POPULATION AND LABOUR ECONOMICS

POPULATION ECONOMICS

Population refers to the total number of people living in a given area during a specified period of time.

TERMS USED UNDER POPULATION

1.     Birth rate (crude birth rate)

This refers to the number of children born alive in a year per thousand of the population. It is expressed as a percentage.

Determinants of birth rate

·        Level of education

·        Cultural status

·        Food supply

·        Level of technology for example family planning methods being used.

·        Natural female fertility rate.

·        Government policyon population growth.

1.     Death rate (Crude Birth Rate)

This refers to the number of deaths in a year per thousand of the population. It is expressed as a percentage.

Determinants of death rate

·        Food supply

·        Political climate

·        Level of income of individuals

·        Level of medical care

·        Rate of natural hazards or epidemics for example Ebola, AIDS and cholera.

1.     Fertility rate

This refers to the number of children a woman can bear in her reproductive age/ life usually 15 to 45 years.

Determinants of fertility rates in developing countries

·        Health standards

·        Demand for children

·        Cost of living

·        Socio-economic status

·        Level of education

Causes of high fertility rate in developing countries

a)     The economic value of children

Some communities attach great importance to the number of children in a family. This is because children are source of labour and provide security to their parents later in their old age.

b)     Customs and traditions.

In some communities, children are sources of pride, pleasure and respect to the parents. A wife who bears many children is regarded as the ideal wife. Fertility rates are therefore high in a community with such an attitude to children and women

c)     Low cost of raising children

The cost of raising children in some societies is lower than benefits realized from them. Costs of raising children in such societies are low because food is plentifully available and government meets the cost of education and medical care. Thus the burden of raising children is not so much felt by the parents thus encouraging them to produce more.

d)     Early marriage.

Women in developing countries tend to marry when they are still young usually at the age of 15 or less. The child bearing period of up to 49 years of age is therefore very high.

e)     Limited access to education by women

The majority of women in developing countries have limited access to education thus limiting their role in society to provision of labour to family tasks and child bearing.

f)      Absence of government commitment to control fertility.

Fertility rates are high due to government failure to punish families for having many children. This contrasts sharply with countries where governments use positive and negative sanctions to influence family size such as in china and India.

g)     Increased health and life expectancy of mothers

Education and health services have increased the life expectancy of child bearing mothers through reduced maternal mortality rates thereby increasing fertility rates.

2.     Life expectancy

This is the time period normally in years that a baby is expected to live after it has been born.

3.     Mortality rate

This is the number of people who die before their life expectancy is over.

In many developing countries, the mortality rate has fallen because of improved economic and hygienic conditions, availability of modern medicine and better medical and education which have been provided to the people by the government.

4.     Migration

This refers to the movement of people from one area to another in a given time.

5.     Immigration

This refers to the movement of people which involves entering and settling into the country.

6.     Emigration

This refers to the movement of people which involves moving out of the country to settle in other countries.

Factors which influence migration of people

þ Imbalances in resource distribution among regions and countries.

þ Differences in levels of development between regions and countries.

þ Difference in incomes and wages between regions.

þ Political instabilities like wars and change of regimes.

þ Educational requirements where people are forced to go to other countries to acquire education.

þ Differences in climatic conditions which may be favourable or unfavourable.

þ Diseases which may affect certain regions thereby pushing people to other countries.

7.     Population increase

This is the rise in the number of people living in an area over time.

Population grows in two ways i.e. naturally or artificially.

Thus population increase can also be defined as the growth in population size either naturally (birth rate exceeds death rate) or by artificial increase by way of net migration;    

8.     Population growth rate

Population growth rate refers to the annual percentage increase in the number of people living in area overtime.

There are two kinds of population growth rates i.e.

a)     Natural population growth rate (NPGR)

This is the rate of increase of the population size over a given period due to interplay of birth rates and death rates.

b)     Artificial population growth rate (APGR)

This is the rate of change of the population resulting from the interplay of immigration and emigration rates.

Determinants of population growth rate

þ Birth rate/ fertility rate

þ Death rate/ mortality rate

þ The net international migration

9.     Population projection

This is an estimation of the future population size basing on the current population size and population growth rate.

10.     Demography:

This is the study of the population structure and its composition in terms of age, sex, education levels etc.

11.     Population census

This is the physical counting of people in the country after a given period of time.

In Uganda, the population census is normally carried out after every 10 years.

REASONS FOR CARRYING OUT A POPULATION CENSUS

a)     To enable the calculation of per capita income so as to indicate the standard of living. The per capita income is the ratio of the total income to the total population of a country.

b)    To establish the size of a country’s population so as to facilitate planning. For example planning for employment, housing and educational facilities requires accurate population figures.

c)     To establish the distribution of the population. This focuses on age, gender (sex), level of education and spatial distribution. This enables the government to allocate resources appropriately in the country.

d)    To establish the quality of a country’s population. This mainly focuses on the level of education and the health status of the people in a country. This aids man power planning in a country.

e)     To establish the size of the labour force. The government wishes to find out the number of people ready for employment such that it puts in place a conducive environment to ensure that the jobs are available.

f)      To determine the natural population growth rate. This is through computing the number of live births per 1000 and population and the number of deaths per 1000 population so as to find out whether the population is increasing or not.

g)     To establish the rate of migration/ to determine the artificial population growth rate. An increase in the number of immigrants with a fall in the number of emigrants represents an increase in in the artificial population growth rate.

h)    To solicit for foreign aid. This is through presenting the population statistics to international aid agencies or friendly countries. The aid agencies like USAID, IMF, World Bank and IDA always request for population figures to determine the area/ sector and the amount of aid to be given.

i)      To establish the number of nationals and non-nationals in a country. This is to help the government design appropriate policies on ownership of property, work permits and immigration.

j)      To obtain population figures to demarcate political units like constituencies, town councils, municipal councils and town boards. The decision to accord any of the above statutes depends on the existing size of the population.

4.     Population density

This is the number of people per unit area of land for example per square kilometer.

5.     Population explosion

This is the sudden rapid sharp increase in population of an area over time such that existing resources become too inadequate to support the population.

Effects of population explosion

Ø Leads to over exploitation of resources.

Ø Leads to food shortages

Ø Leads to land shortages

Ø Leads to increased dependence burden.

Ø Leads to increased poverty.

Ø Worsens balance of payments position.

Ø Leads to environmental degradation.

Ø Leads to increased income inequalities.

Ø Leads to demand pull inflation.

Ø Unemployment is increased.

Ø Distorts government projected planning.

6.     Dependence burden

The dependence burden refers to the section of the population that is below 16 years and above 64 years which is economically unproductive and thus reliant on the working population  for survival.

Negative effects of a high dependence burden

þ Low savings

þ Underutilization of resources

þ Heavy burden on government to provide social services

þ Low productivity in the economy

þ Low labour supply

7.     Dependence ratio.

The dependence ratio is the ratio of the dependents to the total population.

Example

Given that the working population in a country is 12,000,000, the young

population is 14,000,000 and the elderly population is 4,000,000, calculate the country’s dependency ratio.     

Solution