Essay Sample on Birth Rate Statistics

What type of survivorship curve do modern humans possess?

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A survivorship curve is basically a graphical representation that shows the number of individuals of a given population expected to survive. The type of survivorship for the case of humans is the type 1 curve since humans have lower mortality rate among their young ones they tend to live long and tend to die towards the end of their life spans. This is attributed by their low death and birthrates. (Britanica, 2018)Why might there be a difference in survivorship between men and women? Explain.

This might be influenced by a diverse number of factors among them being biological factors such as the hormones that have an influence on individual's behaviors, then the environmental factors that include the cultural influences on different gender. According to a report, it is believed that men have the tendency of engaging in risky behaviors as opposed to women as influenced by the hormone testosterone that causes the behavior of great physical activities and is also the cause of aggressiveness. They form the majority of the cigarette smokers, heavy drinkers, the users of guns and also the ones who are employed in risky occupations in most of the populations. There is also the aspect of the males being the ones who engage in activities which are risk-taking. Males are the major contributor to the higher death rates of various causes including deaths due to lung cancer, suicides, accidents, and even homicides.

Women in the developing countries are less likely to be members of the workforce as compared to men, the ravages of work is most likely to course more suffering on men than on women. This is also an indication of the reason why the majority of the males have the health issues as compared to the women in that population which also translates to the higher death rates as compared to the females. (PRB, 2018)Why might obituaries be a poor source of data for determining a human survivorship curve?

All the facts provided in the obituaries may not be accurate. This is because the person providing the details may not be having the actual information on the deceased's birth dates and death dates. There may also be the impact of the difference in the income levels of people in a given country. This is seen clearly whereby the ones who get published on the newspaper's obituaries are majorly the members of the upper social stature who can afford to get published on the papers. The ones who dwell in the lower income levels may not be able to afford to do so hence most of them do not feature in these obituaries. This makes the data collected from the obituaries to rather bias and may not provide good data on death rates because of this uneven representation of all the different income earners of the country. (NEAGS, 2014)The data for this exercise was collected from the United States. Would you expect to see the same curve from data collected in a developing (i.e., under-developed) country? What might the differences be, if any?

The data used for this exercises in developing countries will not be the same as that of a developed country like the USA. This is because of the influence of harsh environmental conditions that the males and the females in a population of the developing and under-developed countries are experiencing. There are a number of risks they are exposed such as risks of infectious diseases and epidemics. They spread so fast that may result in higher infant mortality as well as death rates of the people in that given population. This can be enhanced by the level of poverty index whereby there is poor access to medical services, poor nutrition for children and also for the adults. The risks during childbirth where most of the females deliver in their homes which are considered to be unsafe and is influenced by the lower social status that the women live in. these among many other factors influences the life expectancies of members of the population of developing or underdeveloped nation when compared to a developed nation like the USA (PRB, 2018)Part 2

Based on what you know about the different shapes of the age structure diagrams, what kind of growth is China's population is experiencing?

This type of age structure diagram for China is called the Constructive population age structure diagram. They show populations that are aging where there is a higher number of middle-aged people as well as the older citizens. The graph is seen tapering at the bottom showing less number of younger people and children when compared to the older ones in the population. This is an indication of reduced birth rates in that given country that is China. This constructive age structure diagram is a characteristic of countries that have higher levels of economic social development. (Population Education, 2018)

In 2015, which two age brackets have the highest number of individuals?

The age brackets of 25-29 and the age of 45 -49n had the highest number of individuals of about 60 million for each gender in the year 2015.

In 1979, China implemented the well-known One Child Policy in an effort to slow an exploding population. Looking at the population curve and the changes in the age structure diagram through 2050, what were the results of the policy? Did it work? How do you know?

From the population curve, it is observed that the policy was only effective for a short period as seen in the age brackets 35-39. It is also observed that the preceding age brackets below bracket 35-39 had lesser number of individuals. There is also an observable decrease in a number of individuals for all the age brackets below bracket 35-39 to the bracket 0-5. Therefore is clear that the policy worked quite effectively in reducing the population density in China as shown in the population curve up to the year 2050.

If the One Child Policy is kept in place through 2100 and birth and death rates stay the same, how does the age structure of the population change? Why might this become a problem in an industrialized society?

If the one-child policy was adopted in China through 2100, the age structure of the population will greatly change where there will be a number of older citizens and less youthful citizens. The youth generally are the majorly the drivers of industries. Therefore if this policy was kept to all through to 2100 there will be the shortage of labor force that is required to drive the industries. The Impact can be destructive in the long run where the industries will have lesser manpower to drive them.

All other parameters being consistent what does the age structure diagram's pattern tell us about China's population if birth rates are raised to 2.15 per woman through the year 2200?

If the birth rates will be increased to 2.15 per woman, then the age structure takes the bell shape form. There will be a higher number of younger people as compared to the older citizen. The brackets for the children will be the highest number of individuals and fairly high number of youth.

Given the current birth rate of 1.98 per woman in the U.S. and a 1.36% per year death rate, what kind of pattern do we see in the age structure diagram through the year 2100? Is our population declining or increasing? Is it generally stable?

The population by the year 2100 will be generally stable where the number of younger people as seen in the age brackets 40-44 downwards are fairly constant. There will be a lesser number of older citizens can be observed in the age structure diagram.

What does this slight change do to the U.S. population? Is it generally stable or unstable by 2100?

When the birthrate is increased by 5%, there will be a slight increase in population by the year 2100 of 0.06% by the year 2100.

Which two countries' default diagrams for 2015 best represent rapid population growth?

Iraq is the leading in terms of population growth rate having the most rapid population growth with the growth rate of 4.45% and is followed by Nigeria having a population growth rate of 2.65%. These two countries bests represent populations that are rapidly growing.

References

Britanica. (2018). Survivorship Curve. Retrieved from Survivorship Curve: https://www.britannica.com/science/survivorship-curve

NEAGS. (2014). Newspaper Obituaries - Are all the facts accurate? Retrieved from NEAGS: http://neags.com/newspaper-obituaries-facts-accurate/

Population Education. (2018). What are The Different Types of population Pyramids? Retrieved from Population Education: https://populationeducation.org/what-are-the-different-types-popualtion-pyramids/

PRB. (2018). Gender Disparities in Health and Mortality. Retrieved from PRB: https://www.prb.org/genderdisparities/