Activity 3.1 – Human Population

Country: Afghanistan

Birth rate: 32 Births per 1,000 population (in millions)

Death rate: 6 per 1,000 population (in millions)

Population growth rate (rate of natural increase): 2.6%

Life expectancy for males and females: Males: 64, Females: 67

Fertility rate (average number of children per childbearing-aged female): 4.3

Gross National Income (GNI): 2,110

Population per square km of arable land: 511

Urban population: 24%

Land mass: 252,071 mi²

Percent of births to mothers ages 15-19: 11%

Percent of births to mothers ages 35+: 14% 

Country: Singapore

Birth rate: 9 per 1,000 population (in millions)

Death rate: 5 per 1,000 population (in millions)

Population growth rate (rate of natural increase): 0.3%

Life expectancy for males and females: Males: 81, Females: 86

Fertility rate (average number of children per childbearing-aged female): 1.1

Gross National Income (GNI): 86,480

Population per square km of arable land: 1,012,152

Urban population: 100%

Land mass: 281.3 mi²

Percent of births to mothers ages 15-19: 1%

Percent of births to mothers ages 35+: 25% 

World:

Birth rate: 18 per 1,000 population (in millions)

Death rate: 8 per 1,000 population (in millions)

Population growth rate (rate of natural increase): 1.0%

Life expectancy for males and females: Males: 71, Females: 75

Fertility rate (average number of children per childbearing-aged female): 2.3

Gross National Income (GNI): 17,535

Population per square km of arable land: 565

Urban population: 56%

The two countries being compared above to the world at large are Afghanistan and Singapore. Population ecology is ‘the study of how individuals of a particular species interact with their environment and change over time.’ (Mutiti el al. 2018). Humans are no different from any other species in that they can be studied in this way, especially in the context of how human populations have changed after the Agricultural and Industrial Revolutions, and changes can be predicted to accommodate for any current or future changes to technology and living conditions. 

There are several factors to consider when studying a population of living things. The population size and density are used to determine how many individuals of a species exist and how many of them exist within a specific geographic area. Based on the information above, it seems that Singapore is entirely urban at 100%, whereas Afghanistan is only 24% urban; this means that if you lived in Singapore you are basically guaranteed to live in a densely populated city, whereas in Afghanistan you would be more than three times more likely to live in a rural area. This makes a lot of sense when we consider the land mass of these countries; Singapore is geographically nearly 900 times smaller than Afghanistan, so naturally the population in Singapore would be much more condensed. Rural areas tend to have fewer resources like schools, hospitals, and infrastructure (running water, electricity, roads, etc.) so it stands to reason that the majority of people living in Afghanistan are living with limited access to resources that would have a positive effect on their quality of life.

When we compare the birth rates of the two countries, we can see that Afghanistan has 23 more births per 1,000 people per year than Singapore. Population size and density are not factors that influence the birth rate, so we can draw the conclusion that other factors are influencing the birth rate - factors that are density-independent. Generally, less developed countries have higher birth rates due to either societal pressures relating to marriage and procreation (especially in very religious cultures), reduced or no access to birth control, family needs to run farms or care for other family members, lack of education, etc. The difference in gross national income is a factor as well; poverty is strongly associated with high fertility rates.

The life expectancy of a population also factors into the total population of a species. There is an almost 20 year difference between the life expectancy of those in Afghanistan vs those in Singapore, the latter living longer than the former. People die earlier in Afghanistan, but more people are being born each day. People die later in Singapore, but there are fewer new people being born each day. In Singapore women are also waiting longer to have children, with only 1% of women giving birth between age 15 and 19, versus in Afghanistan where women of that age group account for 11% of births. 

Based on the information outlined above, we can safely assert that, when compared to the entire world, Afghanistan would be considered a less developed country, and Singapore would be considered more developed. 

References

2021, World Population Data Sheet: Special Focus on Global Fertility. Population Reference Bureau, 2021.

Mutiti, S., Mutiti, C., Manoylov, K., VandeVoort, A., & Bennett, D. (2018). Introduction to environmental science (3rd ed.). Biological Science Open Textbooks. University System of Georgia.

WorldData, www.worlddata.info/.