Core 1 • Section 2
Changing Population & Places
How populations change over time — and how fertility, mortality, urban growth and migration reshape the places in which people live.
Processes of population change & their effect on people and places
Expanded from the original AdornGeo Weebly lesson sequence • surviving activities retained • visual media embedded for classroom use
Population change & the demographic transition
Population change and demographic transition over time, including natural increase, fertility, mortality and changing population structure.
The demographic transition model (DTM) links changes in birth rates and death rates to changing rates of natural increase as places develop. Use it as a model rather than a fixed pathway: real countries can move at different speeds and do not always follow the same sequence.
The original AdornGeo page placed its DTM activities beside video and visual explanation. This restored version makes that visual stage visible again while retaining the original activity and reading links.
Watch: The Demographic Transition Model explained
Quizlet: Changing Population key terminology
Population pyramids
Interpret population pyramids to connect age–sex structure with past and future changes in fertility, mortality and migration.
Population pyramids are a visual record of demographic change. Compare the width of the base, the working-age population and older cohorts, then explain what the shape suggests about dependency and future population momentum.
- Describe the shape before trying to explain it.
- Identify evidence of high or low fertility.
- Look for unusually large or small cohorts and suggest causes.
- Estimate the likely dependency pattern.
- Predict how the structure could change over the next generation.
Fertility
Changing fertility over time and space, and the social, economic, political and cultural factors that influence family size.
Fertility varies markedly between places and changes as access to education, healthcare and contraception, the cost of raising children, women’s opportunities, cultural expectations and government policies change.
Use the map to identify the global pattern, then test explanations against the original Netherlands–Niger comparison and Diamond 9 activity.
Watch: Global fertility rates — The Economist (archive copy)
Life expectancy
Patterns and trends in mortality and life expectancy, and the factors that create differences between places.
Life expectancy summarizes mortality conditions across the life course. Compare countries and regions, then connect differences to healthcare, income, nutrition, sanitation, education, conflict and lifestyle.
Megacities: consequences of growth
Changing population and places, including megacity growth and the consequences of rapid urban population change.
Megacity growth concentrates people, infrastructure and economic opportunity, but rapid expansion can also intensify housing shortages, congestion, pollution, inequality and pressure on services. The original AdornGeo lesson used Shanghai as its main mapped example.
Watch: Hans Rosling: Urbanization
Migration & internal displacement
Causes and consequences of migration and internal displacement at different scales.
Migration redistributes population between places. Separate voluntary migration from forced displacement, identify the push and pull factors involved, and evaluate consequences for migrants, origin areas and destinations.
The Rohingya case study
Forced migration and displacement: causes, routes, destinations, lived impacts and the challenges of providing protection and services.
The Rohingya crisis provides a detailed example of forced displacement. Build the case study from a sequence of cause → movement → destination → consequences → responses, while keeping the dates of evidence clear.
Watch: The Rohingya crisis explained