Demography and Migration: A Comprehensive Guide to Population Dynamics
1. What is Demography? Demography is the scientific study of population characteristics, including the number of inhabitants, births, deaths, diseases, and life expectancy, within a community over time.
3. How Many Inhabitants Are on Our Planet? Approximately 7,400,000,000 (7.4 billion) people inhabit the Earth.
4. Is This an Excessive Amount? Some individuals hold a pessimistic view, believing that the world’s population is too large and that our planet cannot sustain it. They argue that overpopulation leads to pollution and environmental destruction. Others maintain a more optimistic outlook, suggesting that responsible management of natural resources can ensure the comfortable sustenance of all humans.
5. Explain the Rates of the Previous Question in Spain
According to data from 2006:
- Birthrate: 10.96 per thousand
- Average Children per Woman: 1.38. This figure does not guarantee generational replacement, which requires 2.1 children per woman.
- Average Age for the First Pregnancy: 30.9 years old
- Average of Children Born Outside Marriage: 28.4%
- Mortality Rate: 8.43 per thousand
- Infant Mortality Rate: 3.53 per thousand, one of the best rates globally.
- Life Expectancy: 80.2 years old, one of the best rates globally.
1. Migrations Today
6. What Differences Exist Between Emigrants and Immigrants?
- Emigrants: Individuals who leave their homes, cities, or countries to settle in others.
- Immigrants: Individuals who arrive from outside to settle in a new location.
The same person can be considered an emigrant when leaving their home and an immigrant when arriving at their new destination.
2. Define These Basic Concepts About Demography:
- Natality: The birth of human beings.
- Birthrate: The number of births per year per 1,000 people in a territory.
- Mortality: The death of human beings.
- Mortality Rate: The number of deaths per year per 1,000 people in a specific territory.
- Fertility: The capacity of women to procreate children.
- Fertility Rate: The number of births per 1,000 women aged 15-49 in a specific territory.
- Infant Mortality: Deaths of children under one year old.
- Infant Mortality Rate:
- Life Expectancy: The average age at which people die in a specific territory.
- Migration: When people leave or move from their cities, regions, or countries to a new city or country to settle there.
- Migration Balance (Saldo Migratorio): This is essentially a subtraction: People who came from abroad to settle in the country (MINUS) People who leave the country to settle abroad. The result of this subtraction is the migration balance.
- Population Density: This theoretically calculates the amount of population in a territory. It is calculated by dividing the number of inhabitants by the number of square kilometers. Examples: – Netherlands population density: 501 inhabitants/km2, Spanish population density: 92, Australian population density: 3.
7. Why Do People Emigrate?
- The majority of emigrants seek a better place to live, with higher salaries and improved standards of living.
- A minority flee from their homelands due to wars or political, religious, or racial persecution. These individuals are known as refugees.
8. Complete This Outline About the Different Types of Emigrants:
According to Their Education (Formación)
Skilled or Qualified Emigrants: They possess university degrees or specialized job skills. |
Without Education: They lack academic degrees or specialized job skills. |
According to the Displacement Done
Domestic immigrants: they move inside the same country |
International immigrants: they cross one or more frontiers and countries in their migrations |
According their legal situation
Legal immigrants: they have national identity card and they have all the required documents to stay legally in the country |
Illegal immigrants: They have entered a country in an illegal and hidden way. They do not have the required documents to stay in the country. If they are caught by the police they are expelled. |
Refugees: They have fled from a war or a political or religious persecution. When they come to the acceptance country they ask for a statute of refugee. The government studies every case and decides to accept or to reject the refugee. Usually they are rejected. |
9.- How many international immigrants exist in the world today? It is impossible to know accurately because many of them are illegal, but maybe there are near 200 million.
10.- what do the governments use to do when they locate illegal immigrants? They try to expel them to their native country, but it is sometimes almost impossible because many immigrants hide their identity and it is difficult their native countries accept their delivery.
2.- THE MIGRATIONS ROUTES
11.- Indicate some of the most important migration routes
.- Central Americans (Mexicans, Guatemalans, Salvadorans…) who emigrate to the United States
.- Africans (North Africans of arabic race and Black Africans) who emigrate to Europe
.- Turkish who emigrate to Germany
.- Indians and Pakistanis who emigrate to rich oil monarchies in Arabian Peninsula (Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Abu Dhabi, etc.)
.- People from Near East (Syrians, Afghans, Iraqis, etc.) who emigrate to Europe, especially Germany.
.- Asian people who emigrate to Australia
.- etc.
3.- THE CONSEQUENCES OF MIGRATIONS
12.- Explain the main consequences of migrations
Economic consequences: Economy grows, because unemployed people leave their towns and cities and go to places where they are not enough labor force and they are hired; in this way new companies and business arise.
Social consequences: Sometimes immigrants integrate into the acceptance societies without problems, however, sometimes immigrants do not integrate into society and tension and clashes could arise between immigrants and local population
Cultural consequences: Immigrants bring new cultures, languages, religions, customs, ways of wearing, gastronomy, etc. that mix with the local ones
13.- Who passes illegal immigrants by the frontiers? There are illegal groups specialized in passing hidden immigrants by earth or sea. Immigrants pay great amounts of money to these groups. Sometimes they are called “Maffias” or traffickers.
4.- MIGRATIONS IN SPAIN
14.- What great change has undergone Spain in these last 20 years about migrations. Spain has been traditionally a country of emigrants, but between 1995 and 2008 6 million immigrants have came to Spain from Romania, Ecuador, Morocco, European Union countries, etc.
Since 2008, when the present economic crisis began, the number of foreign immigrants has decreased and the number of Spaniards who emigrate abroad has increased. These Spanish immigrants use to be young and skilled workers, many of them with university degrees.
15.- Towards which countries did Spaniards use to emigrate between the end of 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century? Above all to Latin American countries such as Cuba, Argentina, Mexico, Brazil, Venezuela… and to USA
16.- Towards which countries did Spaniards use to emigrate since the half of the 20th century? Above all to European countries such as Switzerland, France and Germany
17.- How do the Spanish emigrants use to move: Since more than one hundred years the Spaniards who live in small towns and medium-size cities with farming economy have emigrated to big cities with important industrial and services activities, many of them are coastal cities (Barcelona, Valencia, Bilbao…) and another ones are inner cities (Madrid, Valladolid, Saragossa…)
5.- PRESENT IMMIGRATION IN SPAIN AND ITS CONSEQUENCES
18.- What shorts of immigrants have arrived to Spain in the last 20 years:
.- Skilled and specialized workers from developed countries who earn good salaries
.- Retired people from North Europe who buy detached houses in Spanish coastal cities to live their elderly. They can enjoy a good climate, acceptable public services and cheap prices.
.- Workers from underdeveloped or poor countries. Some of them are skilled workers and others are not.
19.- Explain the consequences of the recent immigration to Spain: The same answer than in the 12th question
20.- PROVINCES WHOSE CAPITALS HAVE DIFFERENT NAME:
VIZCAYA: BILBAO ÁLAVA: VITORIA
GUIPÚZCOA: SAN SEBASTIÁN LA RIOJA: LOGROÑO
CANTABRIA: SANTANDER ASTURIAS: OVIEDO
NAVARRA: PAMPLONA LAS PALMAS: LAS PALMAS DE GRAN CANARIA
ISLAS BALEARES: PALMA DE MAYORCA