Population Issues

1
Population Issues
2
MEDCs Land Reclamation Drainage

• Countries, such as Japan and the Netherlands have
  tried to increase the land available for their
  growing urban areas by reclaiming land from the
  sea and draining marsh lands.
• Cities, such as Kobe in Japan now have large
  artificial islands that are used for industry,
  just off their waterfront.
• In the Netherlands a huge area to the East of
  Amsterdam has been reclaimed, using long dams to
  reclaim islands called Polders.
• Both ideas have been successful in allowing urban
  growth to continue on previously un-used areas.

3
MEDCs In-Migration

• Some developed countries have tried to boost
  their declining populations by encouraging the
  in-migration of migrant workers into their
  countries.
• A very good example is the Turkish
  "Gasterbeiters" (Guest Workers) who regularly
  moved into Germany during the 1980's and 1990's.
• They were encouraged to move in to the country
  for short periods to fill jobs that were not
  being taken up by Germans.
• However this scheme has slowed in recent years as
  it has begun to cost Germany a lot of money in
  benefits for Turks who have decided to stay, as
  well as jobs being lost due to global recession.

4
LEDCs Birth Control

• The most famous example of a country using a
  birth control scheme is that of China.
• As the population sky-rocketed, the government
  realised that something had to be done otherwise
  there would be not enough resources to cope.
• In the 1970's and 1980's agricultural
  improvements meant that the country became
  self-sufficient and, most importantly, the
  country was producing the best balance of
  nutritious foods.
• However they also decided to " during the 1980's.
  
• This was aimed at slowing the rapid population
  growth that already taken the population of China
  over 1 billion.

5
LEDCs Birth Control

• Couples only having one child gained huge
  benefits such as free schooling for their child,
  tax incentives, better pensions, better access to
  state housing schemes and increased family
  allowances.
• All towns and villages had government appointed
  health workers, who made it their business to
  know when someonegot pregnant.
• They would then help them through the pregnancy
  and put huge pressure on them not to have any
  more.
• There are huge social pressures not to have more
  than one child.
• In general the scheme is working well in the
  urban areas, however in rural areas couples are
  still having large families to allow them to have
  workers for the farms.
• There are also reports of abortions and that baby
  girls have been killed by couples wanting one boy
  only.

6
LEDCs Irrigation

• Irrigation schemes have been vital in increasing
  the agricultural yields of many areas of the
  developing world.
• Small-scale schemes that benefit a community or
  village seem to be the most successful.
• The larger schemes that involve huge dams and the
  production of HEP often leave the country with
  huge debts to pay off, which often means they are
  even more dependent on MEDC's for help.