that women need to have many children in order to ensure that some survive through to adulthood.
• It may be traditional or culturally important to have a large family. Nigerien family and cultural dynamics largely represent male interests, and many women do not have the autonomy or freedom to manage childbearing.  In 2006, married women and men reported wanting an average of 8.8 and 12.6 children, respectively.

CONSEQUENCES FACED:

• In 2008, Niger ranked 174 out of 178 countries on the Human Development Index, with more than 60% of its population living on less than US$1 per day,9 and the country’s Gross National Income that year ($330; purchasing power parity, $680) was among the world’s lowest.1
• In 2007, only 15% of women in Niger had any primary education, and only 1% had completed primary school.
• It is also highly unlikely that Niger will have enough health care professionals to meet the needs of its exploding population. In 2000, there were 226 doctors, 13 pharmacists and 1,128 nurses serving a population of 10.7 million people; seven years later, the number of health professionals had not grown even as rapidly as the population.
• Food shortages are low due to droughts and environmental problems. 

Population decline: Japan

• According to the World Bank, the population of Japan as of 2018 is at 126.5 million, including foreign residents. The population of only Japanese nationals was 124.8 million in January 2019.
• Japan was the world’s tenth-most populous country as of 2018. Total population had declined by 0.8 per cent from the time of the census five years previously, the first time it had declined since the 1945 census.
• Since 2010, Japan has experienced net population loss due to falling birth rates and minimal immigration, despite having one of the highest life expectancies in the world, at 85.00 years as of 2016 (it stood at 81.25 as of 2006). Using the annual estimate for October of each year, the population peaked in 2009 at 128,570,000.

WHY IS JAPAN’S POPULATION DECLINING?

Fewer women in Japan are having babies, leading to a reduction in birth rates. There are a number of reasons for this:

• Many Japanese women work in high-tech industries
• Their careers may be affected by being a mother
• Children are becoming increasingly expensive due to increased childcare costs
• Couples and women can afford a better standard of living if they have fewer children to support
• People are putting off having children until later in life to focus on careers and enjoy a better standard of living

Significant improvements in Japan’s health care have led to people living much longer than before. However, despite this, death rates are increasing.

1. Death rates in Japan are increasing. Despite improvements in medical care, Japan has an ageing population which has resulted in an increased death rate. As death rates are now higher than birth rates, the population is in decline.
2. Birth rate is 1.42 births per woman.
3. Infant mortality rate is 1.8 deaths per 1,000 live births.

WHAT IS BEING DONE TO TACKLE JAPAN’S DECLINING POPULATION?

Japan needs to incentivise having children and will need to attract migrants in the future. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe wants to prevent the population from dropping below 100 million by 2060. In 2017, the government announced a 2 trillion yen ($18 billion) spending package to expand free preschool for children aged 3 to 5 — and for children aged 2 and under from low-income families — and cut waiting times at daycare centers.

WHAT ARE THE CONSEQUENCES OF JAPAN’S AGING AND DECLINING POPULATION?

Japan’s declining population will result in a shortage of workers in the future. This will lead to reduced economic growth and the closure of some services. Industrial development may also reduce as there are fewer people available to innovate in the country’s high-tech sector.

There will also be a higher dependency ratio, which means there will be fewer young people to support the ageing population. This will lead to younger people paying higher taxes to support the elderly population.

Some post-industrial towns will become derelict due there not being enough workers to support some industries.

Case Studies: Migration

An international migration: Syria to Germany

BASIC FACTS

• Civil war erupted in March 2011 and continues today. 
• Millions of Syrians have fled their homes and in some cases the country to escape the war. 
• It is estimated that 11 million people fled their homes, with 6.6 million people being internally displaced (forced to move to another area of the country).
• There were a number of people seeking asylum in European countries
• In Germany the number of asylum seekers has doubled.

EFFECTS ON MIGRANTS:

PRO

• Safety from the risks associated with civil war
• Opportunity to have a better quality of life
• Opportunity to access education and healthcare

CON

• Language may be a barrier
• Difficulty in adjusting to the culture
• Migrants may be exploited as cheap labour
• May experience discrimination and racism

PUSH FACTOR:

• Civil war
• Unemployment due to war
• Lack of food due to war
• Lack of access to clean water due to war
• Forced migration due to war

PULL FACTOR:

• The opportunity to be safe from conflict
• The opportunity of a better standard of living
• Availability of public services such as education, welfare and health care
• A reliable source of food and water
• Safe and secure shelter

EFFECTS OF MIGRATION ON HOST COUNTRY (GERMANY):

PRO

• Greater cultural diversity
• Low-wage workforce to do the jobs local people do not want
• Opportunity to experience Syrian culture e.g. food

CON

• Greater pressure on services such as healthcare and education
• Greater pressure on resources such as food, water and energy

EFFECTS OF MIGRATION ON SOURCE COUNTRY (SYRIA):

PRO

• Less pressure on resources and aid
• Reduced risk of citizen targets
• Money can be sent back to friends and family still in Syria

CON

• A reduction in the number of people available to work, therefore less money is collected in taxes resulting in restricted economic growth
• Loss of younger people who are more likely to migrate leaving behind an aging population

A rapidly growing urban area in a developing country and migration to it

How fast is Mumbai growing?

Mumbai is India’s largest city by population (Mumbai’s Urban Agglomeration is 20.7million, while the city itself was recorded at 12.48 million in 2011).

In 1911 its population was just 1 million, in 1951, 3 million, by 1991 it was almost 10 million and it has doubled in size since then

The financial capital of the country, being home to the Mumbai Stock Exchange.

Up until the 1980s, Mumbai owed its wealth to its historical colonial past, textile mills and the seaport, but the local economy has since been diversified 

Mumbai is now home to most of India’s specialized technical industries including aerospace, optical engineering, medical research, computers and electronic equipment of all varieties, shipbuilding and salvaging, and renewable energy.  

Mumbai serves as an important economic hub of India, contributing 10% of all factory employment and 40% of India’s foreign trade.

Why is Mumbai growing?

1. HIgh rate of natural increase due to high BR, high proportion of population being of reproductive age population and increasing life expectancy. Economic, socio-cultural and religious reasons mean birth rate remains high.
2. Rapid rate of urban to rural migration due to push and pull factors (see below) and the mechanization of farming/ shift from primary to secondary industry.

What problems is Mumbai facing?

• Air pollution

• Release of CO₂ into the atmosphere from heavy traffic, unregulated industry and slum fires decreases localized air quality but more widely contributes to climate change across the world.
• Particulate matter is where the air is full of small particles of dust or material which is scientifically linked to respiratory diseases such as bronchitis and even cancer. 
• It has also been linked to death in sensitive bird species like the white beaked woodpecker. 
• Smogs are common with a severe smog in January 2018. In late October 2013, the visibility was reduced to less than 500 meters in some parts of the city by particulate matter. 
• In 2016 Mumbai recorded an annual average air pollution over five times WHO’s safety limit
• Water pollution

• Untreated Sewage discharged into rivers…
• Toxic industrial waste entering waterways
• Bioaccumulation of pollutants in fish.

• Illegal dumping of toxic waste and rubbish
• Flooding/Flood Risk. 2005 floods due to heavy rain saw 1090 deaths and severe contamination from raw sewerage
• Severe congestion means it typically takes 2 hours to get from outskirts to city center causing a longer commute, air pollution and smog. 700,000 cars on the road, 
• 7,000 metric tonnes of refuse is spewed out each day.
• 7.5 million commuters cram themselves into local trains every day
• Lack of green space. less than 0.03 acres of open space per 1,000 people. The global average is 4
• 1 in 6 Mumbai residents live in a slum
• Overcrowding. In Dharavi the population density is 1 million per square mile.

PUSH FACTORS (pushing people away from rural communities

Economic

1.  The Green Revolution (a government programme to improve agriculture) has reduced farm work in rural areas as more machinery is now used.  Also high yielding seed varieties were introduced needing lots of fertilizer and pesticides.  Only large farms can afford the chemicals and machinery.  Many small farms cannot compete and people have sold up.  Farm jobs have become harder to find and those that remain are incredibly poorly paid, often with only casual hours available.

2.  Population growth in rural Maharastra has been rapid.  In India the tradition is for a father’s land to be divided equally between his sons.  This has led to people farming plots of land which are too small to support a family and malnutrition occurs.  Incomes are very low and it is hard to clothe and house and feed more children.  There is malnutrition and overcrowding.  Due to the lack of land people have farmed land in unsuitable areas (e.g. too dry) and areas have suffered soil erosion becoming difficult to farm.

Social Factors

1.  Educational and health standards are much lower in rural areas because it is hard to get teachers and doctors to work in the impoverished countryside.  They want to work in towns where living conditions are better.

2.  Young people see farming as hard work with long hours and low pay.  It provides few prospects of a better life in the future.

PULL FACTORS (Drawing people into Mumbai)

Economic

1.  Job prospects in Mumbai.  The traditional industries of textiles, shipping & freight and jobs brought by TNCs.  Mumbai is the financial capital of India and many Indian companies have their headquarters there.  All these jobs promise to offer higher pay than farm work but the reality is often that skills are required to take some positions that the majority do not have.

2.  Investment by the Mumbai Metropolitan Authority, the Indian government and international agencies e.g. the UN in public works e.g. improving water supplies offers the potential of employment in public services.

Social Factors

1.  Mumbai has some good schools and universities as well as decent hospitals and dentists.  If you can access these services your quality of life will be higher than in the countryside.

2.  In Mumbai your home is more likely to have services such as water, electricity and sewage.  These increase living standards and so are attractive to prospective migrants.

3.  Many migrants will already know people who have left the countryside to go to the city.  They hope that these contacts will help them to find work and housing etc.

Case Studies: Urban Issues

Dharavi Slum (urban issues in an LEDC)

There are a million people crammed into one square mile in Dharavi.  

At the edge of Dharavi the newest arrivals come to make their homes on waste land next to water pipes in slum areas.  They set up home illegally amongst waste on land that is not suitable for habitation.  In the wet monsoon season these people have huge problems living on  this low lying marginal land.  

Many of the people here come from many parts of India as a result of the push and pull factors of migration.

Conditions in the slum

• The annual turnover of business here is estimated to be more than $650m (£350m) a year, however the average wage in this region is between 100 and 500 rupees a week, so the wealth does not filter down to the inhabitants.
• A few schools exist, but these are very overcrowded and many of the slums population are too busy working earning money to help support their families to become well educated. 
• There are three hospitals but they are poorly equipped and many don’t have proper access to medical help and support.
• 500 people share one public latrine. People have to go to the toilet in the street and there are open sewers. 
• Children play amongst sewage waste
• doctors deal with 4,000 cases a day of diphtheria and typhoid.  Next to the open sewers are water pipes, which can crack and take in sewage.  
• Dharavi slum is based around this water pipe built on an old rubbish tip. 
• The people have not planned this settlement and have no legal rights to the land. 
• There are also toxic wastes in the slum including hugely dangerous heavy metals
• Dharavi is made up of 12 different neighborhoods and there are no maps or road signs.  The further you walk into Dharavi from the edge the more permanent and solid the structures become.  
• People live in very small dwellings (e.g. 12X12ft), often with many members of their extended families.  
• Water is a big problem for Mumbai’s population, standpipes come on at 5:30am for 2 hours as water is rationed.  These standpipes are shared between many people.
• Rubbish is everywhere and most areas lack sanitation and excrement and rats are found on the street.  
• sewage water filters into the water used for washing clothes.

GENERAL Slum challenges:

• Risk of eviction. Most of the land they are built on is illegally occupied so they could be thrown of it at any time.
• No proper electricity connections leading to illegal and dangerous connection to the city’s electricity supply
• Housing that is only made out of temporary material which is vulnerable to flooding, etc.
• No clean water supply which can lead to diseases like typhoid.
• Overcrowding (high population density) which allows diseases to spread quickly
• No toilets, showers or proper sewer systems which can cause disease to spread and attract mosquitoes which cause diseases like malaria
• No proper rubbish collections which can attract animals like rats
• No proper schools and medical facilities
• Shortage of entertainment and facilities for all ages
• High unemployment
• High crime rates, including gangs, drugs and murders

Solutions to Mumbai’s problems

1. REDEVELOPMENT SCHEME

The plan to improve Dharavi is called Vision Mumbai.

This involves replacing squatter settlement housing with high quality high-rise tower blocks of flats. 

The Indian government also wants to add basic services, more schools, health centres, shops, better roads and more jobs. 

The improvement of Dharavi has not yet begun due to costs (estimated at about £2 billion) and the size of the problems.

Advantages

• 72,000 families re-homed
• More sanitary/ clean- plumbing
• = less illness= less healthcare (an expense)
• Strengthen road networks
• =Businesses attracted= better paid jobs
• Improve education = more money made in the future
• Live and work in separate places= better health/ less cramped
• $3000 per year generated from new commercial/ industrial areas.

Disadvantages

• 28,000 families without home
• =Possibly make new slum somewhere else.
• Flatten slum
• Ugly cramped high rises
• New buildings too small (5-10 people get 21 square meters)
• Ruin slum culture
• People like working/ living in same area
• Slum dwellers now have to pay tax

Other solutions

• Monitoring fishing in the lakes and dissecting and analysing pollution content in fish has now been set up in Mumbai to help stop its population consuming contaminated and poisonous fish species. 
• Water Quality monitoring has now been implemented in 3 of the most contaminated lakes.
• Remaining areas of agricultural land are being protected from development by the Indian Government. (E.G the Creation of the Sanjay Gandhi National Park).
• The Society for the Promotion of Area Resource Centres, better known as SPARC, this is an NGO that supports the efforts of local people to get better housing for their many members. Ideas generated from local people supported by this charity include adding an extra floor to buildings so that all family members can be accommodated in the same building. These flats also had 14-foot high ceilings and a single tall window so are well ventilated, bright, and less dependent on electric fans for cooling. Their loft spaces add extra room without seeming crowded, and include small spaces for bathing. But toilets are placed at the end of each of the building’s four floors, and kept clean by the two or three families who use each one. These ideas only work when water is running in Dharavi.
• As the National Slum Dwellers Federation has repeatedly proven, housing the poor works best, costs less and is better for the environment, when the poor themselves have a say in what is being built.

GENERAL Slum challenges:

• Risk of eviction. Most of the land they are built on is illegally occupied so they could be thrown of it at any time.
• No proper electricity connections leading to illegal and dangerous connection to the city’s electricity supply
• Housing that is only made out of temporary material which is vulnerable to flooding, etc.
• No clean water supply which can lead to diseases like typhoid.
• Overcrowding (high population density) which allows diseases to spread quickly
• No toilets, showers or proper sewer systems which can cause disease to spread and attract mosquitoes which cause diseases like malaria
• No proper rubbish collections which can attract animals like rats
• No proper schools and medical facilities
• Shortage of entertainment and facilities for all ages
• High unemployment
• High crime rates, including gangs, drugs and murders

An Urban Area

Case study: Monks Cross

•location: 3km North East of York City Centre, north of A1036 Malton Road and inside York outer ring road

•history: 

•prior to late 1990’s it was rural in nature 

•lies East of Huntington – a once freestanding village being absorbed by York’s eastern urban sprawl 

•area was mainly farmland, with arable fields, gentle slopes and hedgerow boundaries 

•poorly drained areas near streams used by livestock or nature – most woods are gone

•Brockfield Park is the site of the housing and development of Monks Cross

•new houses south of Huntington e.g Geldof Road 

•considerable loss of green space due to development and road construction 

Recent developments: 

•continued population growth led York to follow a trend of geographical expansion 

•new housing and residential facilities such as schools and clinics were built in Huntington as its population increased by 3000 in 10 years

•in 1998, the first phase began, comprised of well 

•it was accompanied by building fast food outlets, petrol stations, roundabouts and car parks

•the Vanguard Shopping Park, costing £90 million, opened in 2014

•has been expanded to 31 outlets with 100,000 visitors in peak weeks

•reorganizing of existing stores, to create a large Primark (45,000 sqft) in 2016

•Vangarde shopping center 339,000 soft is among the highest ranked developments in the UK

•the shopping park as the North’s first flagship John Lewis and the region’s largest M&S with a 30,000 sqft Next and 1340 parking spaces

•boasts a picturesque Community Plaza for shoppers to relax, using trees and plants to ensure the park is environmentally-friendly and is sustainable 

•new York Community Stadium will provide an 8000 seat stadium for the football and rugby league, a swimming pool and new cinemas etc. 

Impacts of urban sprawl at Monks Cross:

•loss of farmland due to large scale development 

•3km2 of farmland built on since 1998 – replacing crop and arable land 

•permeable surfaces replaced by impermeable ones

• combined with reduced vegetation means less interception and infiltration 
• surface runoff increases amount and speed of drainage into River Foss, increasing flood hazard 

•traffic congestion 

• many use Malton Road to travel to Monks Cross and many in Huntington expanded

                to commute to work in the city

•atmospheric pollution from increased traffic along Malton Road

• emissions of nitrous oxide, carbon monoxide and dioxide meant reduced air quality
• First Buses who operate the Park and Ride have introduced a fleet of electric buses

•habitats destroyed by developments 

• many hedgerows destroyed, containing many bats, birds and woodland and insects e.g the Great Crested Newt (protected species) and Primrose 
• ponds were relocated following rules of Nature England

•much spending by visitors

• creation of hundreds of jobs at Monks Cross with a regional catchment area
• free parking and increasing customer choice, high class shopping and leisure 
• turnover of £568 million in York, with 10% leakage to Monks Cross

•new housing and services built in Huntington 

• many new homes built e.g New Road

•services like Huntington Health Care Centre, Yearly Primary School and Fisheries

Highly dependent population: Japan

The Current Situation

In 2011, Japan had 22.9% of its population made up of over 65 year-olds (compared to 16% in the UK) and had a high dependency ratio of 59.8 (compared to 52 in the UK), meaning that every 100 workers had to support almost 60 people.

Japan’s birth rate has not been above 2 level since 1974. 

Fertility rate: Ideally, the average number of children per couple should be 2.6, but currently this stands at 1.7 and at present trends, by 2050 there will be only 1.3 workers to support each senior.

What Will Happen Next

The situation will worsen over time since there are now fewer children to become workers. At the same time, the current population will age and more people will become pensioners. In fact, by 2055, the percentage of Japan’s population that is over 65 is expected to rocket up to 41%.

Problems This Will Cause

• The overall population will start falling:at the current birth rate (2014), Japan’s population will fall by a third over the next 50 years to 87 million.
• Some underused schools will start shutting down, so students will have to make a longer commute
• Reduction in spending into local businesses – smaller domestic market
• Less tax income for the government
• Higher spending for the government (the social security benefits is expected to almost double between 1995 and 2025)
• Lower standard of living
• Shortage of recruits for Japan’s armed forces
• Shortage of labor:the workforce, which measured 65.77 million in 2013, could drop by 42% by 2060 to 37.95 million
• Increased dependency on foreign workers (immigration) and potentially foreign goods (imports)

Strategies to Solve the Problem

2014: goal of maintaining the population at around 100 million over the next 50 years.

To increase workforce:

• The government began a programme which is aimed at enabling mothers to remain working (to earn enough income in order to maintain a good standard of living) while bringing up children at the same time
• Employers are allowing workers to continue working after they turn 65 years old
• A pro-natal population policy was introduced to try and encourage more births
• Japanese men are being encouraged to spend more time at home raising their children and doing housework to enable mothers to stay in the workforce
• Japan has become more open to immigration:strategic inclusion of foreign workers, including those with high-level skills,
• Encouraging more women in the workforce and retired people to keep working
• Government funding matchmaking and dating services to get more young people married and producing babies.

To cope with the increasing costs of an aging population:

• The retirement age will moved from 60 to 65 years-old by 2025. Currently 62 years (2016) up from 60 years (2010).
• Taxes for the working population have risen
• A long-term care insurance scheme has become available

High Population Density: Japan

BASIC FACTS:

• Japan is one of the most densely populated countries in the world – 339/km2 – mostly in urban areas

THE COAST OF HONSHU ISLAND IS HIGHLY DENSE BECAUSE…

• Flat land makes it easy to build upon  
• There are many harbors for imports and exports  
• There is a growing fishing industry  
• The three main areas are: Tokyo, Nagoya and Osaka  Outside of urban areas there are high density rural areas. 
• People live there due to the fertile soil, flat land, warm climate and good transport links  
• Over 2/3 of central Japan is mountainous. 
• Few people live here due to steep slopes, acidic soils, isolated communities, little work and extreme climate

High-Dense Urban Area:

Relief:

• Towns and cities stretch along with the ost (particularly Honshu island)
• Flatland
• On the coast

Economical:

• Economics is based on the fishing industry, exports and imports of manufactured and raw materials goods airports, office companies factories, etc.

Communication:

• Easily done, as the areas are very close.

High-dense rural area:

Relief:

• Flate valley floors and gently sloping lower slopes of Honshu and Kyushu islands. 
• Village and small towns between are many farms

Economical:

• Is based on farming and citizens who commute to cities to work.

Communication:

• Easily done as the areas are closer together 

Low-dense rural area:

Relief:

• Highland and slopes.
• Soils are thin, acidic and infertile.
• Not enough flat land to grow food on and build houses.
• The climate is often extremely long, cold winters and heavy rain.

Economical:

• There is little work expect forestry as there are few natural resources.
• The areas os bored off of forestry.

Communication:

• Many areas are isolated and remote as the winding roads are poor and there are few if any, other communications.

Low population density: Namibia

• There is a low population density of just 2.5/km2 (one of the most sparsely populated in the world)  
• It’s in Southern Africa along the Atlantic Coast  
• Much of Namibia is desert, with a hot , dry climate. Rainfall is sparse and erratic and there are prolonged periods of drought. 
• There is little rainfall  
• It’s GDP per person is 5200 US dollars and the country’s economy is dependent on the extraction and processing of minerals for export  
• Mining employs 3% of the population whilst half of the population relies on subsistence agriculture
• The namib desert, an immense expanse of moving gravel plains and dunes of all shapes and sizes which includes the huge dunes at Sossusvlei, stretches along the entire coastline

1. Why is Namibia sparsely populated? (climate)

Dry + little rainfall = desert = no crops+difficult to build + floods.

2. Why is Namibia sparsely populated? (Relief)

Mountainous areas= hard to build houses+no transport.

3. Why is Namibia sparsely populated? (economic)

Lack of jobs so people move to urban areas.

4. PSD for sparse population in Namibia

Maras region = 0.5 people per km2

Hardap region = 0.7 people per km2

Settlement and service provision: Sardinia

BASIC FACTS:

• Sardinia is Italy’s second largest island and the second largest island in the Mediterranean Sea.
• With a total population of 1.7 million people.
• Previously known for its agriculture and mining (coal, lead and zinc). 
• Over the last 50 years it has become popular with tourists.

CALIGARI:

• Capital city
• POPULATION is 250,000 people 
• Commercial, Industrial, Trade + Market-town, Port, Tourism.
• Largest fish markets in Italy. Biggest container of terminals in Mediterranean sea.

OLIBIA:

• Large town
• Town of over 50,000 inhabitants
• North east Sardinia
• Main connection between Sardinia and Italy with an airport, port, railway to porto torres + Cagliari, expressway and main roads.