Niger has experienced rapid population growth, rising from 1.7 million in 1960 to 13 million currently. This is due to high fertility rates and falling death rates. However, the country remains very poor and plans to implement stronger family planning policies to curb population growth and promote development. China previously encouraged large families but introduced its one-child policy in the late 1970s to reduce rapid population growth and balance resources. Russia now has a declining population due to low birth rates and life expectancy.

1. Niger: LEDC Stage 2, rapid population growth
Many desert areas, parts in sahara and sahel
One of the poorest countries in the world ($700 per cap.)
Lots of sedentary farmers (farm to support their family)
Grown from 1.7 million people in 1960 to 13 million in 2008
The Population growth rate is 2.9%
By 2050 if the rate keeps up the population will be 56 million
Niger has the highest fertility rate in the world (7.1 births per
woman)
Nearly half the population is under 15 years old
Death rates are falling in Niger due to:
Decreased infant mortality rate, babies vaccinated against avoidable
diseases
There are better supplies of clean water, building more wells
More medical equipment and facilities to help more people
People eat more healthily
Better living conditions
Plans to cut Natural Increase:
Government wants to increase family planning to help 20% of
population (5%at the moment) by 2015
Educate about the importance of family planning and contraception
Limit number of early marriages by raising legal age from 15 to 18
CHINA: BIRTH CONTROL POLICIES
In 1960s-70s Mao encouraged large families, because it would
strengthen China
By the 1970s he realised that he could not provide food, jobs and
services to everyone if the population kept growing so quickly
In 1980 China introduced 1 child policy to limit population growth
In 1958-63 China introduced the Great leap forward policy to reform
agriculture and modernise China, poorly implemented, 20 million
Chinese people died of disease and starvation
From 1963-70 large families encouraged to make up for loss, the
fertility rate reached 5.8 births per woman, and birth rate soared to
40 per 1000 people in 1965
1970s- China realises growth is unsustainable, Introduces ‘Later,
Longer, Fewer’ policy encouraging people to wait to have their first
child until they are older, Space out pregnancies more and have
fewer kids
1978-83- ‘One family, one child’ policy introduced. Rapid population
growth seen as barrier to development. China wants to modernise:
Industry, agriculture, science and technology
1984-2006- Population growth from 2.4% to 1%, by 2006 fertility
rate 1.7 births per woman. They have now relaxed some of the
policies in rural areas- families can have 2 children

2. Still unbalanced population- boys viewed as more important because
in rural areas boys can help on farm; some areas allow a second
child if 1st
was a girl
Couples can be fined if they have a second child up to a years salary,
child may not get into good state schools
RUSSIA: FALLING BIRTHRATE AND HIGH HIV INFECTION
Russia is projected to decline from 143 million (2007) to 111 million
by 2050
There is a high death rate and low birth rate
Low level of immigration
Life expectancy is low
Many emigrants from Russia to Western Europe
In 2004 Russia life expectancy was 65
Russian women often do not want more children
Male life expectancy is 59
More than 1 million Russians have AIDS and 1.1% of adults (15-49)
have HIV, Highest of G8 countries
Fertility rate at 1.1 births per woman
Problems with Alcoholism
Indonesia Transmigration Scheme
Indonesia consists of 17000 islands
9000 inhabited
Some islands like Java and Bali have overpopulation problems
Some islands are underpopulated like Kalimantan and Sumatra
The government offered incentives to families to move from
overpopulated small islands to underpopulated larger ones (examples
above)
Transmigration was used to:
Reduce poverty and overpopulation in Java, where Jakarta is
Provide good job opportunities for hard working poor people on other
islands
Provide a workforce to use more of the natural resources on the
underpopulated islands
Singapore: Prenatal policies
Population is 4.7 million on a 620 km2
island
1957- fertility rate at 6.4
Family planning offered in 1959
1965- fertility down to 4.8, government wanted to shrink population
because it could not support a growing population
1970- Abortion, voluntary sterilisation legalised, ‘Stop at Two’ policy
put in using disincentives like (extra tax for 3rd
child and only 2
children could get into best schools)
1980 Fertility rate at 2

3. In the 1980s university graduates were not getting married or having
children
Singapore reversed policies because population was too low
They wrote the policies to encourage educated people to have
children
For example children of university graduates offered places at best
schools, whereas a grant of 10000SGD would be given to an
uneducated woman to be sterilised
This did not work in 2005 fertility rate had continued to decrease and
reached 1.4
There will be incentives for immigration and having more children to
try and increase population.
European Community: Polish Workers in UK
Poland had the highest unemployment rate of A8 countries (joined
EU in ’04)
With freedom of movement in EU now polish workers could freely
travel to Uk which had a high average income (33 630 USD) and low
unemployment (5%)
62% of the 600000 EU migrants to Uk in 2004 were polish
Positives for UK:
Jobs filled that UK workers do not want
Can pay low wages
Polish workers will work for longer hours
Increased population, more spent on local economy
Negatives for UK:
Fewer jobs for unskilled UK workers
May move back once they have earned money, leaving gap in
workforce
Anti immigration issues and Racism
Services like hospitals and schools cant cope with extra numbers
Positives for Polish workers:
Chance of job
Better pay than in Poland
Save money and return to improve life in Poland
Chance to move away from parents
Negatives for Polish Workers:
May leave family in Poland
May encounter hostility in UK
Language issues
May struggle to find housing, may end up homeless
Atlanta: Urban Sprawl
Population grown 3.7 million in last 40 years
Fastest growing metropolitan area in USA
Atlanta Urban area doubled since 1973
Because of Population growth

4. Problems:
Agricultural land used to make houses and malls
Impermeable surfaces, Concrete and asphalt do not drain water
away leading to flash floods and contamination of water.
Loss of green space- 38% of green space has been built on for
housing projects
Water has become contaminated, not enough water to support
industry and irrigation
Traffic Congestion
Poor air quality, increase in cars, 90% residents drive to work
Socio economic divide- White middle class live in suburbs which have
been developed. The undeveloped center is where the poorer
population stayed
Cairo: Pollution, Shanty towns, Congestion
Rapid growth of 16 million over 50 years
Government could not support services like piped water, sewage and
schools and electricity
Problems with Traffic congestion, noise and air, pollution
Shanty Towns:
Lack of housing
Self built illegally built houses on farmland cover 80% of Cairo
2-3 million people have set up homes in old Cairo near pyramids
Some people live in huts on roof space of flats and office buildings
Congestion:
Over 1 million cars in Cairo
Badly paved roads
Travel to work is slow
Drivers are aggressive causing danger for road users
Pollution:
Heavily polluted air with vehicle exhausts and fumes from fuels
Groundwater polluted by illegally dumped waste
Leaking sewers pollute water sources
Solutions:
Ring road build
People with donkey carts pick up rubbish and collect and recycle
garbage
New satellite towns on edge of city
Public services upgraded
Metro system built
Sewage system repaired
Chaiten Volcano: Chile
2 May 2008 Chaiten Volcano erupted
Thought to be dormant
1st
eruption in 9000 years
Formed at a convergent boundary

5. Subducting plate melts and pressure builds up due to friction
between plates
Eruption explosive blowing off top of volcano forming caldera with
secondary cone in middle.
Crater 3km wide
Was not monitored by scientists
Sits on edge of South American and Nazca plates (beneath because
sea plate)
Magma tricked through plate boundary and built up huge chamber
under crater
Chaiten is a tourist area, because of natural buety, like volcano
4000 people fled homes
Series of tremors
Evacuation was difficult because of terrain
Evacuated by Naval ship
Ash went 20km up and settled over Chile and Argentina
Town coated in ash 15cm thick
Forests set on fire
Schools used as shelters
(see book for Haiti Earthquake Notes)
Rainforest: Madagascar
Deforestation people have used land for agriculture
Lots of animal species under threat because of deforestation (ie
flying fox)
Desertification in south
72% rural population
78% primary employment
Rainforest on East side of Island because relief rainfall occurs
Mountains in middle of island
The prevailing wind from south east.
Moist air forced to rise, causing condensation and clouds
Heavy rain in East
It is dry on the West not enough rainfall for rainforest in west
People are cutting down rainforests because countries exports rely on
agriculture (70%) so need fast crops like rice in more area
Trees are burned to create farm land
Ash supplies nutrient for a while
Heavy rainfall washes away nutrients
Crops grow well for number of years
Crops no longer grow because all nutrients used up
Animals lose food and habitat
People cut down more rainforest for crops

6. Deserts: Sahara and The Sahel
The Sahara is world’s biggest desert
One quarter is covered by sandy desert, ergs
The rest is gravel called reg and areas of barren rock called Hamada
DESERTIFICATION: thousands of years ago the Sahara was wetter
but due to Climate change and human influence have slowly made
the Sahara more of a desert
The Sahara is still growing spreading south into West Africa
Overgrazing and deforestation is dragging it further and further
South.
The area on the edge of the desert that is that is on the fringe is
called the Sahel (Arabic word for fringe)
The Sahel is semi-arid belt of dry soil 300-500km wide from North to
South and stretches across North Africa.
Separates Sahara from Savannah
Average Rainfall in Sahel is 300-600mm per year
When it rains up to 90% of moisture evaporates
Drought is natural in the Sahel
Desertification and land degradation from overgrazing and
desertification moves the Sahel and the limit for growing crops and
grazing livestock further and further South every year
See p 94 in textbook for diagram
Desertification in Mali
65% of Mali is Desert or Semi-Desert
The Sahel slowly moves south through Mali
80% of Population work in Agriculture, many in sedentary agriculture
Population growth 3% so need to supply for growing population,
leads to overgrazing, excessive farming and deforestation
Which strips the soil of nutrients
This makes it impossible for plants to grow there
This causes desertification and the Sahara desert grows.
Cyclone Nargis
Warm air from North meets warm air from South In tropics
Sea temp. 27 celcius and sea 60 metres deep, winds begin to circle
anticlockwise due to the Earth’s rotation
Low pressure (intense) creates the eye of the storm as the spiralling
air rises to create low pressure along the equator. Tropical storms
develop as depressions and wind speeds increase.
The easterly winds at high levels move them east to west at first, as
they move further from the equator it loses power as the sea temp.
decreases.

7. They die out over land as there is less heat and no water to keep
them going.
Each hemisphere has a tropical storm season, North: May-November,
South: November-April.
Made landfall May 3rd
2008
Wind Speeds between 200-300 km/h
Flooding & Mudslides due to heavy rainfall.
3.6 meter storm surge flooded Irrawaddy Delta, 2.4 million people
affected, 140,000 people killed or missing
Drought in Australia
For Murray River: Long term average 700 Gigalitres – 1800 Gigalitres
per month, 2007-08: 200 Gigalitres – 400 Gigalitres
Temperatures can reach 50 Celsius
Crops can only grow properly in New South Wales and Victoria in the
Temperate Maritime Climate, 400 km off South East coast.
Worst drought in 100 years
Average rainfall in outback can be 336 mm per year, very low
Droughts have led to water restrictions, and it is prohibited to wash
your car, fill swimming pools or sprinkle gardens (you can
imprisoned) in Melbourne
Dry weather is causing bush fires
Water rationing in Sidney after 4 years of drought, main reservoir
only 40% full
Cannot raise livestock in the droughts, and tap water is not safe for
human consumption so bottled water must be bought.
Mozambique Floods
9th
February 2000
Limpopo, Save and Zambezi river flooded
27th
February more flashfloods
180,000 people fled home
Navy evacuated people
About 150000 km2
of land affected (mostly farmland) destroying
crops
Used canoes and walking to get to accommodation centre
Many people live live on floodplain for fertile soil, transport, irrigation,
food so many people affected.
For Indian farming see Indian Farming sheet in Geog Book 2
Commercial Agriculture in New Zealand
Livestock: Mainly sheep, dairy and beef cattle
Warm wet climate ideal for growing grass
Annual rainfall 1000-1500mm and temp above 6˚C, is optimum for
grass growth

8. In North Island, Beef is reared most land gets around 1000-2000 mm
per year rainfall.
Dairy farming in West
In southern highlands sheep and some beef reared.
Southern Island Merino sheep reared for wool where grass is poor
Lower land more intensive farming
Harwood’s Farm, North Canterbury has 270 hectares of irrigated
flatland
Breed Corriedales sheep good for meat and wool
HI-TECH INDUSTRY IN BANGALORE
For Reading see A3 sheet in Book