120 likes | 485 Views
Unit 3-Population. The Peopled Planet: Standing Room Only?. Demography. The gathering and analysis of information about human populations. Population size Composition (age/sex ratios) Density Growth (birth/death rates) What implications do these factors have for the future?. Census.
E N D
Unit 3-Population The Peopled Planet: Standing Room Only?
Demography • The gathering and analysis of information about human populations. • Population size • Composition (age/sex ratios) • Density • Growth (birth/death rates) What implications do these factors have for the future?
Census • A census is a count of the population of a country. • facts about the population-age, sex, jobs, type of house, language spoken. • usually taken every 5 years. • “census” comes from the Latin word meaning “to tax” • 1790 – U.S. conducted first national census • 1871 - Canada
MDCs (vs) LDCs MDCs LDCs A few basic questions (numbers, genders, ages) Door-to-door (talk and write down necessary information) Very time consuming and requires many enumerators • List of questions can be several pages long • Distribute census forms to all households and are to be mailed back to the government by a certain date
Why? • The government needs to know how many people live in each part of their country; it then knows where to spend its money • Info about population trends; allows them to plan ahead • find out population structure - how many old, middle aged and young people there are • allows the government to target their spending - on old folks homes or schools • Curiosity, taxation, military, etc..
Inaccuracies • -Usual cause is a failure to account for all citizens.
Issues with Census taking • $$$ expensive! poor countries can’t afford them • Some people live in remote areas • Wars • Nomads • illiterate - unable to fill out the forms • Some people do not tell the truth for political or religious reasons
Inaccuracies & Problems • Fill-out table! • Page 158-159
Misleading information • Definitions. • Example: page 160 – Urban Boundary changes * Example: page 160 – Amalgamation of Halifax
Canadian Census • Statistics Canada • Every five years • Very expensive (1996 census – 8 yr budget -347 million • 80% receive short form (7 questions), while the rest receive a significantly longer version (55 questions – income, occupation, ethnicity) • Fines of $500 or three months imprisonment
Must complete it! • http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/woman-79-who-refused-to-fill-out-census-found-guilty-of-violating-statistics-act/article16445109/ • 18 people prosecuted in 1991
Further study… • Page 162 - #5 • Group Assignment • Page 162 - #6, 7 • Brainstorm possible topics/questions as a class.