Understanding Population Dynamics and Demographics

• Depletion of resources and pollution: Large populations require significant natural resources, which leads to resource depletion, increased pollution, and environmental damage.

Unit 2: The Natural Dynamics of the Population

1. Birth, Death, and Fertility Rates

• Birth rate: The number of children born in one year in a specific location. It is calculated by dividing the number of births by the total population and multiplying by 1,000.
• Fertility rate: The number of births in one year relative to the number of women of childbearing age in that location.
• Death rate: The number of deaths in one year in a specific location. It is calculated by dividing the number of deaths by the total population and multiplying by 1,000.

2. Natural Increase vs. Real Growth

• Natural increase: The difference between the number of births and deaths. It can be expressed as an absolute figure or as a percentage (the natural increase rate), calculated by subtracting the death rate from the birth rate.
• Real growth: The result of adding a country's natural increase to its net migration (the difference between immigrants and emigrants).

3. Demographic Challenges in Spain

• Causes of death: The primary causes of death in Spain include cardiovascular diseases, respiratory illnesses, cancer, and, to a lesser extent, traffic accidents.
• Infant mortality: Spain maintains one of the lowest infant mortality rates globally, attributed to high standards of family care, medical advances, vaccination, and improved nutrition and hygiene.
• Population growth: Spain’s natural increase is very low. Nine autonomous communities currently experience negative natural increase: Asturias, Castilla y León, Galicia, Aragón, Cantabria, Extremadura, País Vasco, La Rioja, and Castilla-La Mancha.

4. Population Evolution in Andalucía

For most of the 20th century, Andalucía's birth rate was high while the death rate decreased. The birth rate declined steadily during the final decades of the century.

At the end of the 20th century, the death rate rose due to an ageing population, but subsequently fell.

The natural increase of the Andalusian population decreased steadily from 1975 to the end of the 1990s, experiencing fluctuations thereafter.

Life expectancy in Andalucía is 81.39 years.