Population and Immigration

Chapter 14

The World’s Population

• Population growth rate prior to 1650 was two-thousandths of a percent per year

• In 1650 the world’s population was around 500 million• By 1900 the growth rate was half of 1 percent with the

world’s population at around 1 billion• By 1940 the growth rate rose to one percent• Today the world’s population is about 6,602,000,000• If the world’s population continues to grow at the present

rate, it will double in a mere 45 years, thus creating major problems of migration, environmental pressure, and resource management

Measures of Population Growth

• One measure of population growth is the crude birthrate - the number of births per 1,000 population

• The difference between the crude birthrate and the death rate is referred to as the rate of population growth (natural increase)

• As a whole, the world is not reproducing at a higher rate, but people are living longer

Measures of Population Growth

• Most nations have a population growth rate of .1 percent to 3.0 percent

• Industrial nations are at the low end with developing nations at the high end of the growth rate

» In the near future, the population of less developed nations is likely to double

• Russia and many other European nations have been experiencing extremely slow or even negative rates of natural population increase

The Demographic Transition

• Demographic transition is the process by which populations change through patterns of high-low birth rates and high-low death rates

• The first stage of demographic transition is when births and deaths cancel each other out and growth is slow

» First stage is associated with poor sanitation, disease, primitive farming, and lack of medical knowledge

The Demographic Transition

• The second stage is associated with rising birth rates and declining death rates

• Rapid growth» Improvements in sanitation» Nutrition» Medicine» Occurred first in Northwest Europe» Second stage is found in most

developing nations today

The Demographic Transition

• The third stage is associated with low birth rates and low death rates

• This third stage is found today in most developed nations

Rising Expectations

• Rising expectations is the belief that one’s immediate environment is capable of providing benefits – that conditions are improving

• Improvements in living conditions in developing countries has led to rising expectations

• Rising expectations is related in part to the relationship between the standard of living in a country – what people want or expect in the way of material well being and the level of living – and what one actually obtains

Rising Expectations

• In part, rising expectations have been a function of the growth of literacy in developing nations

• The gap in living standards between the haves and have not is a social problem:

» Political instability» Backwardness» Neocolonialism» Terrorism» Population migration of the poor

Food and Hunger

• Three-quarters of a billion people are hungry in a world where there is plenty to eat

• Children account for 75 percent of hunger-related deaths• Hunger is a paradox in that there is an abundance of low

cost food, but the poor lack the income to purchase food and to have access to food

• Poverty and politics are, by far, the primary causes of hunger in the world

• One of the paradoxes of world hunger is that food supplies have been increasing over the past twenty years while the cost of food has been decreasing

Population Control

• Population control usually takes three approaches• 1. Reduce the birthrate of a population• 2. Control fertility to achieve zero rate of

population growth• 3. Achieve a negative rate of growth reducing the

size of the population

Family Planning

• Family planning involves the voluntary control of the number of children born

» Margaret Sanger opened the first birth control clinic in 1916

• Education• Contraceptive use to control family size

Zero Population Growth (ZPG)

• Zero Population Growth is an organization that advocates no population growth as soon as possible, through measures like:

» Birth control» Legalized abortion» Education and changing attitudes on

family

Population Control in LDCs

• Sterilization – encouraged volunteers through financial incentives

• China and one child per family policy• Family planning and birth control, along with

educational programs

The U.S. Population

• The United States’ population is growing at a rate of about 1 percent a year

• Sixty percent is due to natural growth - births over deaths

• Forty percent is due to net migration• Migration to sunbelt areas of the country has been

a significant change in the U.S.• Age and income disparity of old and new

immigrants

Immigration and Its Consequences

• Many immigrants came to the United States for a better way of life

» Freedom» Jobs and economic opportunities

• Our diversity has been an important source of our culture

Immigration and Its Consequences

• Immigration has also led to problems» Ethnic and racial conflict» Competition among nationalities for a

share of American pie» Debates over immigration policy» Illegal immigrants» Costs of immigration

Immigration to the United States:A Brief History

• The Early Colonial Period (to 1790)• Immigrants from Great Britain accounted for 77

percent of the population• African and native-born slaves accounted for 19

percent• German 4 percent• Irish 3 percent• Dutch 2 percent

Immigration to the United States:A Brief History

• Old Northwest European Migration, 1820-1885• Majority of immigrants from this period were

from:» Germany» Ireland » England» China from 1840s to 1880s

Immigration to the United States:A Brief History

• The Intermediate Migration from Southern and Eastern Europe (1885-1940)

• Major immigrant groups during this period were» Italians» Poles» Hungarians» Serbians» Croatians

Immigration to the United States:A Brief History

• Major immigrant groups during this period were• Greeks• Jews• Russians• Anti-immigrant movement and restrictionist

policies» Immigration act of 1921

Immigration to the United States:A Brief History

• The Post-World War II Refugee Period (to 1968)

• Political and religious refugees from post-World War II countries

• The New Immigration (1968-Present)• Immigration was geared to

» Family reunification

» Needs of U.S. economy

Immigration to the United States:A Brief History

• Once Again a Nation of Immigrants• In the past few years the United States has been turning once again into a nation of immigrants.

Recent Trends in Immigrationto the United States

• Most immigration, both documented and undocumented, is from:

• Mexico and Central and South America• Asian continent

Urban Concentration of Immigrants

• Majority of new immigrants have largely settled in a few regions and cities

» New York» Los Angeles» Miami» Chicago

• Mexicans in the Southwest• Chain migration - referring to the tendency of

immigrants to settle in ethnic communities

Urban Concentration of Immigrants

• The concentration of immigrants often increase the financial burdens on city services

• Nativist movement and inter-group competition and conflict for jobs

Undocumented Immigrants

• Primary concentration of undocumented workers are in Western and Southwestern states

• Smuggling and exploitation

• There are economic benefits and costs associated with undocumented immigrants

• Modes of Entry to the United States• Nearly half of all undocumented immigrants arrive legally as visitors to the U.S., but as much as 45 percent of these people become overstayers

• It is not clear exactly what effect illegal residents have on the U.S. economy

Social Policy

• Terrorism and war have fueled a new anti-immigrant movement in the United States

• Policies will focus on the debate between the benefits and costs that immigrants will bring to American Society

• Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 - making employers liable for hiring undocumented immigrants

Social Policy

• Welfare reform initiates related to legal immigrants and undocumented immigrants will continue

• International population control initiates in developing countries will take on renewed significance

• Social-scientific evidence plays an important part in the debates about immigration policies

• The policy of family reconciliation is highly popular among immigrants and strongly opposed by conservatives