What affects Birth Rates and Death Rates?

There is a total of about 196 different countries in the world and all of them have varying Birth Rates(BR) versus Death Rates(DR). What exactly affects the BRs and DRs of the different countries? First things first, in general, less developed countries (LDC) such as China and India have much higher birth rates compared to already developed countries(DC) such as Singapore. The most obvious difference would be that LDCs tend to be more rural, in the way that they generally do more farming and mass rearing of animals while in DCs technology is everything and majority of the jobs are not physically, but mentally-tiring.

In LDCs, since they need more manpower to work in their fields, families would often be bigger so that more children can provide help. Another reason for high BRs in LDCs would be because the people there (especially the women) lack proper education relating to sexuality and thus contraceptives preventing unwanted pregnancies are not used. These women then become very family-orientated, putting their focus on expanding their families and caring for them instead of securing a job. Religious beliefs or status quo also encourages the people to have big families. Furthermore, besides due to high infant mortality rates, the most common would be the preference for male babies who carry on the family name and are physically stronger. The parents might have many daughters while trying for a son.

Although the BRs in LDCs are very high, the DR is comparable. The DRs are also very high in LDCs due to the lack of proper medical care. These countries are very poor and thus there is very minimal medical infrastructure and personnel available. Even when available, the hospitals are very widespread and patients would have to travel long distances to seek medical help. In addition, medical costs are really expensive and being simple farmers, most rural people in LDCs cannot afford medicine. Also, hygiene is another big factor. Most streets of LDCs are very filthy and are unsanitary. Germs and bacteria thrive in these conditions and diseases are spread very quickly. If a very serious and infectious disease is contracted by one human, it may very well wipe out a whole city within a few weeks.

In DCs, however, people are most focused on their jobs/careers and thus spend much less time focusing on family matters such as marriage and caring for babies. As a result, most couples nowadays marry late in their 20s or even in their 30s. Since older women are less fertile as they age, marrying later will result in less children, which leads to an overall low birth rate for the country. Singapore is an example of these kind of DCs where birth rates are very low. The government is trying to boost birth rates by encouraging couples through baby bonuses and special treatment for the pregnant or babies.

Following the low birth rates, low death rates are not far behind for most DCs as well. This is due to medical technology being very advanced in modern society. The elderly live longer as they receive proper medical care which is both convenient and non-expensive, as the government subsidies for the elderly. 

Population

How does a changing population affect the world?

How it applies to Singapore
Singapore is experiencing what we call a silver tsunami or an aging population, where the elderly are increasing in numbers while birth rates slow down. With their children so caught up with their careers and own lives, many of the elderly people are unable to support themselves as being retirees, they do not hold proper jobs to earn a living. This happens mostly because their children themselves do not even have enough money of their own or their children are too selfish to care for them in today's stressful modern day lifestyle.

As a result, the government has to invest more of the country's money into providing the elderly with financial aid and support. Currently, the government is trying to alleviate this problem by several methods, such as helping Singaporeans to save up money in their banks when they are still working. For example, a certain percentage of each working adult's pay would be saved up in a bank and left to accumulate. Thus, when he retires, he would be able to use the money from his own savings instead of depend on the government. In addition, due to the smaller working population (since most are retirees), Singapore's economy will be slowed down. The number of tourists would increase as the economical value to the Singapore dollar would decrease, providing better exchange rates.


How it applies to the world in general
Just last year the world population hit 7 billion - and it is still increasing. Below is a graph that shows the world population development from 1750 up till 2050.

In 1750, there was about 1 billion people in the world and the population only reached 2 billion in about 1925. As an estimate, it took 175 years for the population to grow by 1 billion. However, from 1925 to 2000, there was a sharp increase in the world population from just 2 billion people to slightly over 6 billion. After rounding down the 6 billion to make the general overview easier, we can see that within 75 years (1925-2000), the population increased by about 4 million. The population increase from 1925-2000 was 4 times more than that of the population increase from 1750-1925, and it took less than half the number of years!

The world's population is increasing at an alarming rate. More people means more supplies and resources are needed to sustain basic human needs. Besides more food and water, modern day technology will also require more electricity and petrol. Food production is greatly heightened with the help of technology, water is desalinated in mass amounts, and with modern technology, more carbon dioxide will be released into the air, pushing global warming to its tipping point.

Apart from struggling to not overuse natural resources, we come to the troubles of the working world. With so many people, there are simply not enough job opportunities for everyone. This will lead to much retrenchment and jobless people, all barely surviving on a few cents per day. Economies will be slowed down, global recessions will threaten to arise. The working world would be a battleground for survival as when there is no money, productions stop and companies would not be able to progress. 

The world population is increasing rapidly, and with more people, the strain on Mother Earth is gradually increasing. At our current rates, Mother Earth may just collapse at any time. We have to work together to sustain the Earth before it is too late!

-Matthea, Natalie, Mildred