Population

Demography

Demography is the study of population. Population means the people that live in an area. The total population of a place is the number of people who live there. The population density is the number of people who live in 1 square kilometre. This is expressed in inhabitants per km2 and it is obtained using this calculation:

densely populated country sparsely populated country

Changes in Population

Many factors can affect population. We can use different rates to study them: - The fertility rate is the average number of children per family. Calculation: - The birth rate is the number of births per 1000 people each year. - The death rate is the number of deaths per 1000 people each year. - Life expectancy is the average number of years people live.

Changes in Population

Immigrants are people who arrive from other countries to live in a place. Emigrants are people who leave to live in other places.

𝑁𝑒𝑡 𝑚𝑖𝑔𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛=𝑖𝑚𝑚𝑖𝑔𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑠 −𝑒𝑚𝑖𝑔𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑠

Natural growth is the difference between the total number of births and the total number of deaths.

𝑁𝑎𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑎𝑙 𝑔𝑟𝑜𝑤𝑡ℎ= 𝑏𝑖𝑟𝑡ℎ 𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑒 −𝑑𝑒𝑎𝑡ℎ 𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑹𝒆𝒂𝒍 𝒈𝒓𝒐𝒘𝒕𝒉=𝒏𝒂𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒂𝒍 𝒈𝒓𝒐𝒘𝒕𝒉+𝒏𝒆𝒕 𝒎𝒊𝒈𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏

Population pyramids

TOPageing population (65+ years)

Vertical axis: the age groups grouped in steps of five years.

On the right are women.

On the left are men.

MIDDLE SECTIONadult population(15-64 years)

BASEyoung people (0-14 years)

Horizontal axis: number of people expressed in absolute terms or as a percentage (%) of total population.

Population pyramids

Information:

Age group

• Wider at the base means the population is increasing.
• Wider in the middle means the population grew rapidly in the past but it is decreasing now.

Male

Female

• Wider at the top means the population is decreasing and has been decreasing for many years.

The population of Spain

The population of Spain is about 46,7 million people. Spain has a surface area of 505.968 km2 and a population density of 91

The most densely populated areas are the Community of Madrid, the coastal areas and the Balearic and Canary Islands.

Most of the population is urban: they live in towns and cities.

The most sparsely populated areas are in the interior of the Peninsula.

The population of Spain

The birth rate is the number of births per 1000 people each year.

The birth rate is very low: the average number of children per family is only 1,47.

In Spain

The death rate is the number of deaths per 1000 people each year.

Ageing of the Spanish population

The death rate decreased over the 20th century.

In Spain

Life expectancy is the average number of years people live.

Life expectancy is high: 79 years for men and 85 years for women.

In Spain

The population of Europe

Europe’s population is about 730 million people. The continent has an area of approximately 10.500.000 km2 and its population density is about 70. The most densely populated areas are the industrial zones of central Europe and the western Mediterranean coasts. The most sparsely populated areas are the ones where the climate and terrain are not suitable for habitation.

The population of the European Union (EU) is 507 million people. The population density of the EU is 114 . In the EU, there is a low birth rate. Women only have 1,6 children on average. Population growth will be weak in the next decades. Low natural growth has resulted in an ageing population. European life expectancy at birth is 77 years (in the EU it’s 80) The majority of Europe’s population is urban.

Causes of migration

poverty

war

search for a better quality of life

racial conflict

Social

religious conflict

and

Political

economic

Natural

Family

family

hurricanes

reunification

tsunamis

earthquakes

drought

Migration

Migration is caused by differences between places. The inequalities drive people to leave their homes and look for a new place to live, hoping to find a better live and working conditions. In 19th and 20th centuries, Spain was a country of emigrants:

• Emigration or external migration. People left Spain to look for work in Latin America or industrialised countries of Europe.
• Internal migration. People left the countryside to look for work in the cities, causing rural depopulation.

At the end of the 20th century, Spain became a recipient nation for immigrants. Today, there are about 6 million foreign residents in Spain.

Consequences of migration

Population

direct increase in

total population

increase in birth

rate

Cultural

Economy

diversity

economic

contact with new

growth

cultures

possibility of

sharing customs

and traditions