people arriving in a country. Immigration is movement in.

Which is a push factor?

drought in the countryside. It drives people away from where they are.

What is urbanisation?

the increase in the proportion of people living in towns and cities. A country becomes more urban.

What is life expectancy?

the average number of years a person can expect to live. It rises as healthcare and living conditions improve.

Which change would lower a country's birth rate?

more education for women. Educated women tend to have fewer children, later.

A country has more deaths than births, yet its population is growing. What explains this?

immigration is greater than emigration. People arriving make up for the natural decrease.

Why populations change · Cambridge IGCSE Environmental Management

In plain words

A population is like water in a bath. Births and people arriving are the taps. Deaths and people leaving are the plughole. Whether the level rises or falls depends on which is running faster.

7 things to know

Birth rates: how many babies are born depends on the number of children per woman. This is higher where children are needed for work and for support in old age, where many infants die, and where women have little access to education and contraception.
Death rates are linked to life expectancy, the average number of years a person can expect to live. Life expectancy rises with better healthcare, food, clean water and sanitation, so death rates fall.
A population grows when births are more than deaths, and shrinks when deaths are more than births.
Migration is the movement of people from one place to live in another. Emigration is leaving a country. Immigration is arriving in a country.
Push factors drive people away from a place: unemployment, poverty, war, drought and natural hazards. Pull factors attract people to a place: jobs, higher wages, schools, healthcare and safety.
Rural and urban migration: in most countries the main movement is from the countryside (rural areas) to towns and cities (urban areas), in search of work and services.
Urbanisation is the increase in the proportion of a country's people who live in towns and cities.

Worked example

In one year a country has 400 000 births, 150 000 deaths, 30 000 immigrants and 80 000 emigrants. Calculate the change in its population.

Births minus deaths: 400 000 − 150 000 = 250 000 more people.
Immigrants minus emigrants: 30 000 − 80 000 = −50 000, a loss of 50 000 people.
Total change: 250 000 − 50 000 = an increase of 200 000.

Tips and tricks

Emigration: exit. Immigration: in. The first letters give it away.
A push factor is something bad about the place a person leaves. A pull factor is something good about the place they go to. "No jobs" is a push, and "more jobs" is a pull.

6 questions, about 2 minutes.

It lands in your notebook with its questions as flashcards.

Why populations change: 6 questions and answers

These are the quiz’s questions. Do the quiz first, then come back here for the ones that got you.

What is immigration?
- people leaving a country
- people arriving in a country (the answer)
- people moving from city to countryside
- the number of births in a year
Immigration is movement in.
Which is a push factor?
- higher wages in the city
- good schools in the city
- drought in the countryside (the answer)
- better healthcare in the city
It drives people away from where they are.
What is urbanisation?
- the growth of farming
- the movement of people to the countryside
- the building of roads
- the increase in the proportion of people living in towns and cities (the answer)
A country becomes more urban.
What is life expectancy?
- the average number of years a person can expect to live (the answer)
- the number of deaths in a year
- the age at which people retire
- the number of children per woman
It rises as healthcare and living conditions improve.
Which change would lower a country's birth rate?
- less access to contraception
- more infant deaths
- more education for women (the answer)
- a need for children to work on farms
Educated women tend to have fewer children, later.
A country has more deaths than births, yet its population is growing. What explains this?Stretch
- emigration is greater than immigration
- immigration is greater than emigration (the answer)
- life expectancy is falling
- urbanisation is increasing
People arriving make up for the natural decrease.

6 questions

Tap an answer and you’ll see straight away whether it’s right, and why.

Worksheet

3 questions, 9 marks. Write your answers on paper, then check them.

Why populations change

Cambridge IGCSE Environmental Management 0680 · 9 marks · papermunch.org

Name ______________________________ Date ______________

Define the terms emigration and immigration.[2]
Show answerHide answer
Emigration is the movement of people out of a country. Immigration is the movement of people into a country.
I got this one
Explain why death rates fall as a country develops.[3]
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Healthcare improves, with more doctors, medicines and vaccination. People have clean water and sanitation, so there is less disease. Food supply is better, so life expectancy rises.
I got this one
State two push factors and two pull factors that cause rural to urban migration.[4]
Show answerHide answer
Push, any two: few jobs; low wages; drought or crop failure; poor schools and healthcare. Pull, any two: more jobs; higher wages; better schools; better healthcare.
I got this one

Answers: Why populations change

1. Emigration is the movement of people out of a country. Immigration is the movement of people into a country.
2. Healthcare improves, with more doctors, medicines and vaccination. People have clean water and sanitation, so there is less disease. Food supply is better, so life expectancy rises.
3. Push, any two: few jobs; low wages; drought or crop failure; poor schools and healthcare. Pull, any two: more jobs; higher wages; better schools; better healthcare.