Economic Development · 4 question types
Past paper frequency (2018 to 2024)
This topic accounts for approximately 8% of your exam marks.
Population structure, birth/death rates, and the economic consequences of changing population appear in Section B roughly every other paper; typically 6 to 8 marks.
The birth rate is the number of live births per 1,000 people per year.
The death rate is the number of deaths per 1,000 people per year.
= births − deaths.
A positive natural change means the population is growing from within; a negative natural change means more people are dying than being born.
= immigrants minus emigrants over a period. A positive figure is a net inflow; a negative figure is a net outflow.
Net migration adds to or subtracts from the population independently of natural change. Some countries grow despite low natural change because of strong net inward migration (e.g. Canada, Australia in recent years). Others shrink despite positive natural change because emigration outpaces it.
Total population change = (births − deaths) + net migration.
Identifying why death rates differ between countries
What comes up: a 2-mark "Identify two reasons why death rates may vary between countries."
Write (two marks): give any two distinct factors, each stated clearly. Credited reasons include differences in income and living standards (1), quality of healthcare (1), nutrition (1), education levels (1), average age of the population (1), environmental conditions such as air or water pollution (1), and the prevalence of conflict or natural disasters (1).
Watch out: "the country has a larger population" does not explain why the rate differs — a bigger population raises the absolute number of deaths, not deaths per thousand people. The mark scheme explicitly rejects differences in population size as a reason for a different death rate.
The dependency ratio is the ratio of the non-working-age population (children plus elderly) to the working-age population, usually expressed as a percentage.
Population growth and the dependency ratio (MCQ trap)
What comes up: MCQs test whether you can identify what happens to the dependency ratio when population grows, and which combination of birth rate, death rate, and net migration causes total population to rise or fall.
Write: population grows when (births + immigration) exceed (deaths + emigration). Whether growth raises or lowers the dependency ratio depends on its source: growth driven by rising immigration of working-age people lowers the dependency ratio (more workers, same number of dependants); growth driven by a rising birth rate or a falling death rate among the elderly raises the dependency ratio (more young or old dependants relative to workers).
Watch out: do not assume a rising total population always reduces the dependency ratio — the mark scheme credits the point that a birth-rate-led or elderly-driven rise in population increases the dependency ratio and may leave some of the additional population outside the labour force.
The working-age range is usually defined as 15–64. Dependants are everyone outside that range: under-15s and over-65s.