CCEA GCSE Geography Unit 2 Theme A Population and Migration: population growth, distribution, the demographic transition model, structure and migration

What this theme demands

Population and Migration is the first of the four human themes in Unit 2 Living in Our World, and is worth a quarter of the unit. It studies how the world's population grows, where people live, how a population's structure changes as a country develops, and why people move. This overview ties the dot-point pages together and shows how the resource-based paper rewards each skill.

The building blocks of the theme

The theme builds from growth, through structure, to movement.

• Population growth and distribution. Natural change, the factors behind birth and death rates, and the physical and human reasons distribution is uneven.
• The demographic transition model. Five stages of birth, death and population change as a country develops.
• Population structure and pyramids. Reading pyramids, the dependency ratio, and the challenges of youthful and ageing populations.
• Migration. Push and pull factors, economic migrants versus refugees, and the effects on source and host areas.

Growth, structure and movement

The single idea that links the theme is that a country's population is shaped by three forces: natural change (births and deaths), its changing age structure as it develops, and migration. The demographic transition model captures the first, population pyramids the second, and the migration dot point the third. Keeping these three forces clear stops the classic error of confusing natural change with migration.

The skills the paper rewards

Theme A tests all three assessment objectives. AO1 is the definitions and the stages of the model. AO2 is explaining why rates change and evaluating the effects of migration and ageing. AO3 is the key skill of reading a population pyramid and interpreting population graphs and maps in the resource booklet.

Check your knowledge

A mix of recall questions covering the whole theme. Attempt them, then check the solutions.

1. Define natural increase. (2 marks)
2. Give one reason world population grew rapidly. (1 mark)
3. Give two physical factors that lead to a low population density. (2 marks)
4. In which stage of the demographic transition model does the death rate fall while the birth rate stays high? (1 mark)
5. Give one limitation of the demographic transition model. (1 mark)
6. What does a wide base on a population pyramid show? (1 mark)
7. Give two challenges of an ageing population. (2 marks)
8. Give one push and one pull factor for migration. (2 marks)
9. What is the difference between an economic migrant and a refugee? (2 marks)