Current Event 8: Fastest growing city in the world

November 20th, 2015

Current Unit of study: Unit 2

Where is the fastest growing city in the world?



Synopsis
According to recent studies done by the US based consultancy Demographia, which only includes cities with populations of 1 million or more, the fastest growing cities in the world include  Batam, Indonesia, Mogadishu, Somalia and Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. With a population of 1.1 million people, Batam is located close to Singapore and a free-trade zone boosts trade with the city. Mogadishu's population is at 2.1 million, a city driven by economic prospect. Ouagadougou has a population of 2.7 million and a growth of 6.8%, yet with a decline in Chinese economic growth could lead to a drop in the growth. One thing that all of these major cities have in common is the work and jobs available to those who want them. Could this be the reason as to why some of these cities populations are through the charts?

Analysis 
By looking at the numbers, there is no doubt that these cities populations are off the charts. But why in these specific cities and not anywhere else? When I was reading on each country, I did notice something that all top three had in common - opportunities for work. This took me back to the conversation we had in class on the english industrial revolution, and how the city had to expand to meet the needs of the population. During this time when all these new jobs were being created, the total fertility rates increased tremendously. This was because more people were needed to work and wanted to have children who would then be able to work as well. This also makes me wonder what exactly the population pyramids for each city must look like. I would expect there to be many working class people than people who fall under the dependent category.




Link to the original article: http://www.theguardian.com/cities/2015/nov/18/where-is-the-worlds-fastest-growing-city-batam-niamey-xiamen

Current Event 7: Report on Ebola

November 11th, 2015

Current unit of study: Unit 2

Ebola Situation Report
Synopsis
On November 7th, 2015 WHO declared that Ebola had been stopped in Sierra Leone, yet the country has now entered a 90 - day period of surveillance which is not said to end until February 5th, 2016. This is being done in order for the country to stop or prevent any remaining possibility of the virus to continue being spread. Unfortunately, the virus has had an impact on the population of the country. 470 deaths were reported in Guinea, the small community in which the virus was first found present. The number of deaths recorded represents approximately 20% of the 2248 deaths soon to be expected based on the population and crude mortality rate. Even worse, only 4 out of the 470 dead from the virus were actually properly buried, meaning that there is a high chance of the virus returning, despite the countries efforts to prevent it.

Analysis 
It's scary to hear that the Ebola virus has made a comeback in Guinea, and quite horrible to hear how the virus has had quite a heavy impact on the community's population and total death rate. 470 people had been killed by the virus, and that's only 20% of the 2248 deaths expected in the future. Although the country has been making efforts to stop the virus in its tracks and prevent it from ever returning, because of the lack of proper health care and medical attention needed to research or quarantine those suspected to be carriers of the virus, the population most likely will decline even more.

Link to the original article: http://apps.who.int/ebola/current-situation/ebola-situation-report-11-november-2015

Current Event 6:Britain and China's population challenges

November 6th, 2015

Current unit of study: Unit 2


The Observer view on Britain and China's Population Challenges

Synopsis

The UK and China seem to be polar opposites when it comes to issues dealing with population, but despite this stigma, new projections suggest that the British population could grow by 10 million over the next 25 years. All the while, China has gotten rid of its one child policy for the time being, yet the country's population could in fact decline over the long term if the trend continues.To see the UK and China come face to face with such a serious dilemma, it does show how misguiding raw population numbers can be, but there is no getting around the fact that both countries are dealing with an ageing population. There is an explanation as to why exactly we see this happening, and we find the problem linked to industrialization. As a country begins to develop, its death rates fall as public health improves, while at the same time birth rates remain high. This leads to a rapid growth of population. But once a country develops further, we begin to see birth rates drop and the population ageing.


Analysis

Both the UK and China alike are dealing with the issue of their populations ageing, and with this, things for both countries are becoming more difficult. When you are faced with an older population, the issues that come along with that include pressures to spend more on things such as pensions and healthcare which, mind you, account for huge chunks of government spending. But it's not only the expenses that come into the picture, but what the population looks like. The population pyramids, which we observed in class, provide us with an explicit image of what a population looks like, taking into account all ages. If we were to make one for both the UK and China, the top of the graph which shows the older population, would be quite big as their populations are ageing, and the lower half of the pyramid which shows the younger population, would be sparse. This is an issue, because as populations age, the dependent population increases and becomes more reliant on those who are still able to work.



Link to the original article: http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/nov/01/observer-editorial-britain-china-population-challenges