aaa

CGW4U-A

1
Unit

World Issues: An Overview

Copyright © 2007 The Ontario Educational Communications
Authority. All rights reserved. No part of these materials may
be reproduced, in whole or in part, in any form or by any means,
electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or
stored in any information or retrieval system, without the prior
written permission of The Ontario Educational Communications
Authority.

Every reasonable care has been taken to trace and acknowledge
ownership of copyright material. The Independent Learning
Centre welcomes information that might rectify any errors or
omissions.

Canadian and World Issues CGW4U-A Unit 1 Introduction, page 1

Table of Contents

Unit 1: World Issues: An Overview

Lesson 1:

Understanding World Issues

Lesson 2: World Population: Change and Challenge

Lesson 3: Population Analysis

Lesson 4: Rich World, Poor World

Lesson 5: Global Migration

Unit 2: Resource Issues

Lesson 6: Global Resources: Reality and Crisis

Lesson 7: Feeding the World

Lesson 8: Fresh Water: A Thirsty World

Lesson 9: The Fragile Forests

Lesson 10: Global Energy: The World’s Needs and Future

Unit 3: Political and Environmental Issues

Lesson 11: A Geopolitical World

Lesson 12: Global Warming

Lesson 13: Oceans Around the World

Lesson 14: Urbanization and Global Cities

Lesson 15: Economic Globalization

Unit 4: Social Issues

Lesson 16: Gender Issues in Different Parts of the World

Lesson 17: Global Infectious Diseases

Lesson 18: The State of the World’s Youth

Lesson 19: Global Tourism Issues

Lesson 20: Global Issues: My Final Report

You are here

Unit 1 Introduction, page 2 Canadian and World Issues CGW4U-A

Introduction
This unit will introduce you to many of the complex challenges
and changes humans currently face, no matter where they live
on this planet. By asking questions and applying a process of
geographic inquiry, you will be able to study important global
questions, gain an overview of some of the challenges facing
people in all parts of the world, and at the same time get an idea
of where you fit in this global picture.

In Lesson 1, you will follow through an issue of significant
concern—poverty in Africa—and have the opportunity to apply
what you have learned to another issue of your choice. Lesson 2
addresses an issue that affects many: population growth. You will
look at its impact on the world, with regions of too many people
in some places and yet not enough in others.

Lesson 3 considers two countries with different population
problems: China has experienced massive population growth
while Russia has a declining population. In Lesson 4, you will
examine the widening gap between the rich and the poor, analyze
why there are such differences, and look at how the world is
addressing the huge problem of poverty. Lesson 5 examines
global migration. Large numbers of people from all over the
world are on the move. You will examine the reasons for this and
the routes they take.

When you have completed Unit 1, you will have studied some
fundamental world issues and the impact they have on many
others.

Canadian and World Issues CGW4U-A Unit 1 Introduction, page 3

Overall Expectations

After completing this unit, you will be able to

• explain how Earth’s natural and human systems are
interconnected in multiple, complex ways

• analyze the causes and effects of economic disparities around
the world

• compare the cultural, economic, and political aspirations
of selected groups and the effects of their actions on local,
national, and global geographic issues

• analyze the impact of selected global trends on people and
environments at the local, national, and global level

• analyze the influences that increase interdependence of
countries around the world

• analyze instances of international co-operation and conflict
and explain the factors that contributed to each

• analyze trends and predict changes in the human use of
Earth and its resources

• use the methods and tools of geographic inquiry to locate,
gather, evaluate, and organize information

• analyze and interpret data gathered through research and
investigation, using a variety of methods and geotechnologies

• communicate the results of geographic inquiries, using
appropriate terms and concepts and a variety of forms and
techniques

1
CGW4U-A

Understanding World Issues

Canadian and World Issues CGW4U-A Lesson 1, page 1

Introduction
In this lesson, you will be introduced to the term “issue” and
what it means when applied to today’s events and developments.
You will learn that issues confronting this planet are complex
and controversial, and have multiple causes and several possible
solutions. You will be given a framework to study issues. This
will enable you to see the whole picture, not just small, one-sided
views, and gain a better insight into these complex issues. To
help you understand the framework, a case study—poverty in
Africa—will be analyzed. Once you have learned how to analyze
a case study, you will be able to discuss other global issues with
confidence and better understanding.

What You Will Learn

After completing this lesson, you will be able to

• define the term “issue” when applied to global events and
developments

• identify the social, economic, cultural, political, or ecological
impacts of selected geographic issues

• identify a geographic issue at both local and international
levels

• explain who are stakeholders in any issue and what their
different positions may be

• compare and contrast various stakeholders’ perspectives on a
given issue

• distinguish between opinion, argument, and fact when
researching a topic

• ask a question that will lead into research about a global
issue

• identify the educational requirements, job descriptions,
current opportunities, and future prospects for selected
careers that require geographical knowledge and skills

Lesson 1, page 2 Canadian and World Issues CGW4U-A

• use an accepted form of academic documentation to
acknowledge all information sources, including electronic
sources

Glossary of Key Terms

The following terms are in bold in the lesson.

bias: formation of an opinion based on a one-sided
selection of facts.

cash crops: crops that are grown to earn export profits rather than
to feed local people.

disenfranchised: people who lack political power to influence decision
making.

environmental refugees: people who have been forced to flee their homeland
due to environmental crises such as desertification
and the resulting famines.

evidence: facts that are used to support an opinion.

fact: something that can be proven to be true.

Highly Indebted Poor
Countries (HIPC):

poor countries that have been identified as having a
severe debt burden that makes development difficult.
These countries are being granted debt relief under
conditions established by the International Monetary
Fund (IMF).

Horn of Africa: the eastern portion of sub-Saharan Africa that juts
out like a horn. It includes the countries of Ethiopia,
Eritrea, Somalia, and Djibouti.

land degradation or
desertification:

process of erosion and drying of the land leading to
desert conditions and loss of farmland.

opinion: an idea that cannot be proven and therefore is
subject to argument or debate.

primary sources: first-hand records of an event, such as photographs
or diaries.

Sahel: the grassland region of Africa directly south of
the Sahara Desert, which is most subject to
desertification.

secondary sources: summaries and interpretations of information from
primary sources.

Canadian and World Issues CGW4U-A Lesson 1, page 3

sub-Saharan countries: countries of Africa that are south of the Sahara
Desert; these countries are usually grouped
together for statistical purposes due to common
circumstances and issues.

tertiary sources: presentations of material that have used secondary
sources. As the source moves away from primary
sources, greater distortion and inaccuracy is possible
in the interpretation.

Lesson 1, page 4 Canadian and World Issues CGW4U-A

“Issues”: Understanding and Use
When viewed from space, the Earth looks serene and beautiful.
Compared to the greys of the moon, and the orange-brown of
Mars, the Earth’s predominant blue colour looks bright and
inviting. Its swirling clouds and oceans suggest a perfect place
for life. As you will learn, however, issues and problems within
the Earth’s environment threaten to harm or even destroy it as a
home for human and all other species.

Canadians live in the second-largest country on this planet,
and have a significant interest in the health and prosperity
of a global environment shared with more than six billion
other people. Massive problems such as lack of fresh water,
global warming, conflict, mismanaged resources, and poverty
threaten this existence, and require an understanding of what
is happening. These problems are world issues. What is the
definition of “issue” when it is a world issue?

An issue is generally something that causes concern. There
may be concern about the number of people living in poverty
around the edges of growing cities, or on the margins of deserts.
There may be concern about the recent increase in the number
of storms, hurricanes, and abnormal weather conditions. There
may be concern about the increased amount of terrorist activity
around the world.

World issues also have complex causes. It is difficult to pick
an issue and simply state its cause. For example, what causes
the extremes of weather occurring around the world? Some
scientists suggest that the atmosphere is warming up due to
the release of “greenhouse gases” such as carbon and methane
into the atmosphere. Others suggest they are part of the normal
fluctuations of global temperatures as the Earth moves in
and out of ice ages, and that the atmosphere is now warming
naturally. Who is to be believed? What causes the world’s deserts
to expand in size, with devastating consequences for those living
around them? Trees once covered 40 percent of Ethiopia; today
they cover just 4 percent. Perhaps too many poor people live
there, stripping and clearing the small trees and bush for grazing

Canadian and World Issues CGW4U-A Lesson 1, page 5

land, or for fuel for their fires. Or are they draining these areas
of precious fresh water? Or perhaps it is just another effect of
climate warming? It is not easy to determine what causes these
and countless other problems.

Complex world issues affect people’s lives and environments in
many ways: social, economic, cultural, political, or ecological.

• Social: Having to do with people, groups, and organizations.
Communities of villages or cities may be affected by decisions
made by groups or by an organization of people. Social groups
affected by global issues are often described as stakeholders.
These can be as small as a group of concerned citizens, or as
large as governments representing a country’s opinion on an
international issue, such as overfishing in a shared ocean.

• Economic: All issues have financial costs or benefits. Economic
impacts of any issue may range from an individual in a
community having to repair a home damaged by a storm to a
government having to replace large amounts of infrastructure,
such as damaged rail and hydro lines. Those are examples of
costs that arise from issues. An example of a benefit arising
to countries, companies, or individuals from an issue is the
financial gain to be made when an oil deposit is discovered.
The discovery of oil is an issue when the ownership of the oil
is in dispute, or when countries, companies, or individuals are
in conflict about who will develop and use the resource.

• Cultural: Values, customs, and ways of living of any group
of people or community are called culture. How people live,
work, learn, and eat are all part of culture. What they do in
their spare time, the jobs they have, the way they dress, the
music they listen to are also part of that culture. Religion
and language are a huge part of cultural identity. Different
cultures often produce different opinions about world
issues. For instance, Canadians pride themselves on the
humanitarian and compassionate way in which they help the
less fortunate peoples of the world.

Lesson 1, page 6 Canadian and World Issues CGW4U-A

• Political: Politics is about power and control. Organizations
such as multinational corporations or governments have
tremendous influence on world issues. It is necessary to
identify the causes of world issues to be able to respond to
them. When there is no obvious power and control, world
issues are difficult to solve. For example, who really controls
the international waters of the Earth’s oceans? Who is
policing the tankers and ships that clean out their holds while
they are out at sea? Who should be in control?

• Ecological: The natural environment (for example, an ocean
or tropical rainforest) and the environment within which
people interact with nature (for example, a village or city)
are affected by world issues. Environmental considerations
can either be local (a water shortage in a Peruvian village) or
they can be global (rising ocean levels caused by the impact of
melting ice sheets at the Earth’s polar regions).

Given that world issues have complex causes, they are difficult
to solve. All global issues require complex solutions. How can
extremes of weather be prevented if there is no agreement on
what causes climate change? What actions should be taken to
protect areas that become inhospitable to humans and animals
through drought and harsh winds? What actions should be taken
to stop the spread of deserts? Should billions of dollars be spent
on water conservation methods? Should new forests and plants
that require less water be planted? Will this help people who
are in dire poverty, are used to a nomadic way of life, and need
grazing lands for their herds?

To some extent, local issues can be analyzed in the same way. For
example, controversy about the location of a new waste disposal
dump can be understood better in the context of the five kinds of
impact:

• Political: local politicians make a decision on where to locate
the new dump.

• Social: a group of concerned citizens organize to fight the
political proposal from the local municipal council.

Canadian and World Issues CGW4U-A Lesson 1, page 7

• Cultural: attitudes will be formed in response to new ideas
such as recycling, reuse, and refuse strategies. Changes of
behaviour may be needed to enact new waste reduction ideas.

• Economic: the additional costs of opening a new waste facility
may be borne by the local taxpayers. There may also be
additional transportation costs depending on the location of
the dump.

• Ecological: there will be concerns about the protection of the
local environment at the proposed location of the new dump.
Local ecosystems may be in danger due to contamination
of soils through leakage, bird droppings from garbage
scavengers, airborne contamination from waste, and so on.

You will notice in the previous paragraphs, there are a lot of
questions being asked. An issue can be described as a question
that does not have an obvious or simple answer. Therefore, when
you identify an issue, it is a good idea to use a question rather
than a statement. A well-worded question will have a variety
of answers, rather than an obvious yes or no answer. Often
the question can be the subject of a debate between different
stakeholders. You will learn more about stakeholders in the next
section.

Support Questions

(do not send in for evaluation)

1. a) Identify four characteristics of an “issue” in the context
of “world issues.”

b) Give two examples of concerns that could be described as
world issues. In each case, use a question to identify the
issue.

There are Suggested Answers to Support Questions at the end of
this unit.

Lesson 1, page 8 Canadian and World Issues CGW4U-A

Career Choices

Studying world issues can provide valuable skills and knowledge
for many career choices. The ability to see relationships between
social, economic, and ecological issues is becoming increasingly
important in a complex world. Recognizing the difference
between facts and opinions, biases, and the perspectives of
different stakeholders is important in arriving at solutions
to difficult issues. The Canadian and World Issues course is
excellent preparation for many university programs, such as
international affairs and environmental studies. The following
profile of one graduate student is just one of many career
profiles available from the Web site of the Department of
Environmental Studies at the University of Waterloo. This
site is updated monthly with new profiles. You can access it at
www.fes.uwaterloo.ca. Another excellent Web site that you can
consult is Career MATTERS link at www.ilc.org.

Environment and Trade in Grenada

Spending a co-op work term in the Caribbean
sounds pretty good, but beneath the turquoise
waters and sandy beaches lie environmental issues
waiting to be addressed. As a third-year student in
Environment and Business, Caustan De Riggs spent
his most recent co-op term as a Research Assistant
for the Government of Grenada’s Ministry of Foreign
Affairs.

What did you do on your work term?

I worked in the International Trade Department on
an environment and trade proposal. I attended trade
conferences and business sessions to understand
the role of environment in trade. Grenada is in the
process of adopting a policy regarding this because
it is part of their national environmental policy and
management commitment.

Aside from my official responsibilities, I have also
been developing proposals on the side to address
the lack of environmental awareness in Grenada.

Canadian and World Issues CGW4U-A Lesson 1, page 9

This has always been an issue, but since hurricanes
Ivan and Emily devastated the island in 2004,
environmental awareness has become even more
important. The government is looking for more
effective ways to communicate with the public
on a number of environmental issues such as the
increasing levels of coastal sand mining and waste
reduction (there is no recycling plant on the island).

What was the best aspect of your work term?

There were a few great things about the job,
including the level of responsibility I was given
and the willingness of senior government officials
to make time for me. I met with the Minister of
Education, the Minister of the Environment, and
the Prime Minister, once on the phone and once in
person.

I valued the opportunity to see how hard people
work there and to look at international trade while
considering the environmental implications. Plus I
was able to see family and to unexpectedly run into
two other UW students!

How has this job inspired you?

I realized that life is what you make of it. This job
was proof to me that you can make a difference
and create unity in the world, even a small part
of it. The job also made me want to push harder
to make a difference. In the future, I want to have
my own consulting firm, focusing on sustainable
building practices as well as local and international
development.

I also want to continue my involvement in the
entertainment world. Right now, I do improv, hip hop
and comedy, taking a positive approach and not
making fun of anyone.

Lesson 1, page 10 Canadian and World Issues CGW4U-A

Do you have advice for students interested in
similar opportunities or in studying a co-op
program?

It’s good to be involved with things other than
school. Volunteering demonstrates commitment and
can build your interpersonal skills. Network with
people in different fields … you never know when a
project is going to come up that will be of interest to
both sides.

Most important, it’s good to be open to new
experiences. There have been many opportunities for
me to learn at UW.

Source: University of Waterloo Web site, Faculty of Environmental Studies, “Cool Job of the Month,” www.fes.uwaterloo.
ca/cooljobs/caustan06.html

Support Questions

(do not send in for evaluation)

2. Read the interview about Caustan’s work experience in
Grenada. What do you find attractive about this work
experience? What skills and knowledge would be needed to
do this job effectively?

Canadian and World Issues CGW4U-A Lesson 1, page 11

Stakeholders

The problems of an issue affect many people, both individually
and in groups as large as regional, national, and international
populations, in complex ways. “Stakeholder” refers to all
those people and organizations involved in or affected by an
event or development. For example, at a local level, consider a
municipality’s decision not to collect garbage from households.
This would have an enormous impact on residents of homes
who would have to take care of their own garbage, on municipal
workers who collected the garbage who now may be laid off,
politicians who would need to explain and defend the decision,
landfill workers who relied on municipal waste. The garbage
collectors may be angry because they would be put out of work.
The residents would be angry at having to dispose of their own
garbage. The politicians may feel satisfied that they are doing a
good job in helping to cut taxes to the local residents.

Seeing that there are different stakeholders related to a given
issue will help you understand it better and more thoroughly.
At an international level, consider the impacts of a decision by
a country’s government to stop any migration into or out of
the country. Doors would be closed to people facing poverty or
persecution either inside or outside the country; employers would
not be able to recruit foreign workers to fill jobs; there would be
no income from foreign tourists, and no one in the country would
be able to travel to other countries; individuals would try to enter
or leave illegally, necessitating more police surveillance of the
borders; members of families would not be able to reunite with
one another; international human rights organizations would
fight the decision; and so on.

Support Questions

(do not send in for evaluation)

3. Define the term “stakeholder.”

4. Give examples of stakeholders in a local issue and a world
issue.

Lesson 1, page 12 Canadian and World Issues CGW4U-A

Case Study: Poverty in Africa
Poverty is a worldwide problem. Despite economic prosperity
in many parts of the world, more than one billion people have
to survive on less that a dollar a day. It is estimated that 10.7
million children worldwide die before their fifth birthday from
poverty-related illnesses. According to UNICEF, in 2005 some
400 million children did not have access to safe drinking water,
27 million have never attended a school, and 90 million children
were severely malnourished.

According to the World Bank, more than 300 million of those who
get by on less than a dollar a day live in sub-Saharan Africa (the
countries south of the Sahara Desert), which contains 34 of the
world’s 49 poorest countries. In fact, one fifth, or 60 million, of
these live on less than 50 cents per day.

According to the UN estimates, these poor countries are saddled
with debt. Just as you pay interest when you pay back a loan
from a bank, these sub-Saharan countries pay more than $30
billion interest annually to the World Bank and other lending
institutions such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
This represents money lost to their economies. It is estimated
that these poor countries spend more money on paying off their
debts than they spend on health care and education combined.
According to the UN, in 2003 these countries were carrying a
staggering $360 billion in debt.

In addition to these financial burdens, some 6300 die in the
region every day from AIDS, according to UNAIDS. A total of
25 million people are infected with the HIV virus, which has a
crippling effect on the workforces of many countries where one
in two people are under the age of 20. Each year about a million
people will die from diseases such as malaria and two million
from AIDS.

The rich countries of the world get richer, as the poor countries,
especially those in Africa, are left behind. In 1980, Africa
accounted for 6 percent of the world’s trade (mostly in exporting
its raw materials). By 2003, this figure had fallen to 2.3 percent.

Canadian and World Issues CGW4U-A Lesson 1, page 13

While the amount of poverty in Africa has doubled since the mid-
1980s, it has fallen by half in East Asia, another traditionally
poor region of the world. Many would say that a major
contributor to African poverty is the inability to escape from
a colonial economy where these countries were used for their
resources and the growing of cash crops such as cotton and
cocoa to be sent to the European powers. There are significant
gender differences too. Women are poorer than men. In Africa,
between 70 and 80 percent of all poor are women, in a situation
where they are often significant providers of basic health care
and education.

Many of the poor live in countries and areas where they have
no opportunity to become involved in decisions that could affect
the quality of their lives. They are often victims of violence and
oppression. Land rights are stripped away from them and they
own no real property. To make matters worse, the gap between
the rich and the poor is widening. In the 1980s, Mozambique, one
of the poorest countries in the world, was 50 times poorer than
Switzerland. Today it is 550 times poorer.

Will things get better? In 2002, the richest countries of the
world, through the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and
Development (OECD), gave $24 billion in aid (financial and other
forms of help) to African countries. The OECD pledged to reduce
poverty in Africa by half by 2010. In order to do this, they will
have to contribute a further $25 billion. It remains to be seen
if these promises will be fulfilled. In 2000, the IMF created the
Highly Indebted Poor Countries program (HIPC). This provides
countries with debt relief on the condition that they show
they are combatting government corruption and investing in
education and health care and not military spending. If these
countries (32 out of 38 of which are in Africa) complete their
HIPC plans, they stand to save $56 billion in debt cancellations.

Africa is a continent with great potential. Some economists
believe that if Africa could increase its world trade by just
1 percent, it would earn an extra $70 billion each year. This is
three times what it receives in foreign assistance from OECD.

Lesson 1, page 14 Canadian and World Issues CGW4U-A

Support Question

(do not send in for evaluation)

5. Describe four pieces of evidence that demonstrate that the
sub-Saharan countries are experiencing large amounts of
poverty compared to other global regions.

The Effects of Poverty in Africa

Whether you live in a city or in the countryside, poverty puts limits
on the conditions in which you and your family live. It is also a very
difficult to escape from poverty. Poor people have access only to land
of marginal quality. It may have poor soil or be far up a hillside,
making it difficult to farm. For example, the poor of rural areas often
find themselves living on land not suited for growing food or grazing
animals. Many millions of people in sub-Saharan African countries
face this situation.

The majority of people in sub-Saharan Africa practise forms
of agriculture for a living. Most have small amounts of land,
from 0.5 to 2 hectares per family. Trees and vegetation are cut
down to clear land so that crops can be grown, which has a
serious effect on the soil that is exposed. Trees and vegetation
may have provided natural protection for soil, offering shade
and replenishing moisture and nutrients. Exposed soil dries up
and often blows away as dust. Trees once covered 40 percent of
Ethiopia’s land; today, they cover less than 4 percent.

Canadian and World Issues CGW4U-A Lesson 1, page 15

The process of erosion and drying of the land is called land
degradation or desertification. As people are forced to
live on poor land near the desert margins, this process occurs
rapidly and the desert expands in size. The people are then
forced to move and repeat the process in other areas. The cycle
of destruction to Africa’s food lands causes major ecological
problems. Much of the loose dry topsoil is deposited as sediment
in local waterways, clogging downstream passages and causing
rivers to overflow their banks. This results in lower-quality water
for drinking, cleaning, cooking, and irrigating land.

Approximately 500 million hectares of land in Africa is degraded,
and this figure grows every year, along with population growth,
which is about 3 percent per year for sub-Saharan countries.
Massive amounts of fertilizers are needed to replenish these
exhausted soils. The United Nations Environment Programme
(UNEP) suggests that Africa requires 11 million tonnes of
fertilizer to replenish the loss of nutrients in its soils, mostly
in the sub-Saharan countries. Plant and animal ecosystems
(systems formed by the interaction of living things) that require
cooler, moister conditions are being destroyed. The results are
sometimes catastrophic, with large numbers of people migrating,
millions going hungry, and thousands of people starving. UNEP
estimates that 30 percent of the world’s land is dry, and that
one quarter of this has already been severely damaged, mostly
in Africa, due to poor people desperate to grow food. About
10 million hectares worldwide are lost every year to land
degradation.

Land degradation results in large numbers of environmental
refugees—the New Internationalist organization estimates
10 million each year—who subsequently become dependent
on relief. Environmental refugees are people who are forced
to move away from their homes because the conditions of the
land, climate, air, or water will no longer sustain them. Moving
to other areas often results in conflict and social unrest, as the
people already occupying the new lands feel that their livelihoods
are threatened by the intruders, and there is severe competition
for scarce resources of land and water. This conflict can
perpetuate land degradation as limited resources are overused
and land is destroyed.

Lesson 1, page 16 Canadian and World Issues CGW4U-A

For example, conflicts for control of arable lands in the Sudan
in Africa have affected the country’s food supplies. An estimated
2.4 million Sudanese do not receive an adequate amount of food,
according to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of
the United Nations. Many of these are in the Darfur region of
northwest Sudan, which borders Chad and the Sahara Desert.
Thousands of refugees have fled into Chad and UN refugee
camps, away from Sudanese government troops and tribal Arab
militia. Much of the fighting has been over the region’s grazing
lands and fresh water.

Land degradation, rural poverty, and conflict prompt thousands
of poor people to migrate to the swelling cities in the hope of
finding security, work, and education for their children. Although
Africa is still the most rural continent on Earth, with only 38
percent of its population living in towns and cities, there is
unprecedented urban growth. Urban populations are increasing
by 4 percent per year. In this century, the majority of Africa’s
population will shift from rural to urban. The UN estimates that
by 2020 about 400 million more, mainly poor people, will live in
African cities and that about 300 million Africans—half of the
total urban population—will be living in slum conditions.

These poor often end up with bad housing and inadequate
sanitation. They live in shantytowns, which lack basic services
such as electricity, piped water, sewers, and refuse collection.
According to the World Bank, by 2020 as many as 300 million
people will be without adequate means of disposing of human
waste and garbage and 225 million without potable supplies of
water in sub-Saharan African cities.

The photo in Figure 1.1 shows Kibera, a shantytown seven
kilometres outside Nairobi, the capital of Kenya. Nairobi is a
bustling city of more than two million, many of whom arrived
after fleeing rural poverty. About half of Nairobi’s population
is estimated to live on a fifth of its land in squatter conditions.
A typical Canadian city has 1000 to 2000 people per square
kilometre. In Kibera, the density is a crowded 73 000 per square
kilometre!

Canadian and World Issues CGW4U-A Lesson 1, page 17

Figure 1.1. Kibera settlement near Nairobi, Kenya.

Source: United Nations Environment Programme.

The homes in Africa’s urban slums are made from anything a
family can lay its hands on: corrugated tin, cardboard, scrap
wood, and glass. Streets are filled with mud and refuse. The
population of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, is expanding by 10
percent annually: its population will double in seven years. Most
of the increase is accounted for by migrations from the poor rural
surroundings, which often results in social problems, such as
higher levels of crime. The situation is not likely to improve.

The poor in Africa are helpless to improve their conditions.
People in poverty are disenfranchised, meaning that they lack
political power and influence. A significant trend has been the
increase in poverty for women. It should be easier to help the
urban poor than those scattered around the countryside. Medical
facilities such as health clinics can be concentrated in the urban
areas that need them. Piping and freshwater-treatment facilities
can also be concentrated there. Sanitation can be carefully
screened and controlled. Many of these poor city areas grow so
fast, however, that even the best-intentioned local governments

Lesson 1, page 18 Canadian and World Issues CGW4U-A

cannot keep pace with change and growth. In many African
cities, the social conditions for the poor are as bad as they are for
their rural counterparts, including high infant mortality rates
(death before the first birthday), common water-related diseases,
and high crime rates. High rates of unemployment—as much as
60 percent—result in little improvement for rural migrants.

Lack of sanitation and basic health care among Africa’s poor
means their children are more likely to suffer from serious
disease. With chronic persistent hunger (malnutrition), otherwise
minor diseases can kill thousands of children who lack the basic
health to fight them off. In poor countries, children who die
before the age of five do so usually because they simply do not
have access to safe drinking water.

In poorer African families, basic education, if obtained at all,
ends at a young age. Girls are often kept at home to help with
the family chores. Without education, many children, especially
girls, find it difficult to escape the cycle of poverty. According to
the UN, two-thirds of the world’s 840 million illiterate people are
female.

In the following reading, “Why Famine Stalks Africa,” you will
learn how poverty affects everything, including living conditions,
health, and even basic food and hunger.

Why Famine Stalks Africa

Note: This article was published in 2002. The content is very
relevant to your course but please be aware that some of the
information in the article will be dated.

Nearly 30 million Africans could be facing famine
within months.

Estimates from UN agencies, African governments
and relief charities put the number at risk in the
Horn of Africa at about 15 million, over 14 million in
southern Africa and hundreds of thousands in the
Sahel region of West Africa.

The immediate cause is drought, which has ruined
harvests and left people and livestock without food
and water.

Canadian and World Issues CGW4U-A Lesson 1, page 19

But drought alone is not why Africa suffers regularly
from famine and widespread malnutrition.

Most African countries are not self-sufficient in food
and rely to varying extents on imports and on having
the income to pay for them.

Other factors are at work, including: armed conflict,
corruption and the mismanagement of food supplies,
environmental degradation, trade policies that harm
African agriculture and the long-term economic
effects of AIDS.

Poor Food Security

Famine is caused by the shortage or inability of
people to obtain food.

This might be caused by low food production
resulting from drought or other factors or it could be
a result of the inability of a country or its population
to afford to buy food.

Malnutrition is widespread across Africa, even in
famine-free years where food production or imports
appear to meet a country’s needs.

The UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation
(FAO) estimates that every year 40%-50% of the
population of sub-Saharan Africa goes hungry and
that the region “is worse off nutritionally today than it
was 30 years ago.”

Hunger and food insecurity are most serious in rural
areas, where farming and livestock rearing are the
main means of livelihood.

It is hardly surprising then that in a continent where
nearly half the people are always short of food that
drought, war and mismanagement of food supplies
so regularly lead to famine on a wide scale.

Undernourished Populations

The lack of food security and rampant poverty in
Africa have left the continent with a population that is
the most undernourished in the world.

Lesson 1, page 20 Canadian and World Issues CGW4U-A

UN figures show that over the past 30 years,
developing countries as a group have reduced the
percentage of undernourished in the population from
37% to 18%.

East and South Asia, where there have been massive
increases in agricultural production and significant
economic growth, have reduced the figure from 43%
to 13%.

Sub-Saharan Africa has failed to get the rate below
the 1969 figure of 34% of the population.

The Nobel Prize−winning economist Amartya Sen
has argued that hunger and the resulting malnutrition
and famine are products chiefly of poverty rather than
specifically a country’s ability to grow enough food.

Those who are malnourished are in this condition
because “they are not able to buy enough food
and as a consequence these people (including their
family members) live with hunger.”

Those who live with hunger every day are then
vulnerable in the years that food supplies fail
because of drought or other factors and become the
first victims of famine.

Professor Sen argues that if countries in Africa were
able to generate sufficient income they would be
able to make themselves free of hunger as they
could afford to import food to make up any shortfall
in domestic production.

Under present terms of trade, African agricultural
exports command low prices and cannot compete
on world markets.

War and Bad Management

In a list of 18 African countries facing food
emergencies in 2001, the FAO found that eight were
experiencing civil strife and three were suffering the
after-effects of conflict, such as internally displaced
people and returning refugees.

Canadian and World Issues CGW4U-A Lesson 1, page 21

The remaining seven had been affected by drought,
flood, cyclones or food deficits that could not be
made up by imports because of a lack of funds.

Those currently suffering from the threat of famine
are doing so for a number of reasons.

But in countries like Angola, Ethiopia and Eritrea,
recent conflict and a history of more or less constant
war in previous years have played a major part in
causing low food production, widespread poverty
and dislocation of food distribution and trade
networks.

Diversion of government finances, corruption or
mismanagement have gone alongside conflict or
developed from bad governance and have turned
droughts and food shortages into famine.

AIDS has also taken its toll, particularly in sub-
Saharan Africa.

Countries like Malawi, Swaziland, Zambia and
Zimbabwe are losing a high proportion of the
economically active population and gaining a large
number of orphans and elderly people with no visible
means of support.

It is against this bleak backdrop of chronic poverty,
conflict, poor government and AIDS that Africa is
proving to be perpetually vulnerable to drought and
floods.

These natural phenomena strike regularly, but it is
when they hit countries already reeling from the
effects of other ills that famine becomes inevitable.

Source: Keith Somerville, “Why Famine Stalks Africa,” November 12, 2002. From BBC News at bbcnews.com

Lesson 1, page 22 Canadian and World Issues CGW4U-A

(do not send in for evaluation)

6. The following chart, “World Issues Organizer,” provides you
with a structured way to look at any world issue. Using
information found in “Case Study: Poverty in Africa” and
in the reading “Why Famine Stalks Africa,” fill in the
appropriate sections of the chart.

World Issues Organizer

Issue (Write a question)

Concern
(Identify why the question
is important)

Possible Causes
(Identify at least two
reasons why the situation
exists)

Implications (What may
happen if the situation
continues)
a) social implications

b) economic implications

c) cultural implications

d) political implications

e) ecological implications

Stakeholders
(Identify at least three and
how each is involved)

Possible Solutions
(Identify at least two)

Canadian and World Issues CGW4U-A Lesson 1, page 23

Fact, Opinion, and Argument

This is an information age. There has never been so much
information and potential knowledge available. The Internet
has revolutionized ways of researching, obtaining, and even
using information. With so much out there, it is important to be
careful to choose information that can be trusted. What are the
differences between opinion, argument, and fact? In a world full
of events and a wide variety of stakeholders, you need to be able
to distinguish between these terms.

A fact is something that has been demonstrated or proven to
be true. So much of what you read about the world is fact. For
example, it is a fact that the most common gas in the Earth’s
atmosphere is nitrogen. It is a fact that the average high
temperature for Rio de Janeiro in January is 38°C.

When you are studying world issues, you must be very careful
about accepting as fact information you read as you research
different topics. Some “facts” are wrong. Perhaps there has been
misinformation or distortion. Perhaps you are simply reading a
typographical error. Many facts can be distorted by the addition
of opinion.

Opinion is based upon the viewpoint of one person or
organization. It is generally used to persuade others to agree
with a viewpoint and is presented in an inviting way. Opinions
are often mixed with facts to make them more acceptable. If
an organization describes the temperatures in Rio de Janeiro
as “enjoyably balmy” in January, you are reading an opinion.
Perhaps it is promoting tourism to Brazil. As a student, you must
be able to distinguish fact from opinion in order to make a fair
judgement. Information that is full of one opinion is described as
biased.

Opinions can be clearly seen when material is used for
argument. An argument is a presentation or discussion in
which disagreement is expressed. It can also be described as a
position, or thesis. An argument will use facts, or evidence, to
persuade people that it is based on the right opinion. Of course,
an argument is generally very biased. For example, you may

Lesson 1, page 24 Canadian and World Issues CGW4U-A

argue that India’s population is growing too fast and that it will
eventually hurt the country’s economy. You may present data
that shows how fast the population has increased over time, as
well as demonstrate that there has been a slowing down in the
economic well-being of the average Indian citizen. Others may
argue that population growth adds strength to the workforce
and to the size of the market. Perhaps the evidence can be used
to show that a slowdown in the economy is due to global forces
beyond India’s control.

Three Kinds of Sources

In this course, you will be asked to write paragraphs and essays
on a variety of topics. You will make statements and draw
conclusions based on supporting information that you find
through research. How can you be sure that the information you
use is sound and unbiased? If at all possible, take information
from primary sources, or first-hand records of an event. They
can include accounts by actual people involved, photographs,
diaries, and newspaper items. A primary source for population
data, for example, would be the data collected and reported on
the population census. Population numbers gathered by the
U.S. Census Bureau are as factual as technology and accurate
counting can allow. Statistical data from government sources
is generally sound. When summaries of primary data are put
together, secondary sources of information are formed. For
example, a piece about trends in Canadian tourism statistics
by the World Tourism Organization, an agency of the UN,
is an example of a secondary source. Tertiary sources of
information, which are the product of writers or organizations
using secondary interpretations in their presentations, may
result in distortions. If you want to know about Canadian
tourism, for instance, gather information from Statistics Canada,
which actually collects the data. Your interpretation of the data
then becomes a secondary source. If you use the World Tourism
Organization’s interpretation, you may end up summarizing a
summary and miss important details.

Canadian and World Issues CGW4U-A Lesson 1, page 25

Researching a Topic

When compiling research on a topic, use primary sources as often
as possible. Facts are indisputable. When you consult secondary
and tertiary information, such as in an article in a journal, you
need to distinguish between fact and opinion. Look for as many
clues as you can to determine the reliability of the source. One
of the best starting points is at the end, where you can often
find a brief biography of the author. Is this person a reliable
source? What is the author’s experience and whom does he or
she represent? Is there a profit motive behind the presentation?
Is the writer an academic trying to gain a reputation by voicing
a strong opinion? Is the author a man or a woman? What is the
cultural background of the author?

Look out for statements of personal opinion. What is the
intention of the writing? Is the author writing to present facts
or present a position? Certain expressions are often clues for
opinion. “We think” and “I believe,” for example, should be easy
to spot. You will find classic opinion-based writing in a daily
newspaper’s editorial, where the editor expresses opinion to
support a position that the newspaper wants to take.

When conducting research, consult reliable Web sites and sources
of print information. Government departments and the United
Nations generally provide unbiased data. Journal articles or
lectures published by universities are generally reliable, although
they may express the specific research interest of the writer
and therefore be selective in the information they present.
Organizations that represent a specific group usually promote a
specific set of opinions. Non-governmental organizations (NGOs)
such as the International Committee for the Red Cross, Médecins
Sans Frontières, and Worldwatch Institute are also generally
reliable, but do represent a cause or a position. Organizations
that are more political, such as Greenpeace and the National
Union of Mineworkers, would have a stronger bias. The
reputation of a journal or magazine is a clue to its reliability. Does
it represent a fair and unbiased view of events? Does it represent
significant knowledge about a topic? For example, The Lancet is
the journal of the British Medical Association. You would accept
information about medicine printed there as well-founded.

Lesson 1, page 26 Canadian and World Issues CGW4U-A

In-Text Citations

Whenever you use other people’s work in your own writing, you
must credit the source of that material in the actual text of your
writing. These references are called “in-text citations.” They
are short citations that generally include only the author’s last
name and the year of publication of the article or book you are
referencing.

For example, if you were writing a summary about barriers
to health care, you might choose to refer to a case study from
an imaginary book we’ll call Code Blue: The Crisis in Health
Delivery, written by Roshan Raichura, Rose Marie Laviolette,
and Sean O’Ceannabhain in 2002. When you reached the point
where you actually began discussing the case study you read
about in the book, you would simply place the following citation,
in brackets, in your paragraph:

(Raichura et al., 2002)

Note: The phrase “et al.” means “and others,” and is used to
represent the rest of the book’s authors.

Reference Page

At the end of some of your assignments, you have to include a
complete reference list naming all of the sources you used in the
text of your work. This list of sources is more commonly known
as a bibliography, and it is placed on what is called a reference
page. The reference style most commonly used by social scientists
is the style of the American Psychological Association (APA).
The following are some examples you can use as a model when
writing references. (Note: All of the following examples fit the
proper format, but do not refer to real books or articles.)

One Author

Takamura, H. (2005). Generation Eh? The Outlook for Canada’s
Early-21st-Century Children. Ottawa: NuBooks.

Canadian and World Issues CGW4U-A Lesson 1, page 27

Two or More Authors

Raichura, R., Laviolette, R.M., & O’Ceannabhain, S. (2002). Code
Blue: The Crisis in Health Delivery. Toronto: Porpoise Publishing.

Newspaper or Magazine Article

Ironstar, J. (2005, August 19). “Ministers of human resources and
social services to investigate low job-satisfaction rate.” Regina
Post, A3.

Periodicals/Journals

Mellers, B.A. (2000). “Choice and the relative pleasure of
consequences.” Psychological Bulletin, 126, 910-924.

Internet On-line Periodical

Kabila, O. (2004). “Cultural acceptance among commodity
brokers.” Journal of Anthropology, 87 (2). Retrieved December 4,
2006, from http://www.apa.org/psycinfo/

For the latest information, you can visit the APA Web site at
www.apa.org.

Support Questions

(do not send in for evaluation)

7. a) Choose any world issue and state two facts about it.

b) For your chosen world issue, write a sentence that is an
example of opinion.

c) For your chosen world issue, write a sentence that is an
example of an argument.

8. Provide one example each of primary, secondary, and
tertiary sources of information, demonstrating your
understanding of the differences between them.

Lesson 1, page 28 Canadian and World Issues CGW4U-A

Key Question

Save your answers to the Key Questions. When you have
completed the unit, submit them to ILC for marking.

(40 marks)

1. Select a world issue that is of interest to you. To help you
choose a topic, examine the Web sites listed at the end
of this lesson. They will also provide a starting point for
your research. Use the World Issues Organizer to organize
information about your issue.

World Issues Organizer

Issue
(Write a question)

2 marks

Concern
(Identify why the question is important)

3 marks

Possible Causes
(Identify at least two reasons why the
situation exists)

2 × 3 marks = 6 marks

Implications
(What may happen if the situation continues?)
a) social implications

3 marks

b) economic implications 3 marks

c) cultural implications 3 marks

d) political implications 3 marks

e) ecological implications 3 marks

Stakeholders
(Identify at least three and how each is
involved)

3 × 2 marks = 6 marks

Possible Solutions
(Identify at least two)

2 × 4 marks = 8 marks

Canadian and World Issues CGW4U-A Lesson 1, page 29

Useful Web Sites for World Issues Research

Here are some sites that teachers and students of this Grade 12
Canadian and World Issues course frequently use for research.
You are welcome to look for other sources and use them, as long
as you keep in mind what you learned about the trustworthiness
of sources. Be sure to record the sources you use accurately, as you
must list them when you write your answers to the Key Questions.

CIA World Factbook: www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/
index.html

Global Issues: www.globalissues.org

Worldwatch Institute Home Page: www.worldwatch.org

Countrywatch: www.countrywatch.com

Earth Facts: forestryanswers.tamu.edu/images/earthfacts/facts.
html

NASA Earth from Space: earth.jsc.nasa.gov/photoinfo.
cgi?PHOTO=STS094-713-012

About Geography: geography.about.com/science/geography/
?once=true&

Education Planet: www.educationplanet.com/articles/earthday.
html

Foreign Policy Association – Educators Corner: www.fpa.org/
info-url_nocat2406/info-url_nocat.htm

UN Earthwatch: www.unep.ch/earthw/news.htm

Statistics Canada: www.statcan.ca/start.html

UN Population Information Network: www.undp.org/popin

Global Eye (for teachers): www.globaleye.org.uk/teachers/
secondary.html

New Internationalist: www.oneworld.org/ni/index4.html

World Resources Institute: www.wri.org

UN Statistics Division: www.un.org/Depts/unsd/index.html

World News Online: www.worldnews.com

Lesson 1, page 30 Canadian and World Issues CGW4U-A

BBC News: news.bbc.co.uk

CNN News: www.cnn.com/WORLD

Now go on to Lesson 2. Do not submit your coursework to ILC
until you have completed Unit 1 (Lessons 1 to 5).

CGW4U-A

World Population: Change and
Challenge

Canadian and World Issues CGW4U-A Lesson 2, page

Introduction
The world’s population is growing at a staggering rate, but the
rate is much higher in some regions than in others. For example,
the estimated annual population growth in Africa from 2000 to
2050 is 2.4 percent; for North America, the figure is 0.6 percent.
In Europe, the population is actually declining at an annual
rate of 0.3 percent. What are the implications of these changes
in the world’s population, and what challenges face the world as
a result? In this lesson, you will have an opportunity to explore
these problems and to examine the potential consequences for
different regions. You will apply statistical analysis to draw
conclusions about future population growth or decline.

What You Will Learn

After completing this lesson, you will be able to

• explain why population growth or decline occurs

• predict how the world population will change and how these
changes will affect the environment and people’s ways of life

• use different methods of statistical analysis to examine and to
explain global population trends and changes

• use appropriate maps and charts to illustrate regional or
global population patterns and relationships

Lesson 2, page 2 Canadian and World Issues CGW4U-A

Glossary of Key Terms

The following terms are in bold in the lesson.

age quake: aging of a country’s population caused by declining
fertility rates.

demographer: expert who studies population statistics.

dependency load: the amount of a country’s population under 16 and
over 65. Gives an estimate of the tax burden on
the working population to provide necessary social
services.

developed countries
(DCs):

countries with high standards of living, diverse and
prosperous economies, and low fertility rates.

exponential growth: rapid rate of growth in which numbers keep doubling.

Food and Agriculture
Organization (FAO):

UN agency dedicated to improving the world’s food
supply.

less developed countries
(LDCs):

countries with low standards of living, struggling or
developing economies, and higher fertility rates.

life expectancy: average number of years lived by people in a country.

Neo-Malthusians: modern demographers who agree with the Malthusian
theory that famine, disease, and war will increase
when human population growth surpasses the Earth’s
available resources.

replacement level: total fertility rate required for a country to maintain its
population. The value is 2.1.

Rule of 70: method used to estimate the number of years it will
take for a country’s population to double. Divide the
number 70 by the percentage change from one year
to the next.

total fertility rate: number of children a woman will have in her lifetime.

Canadian and World Issues CGW4U-A Lesson 2, page 3

World Population: The Numbers
Within the next hour, there will be 8480 more people on this
planet. That means an additional 67 840 people over an eight-
hour shift of work or a good night’s sleep (see Figure 2.1).

Time unit Births Deaths Natural increase

Year 130 860 569 56 579 396 74 281 173

Month 10 905 047 4 714 950 6 190 098

Day 358 522 155 012 203 510

Hour 14 938 6 459 8 480

Minute 249 108 141

Second 4.1 1.8 2.4

Note: Figures may not add to totals due to rounding

Figure 2.1. World vital events per time unit, 2006.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, International Data Base.

Every second of 2006, there will be 4.1 births in the world. (Try
saying ”four-point-one” every second for 10 seconds. Although you
may stop counting, this growth never stops.) There are 1.8 deaths
every second as well. So the population of the world is growing
at the rate of 2.4 per second. This growth is known as natural
increase. In 2006 alone, the population of almost two Canadas
will be added to the world. Since the rate of natural increase
itself increases as the total gets bigger, more and more people are
added to the world every year, and available space and resources
cannot accommodate this growth. The amount of water on this
planet today is finite. If there are millions more thirsts to quench
each year, there could be serious problems in the future. The
capacity to grow more foods may increase through developments
in agricultural science, but the additional food lands we need will
not have the best soils, as these lands are already overused. Yet
the people still come and the population still grows.

Lesson 2, page 4 Canadian and World Issues CGW4U-A

The chart in Figure 2.2 shows the world’s total population for
the thousand years from 1000 to 2000, and the chart in Figure
2.3 shows the UN prediction of world population figures for the
years 2005 to 2050. Note that there are two different predictions
on world population growth. The “High Growth” set of numbers
assumes that high population growth will continue. The “Low
Growth” set of numbers assumes lower growth as people
throughout the world have smaller families and there are more
diseases such as AIDS.

Year Population (billions) Year Population (billions

)

1000 0.30 1970 3.

1250 0.31 1980 4.44

1500 0.50 1990 5.27

1750 0.79 2000 6.06

1800 0.98

1850 1.26

1900 1.65

1950 2.52

1960 3.02

Figure 2.2. World population increase between 1000−2000.

Source: United Nations Population Division, Department of Economic & Social Affairs, “World Population to 2300,”
www.un.org/esa/population/publications/longrange2/WorldPop2300final

Year High growth (in billions) Low growth (in billions)

2005 6.5 6.4

2010 7.0 6.7

2015 7.4 6.9

2020 7.9 7.2

2025 8.4 7.3

2030 8.8 7.5

2035 9.3 7.5

2040 9.7 7.5

2045 10.2 7.5

2050 10.6 7.4

Figure 2.3. United Nations high- and low-growth predictions.

Source: United Nations Population Division, Department of Economic & Social Affairs, “World Population to 2300,”
www.un.org/esa/population/publications/longrange2/WorldPop2300final

Canadian and World Issues CGW4U-A Lesson 2, page 5

Support Question

(do not send in for evaluation)

9. Using the data in Figures 2.2 and 2.3, make a line graph that
shows the world population growth from 1000 to 2050. The
following sample grid plots the data for the first four dates.

S A
M P

L E

1
2

1000 1250 1500 1750 2000

Year

P
op

ul
at

io
n

(b
ill

io
ns

)

•

• •
•

When you create your graph, make sure that the horizontal
scale, which you will use to represent time, is broken into
appropriate time sections. For the portion from 2000 to 2050, you
need to draw two lines to show the predictions for high and low
population growth. What can you conclude about your finished
graph? Write one or two paragraphs describing the information
on the graph and its meaning.

There are Suggested Answers to Support Questions at the end of
this unit.

Rate of Growth

In your written description of the graph in Support Question 9,
you probably noted many years of gradual slow growth followed
by a rapid rise in population growth. It is quite dramatic!

Lesson 2, page 6 Canadian and World Issues CGW4U-A

This pattern is called exponential growth. A number grows
exponentially when its increase is always proportional to its
current amount. For example, consider a number that doubles
in size every five years. Growth does not appear rapid when the
base number is small (2 becomes 4, 4 becomes 8, 8 becomes 16,
and so on), but when the base number is large, a doubling can
be quite different (256 becomes 512, 512 becomes 1024, 1024
becomes 2048, and so on). There has been exponential population
growth in recent history, and the numbers are now very large.
Demographers (researchers who study population numbers)
use a special rule to calculate when a country’s population will
double: the Rule of 70.

The Rule of 70 can be used to estimate the number of years it
will take for a country’s population to double. For this calculation,
divide the number 70 by the relative change (percentage
change—growth or decline—from one year to another).

For example, a country’s population grows from 40 million to
42 million in one year. The actual change is 2 million. To
calculate this as a relative number, divide 2 million by 40 million
(starting population) and multiply by 100 (to get a percentage).

In this case, there is 5 percent relative growth. To calculate when
this country’s population will double from 40 to 80 million, apply
the Rule of 70: divide 70 by the relative change of 5 percent,
which gives 14 years.

Now try your own calculation: according to the U.S. Census
Bureau, in 2005 Mali had a population of 12 291 529 and an
annual relative change of 2.75 percent. Its population will double
in 70/2.75 or 25 years. Mali will therefore have approximately
24.5 million people by the year 2005 + 25 = 2030.

Canadian and World Issues CGW4U-A Lesson 2, page 7

Support Question

(do not send in for evaluation)

10. a) Using the Rule of 70, complete the population growth
calculations in the following table.

Country Relative Change
(% annual growth)

2005
Population

Doubling Time
(years)

Year When
Doubled

New
Population

Uganda 3.3% 27 269 482

Peru 1.4% 27 925 628

Chad 2.9% 9 826 419

Canada 0.9% 32 805 041

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, International Data Base.

b) Which of the four countries represented in the chart
should be most concerned about its population growth?
Explain why.

Impacts of Rapid Population Growth

As you have learned, a country’s population can double in a
relatively short time. Some of the poorest countries in the world
have growth rates in excess of 2.5 percent, which means their
population doubles in twenty-eight years or less. According to
the UN, Somalia’s population of 8.4 million in 2005 will double
to 16.8 million in only 21 years, double again to 33.6 million by
2047, and to 67.2 million by 2068. This will be a terrible burden
on a developing east African country where the average life
expectancy is 48 years and annual average per capita income
is $600.

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), a UN agency
dedicated to improving the world’s food supply, estimates that
there are 1 to 2 billion malnourished individuals in the world
today. With the collaboration of the International Institute for
Applied Systems Analysis, the FAO estimates that there is
currently 1.6 billion hectares of actual and potential cropland

Lesson 2, page 8 Canadian and World Issues CGW4U-A

worldwide. To meet growing populations, this has to increase to
4 billion hectares by 2050. As demand for food grows, so does
the demand for fresh water (80 percent of water consumption is
accounted for by agriculture). China’s growing demand for grain
will possibly threaten the entire exported amount of grain in the
world today.

The populations of global emerging economies, such as China
and India, will increase by an estimated 625 million by 2050.
There will be huge growth in demand for the world’s resources
such as energy, lumber, and metals, as well as an increased
threat to the world’s natural environment as cities sprawl
into surrounding areas. There may be an increased number of
conflicts as groups compete for space and control over scarce
resources. The next war in the Middle East may well be fought
over water supplies and not political tensions. One major stress
is the fact that the traditionally poorer parts of the world are
improving their economies, raising their levels of consumerism
(desire and need to purchase goods and services). This will put
great pressures on the world’s ability to provide the resources it
needs to satisfy this demand.

A Malthusian Future?

If the world population continues to grow exponentially, as
some population experts predict, with four billion people being
added by 2050, there may be some unpleasant consequences.
This has been suggested for quite some time—more than 200
years, in fact. In 1798, Thomas Robert Malthus (1766−1843)
wrote in “Essay on the Principle of Population” that food supply
would grow gradually, whereas population would grow rapidly.
He stated that population growth outstrips food supply: while
the amount of food supply grows arithmetically, or by the same
amount for each unit of time (2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12 …), population
increases exponentially (1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32 …). He also believed
that people do not have the moral restraint to control their
numbers, and that the population growth would be controlled
through famine, disease, and even war.

Canadian and World Issues CGW4U-A Lesson 2, page 9

Malthus’s prediction that the world’s population would double
every 25 years did not come to pass. If it had, we would now be
struggling with a world population of 243 billion! Nevertheless,
there are demographers today, called “neo-Malthusians,” who
believe that the world cannot sustain the large estimated growth
in population. They also worry about such things as food and
water supply, and city sanitation and the spread of disease.
Joel E. Cohen is a demographer who writes about future trends
in population. He could be described as a neo-Malthusian because
he does not feel that humans can sustain continual population
growth. Cohen also believes in the power of human beings to use
their intelligence to make choices. Here is a piece about Cohen’s
article “Human Population: The Next Half-Century.”

By the Year 2050, Human Population
Could Add 2.6 Billion People

It took from the beginning of time until 1950 to put
the first 2.5 billion people on the planet. Yet in the
next half-century, an increase that exceeds the total
population of the world in 1950 will occur.

So writes Joel E. Cohen, Ph.D., Dr.P.H., professor
and head of the Laboratory of Populations at The
Rockefeller University and Columbia University, in
a Viewpoint article in the November 14 issue of the
journal Science.

In “Human Population: The Next Half-Century,”
Cohen examines the history of human population
and how it might change by the year 2050.

By then, the earth’s present population of 6.3 billion
is estimated to grow by 2.6 billion. “There are some
things we can reasonably know and other things
we cannot know,” Cohen says about population
projections. “By examining population size and
distribution, it is possible to get a feeling for possible
challenges to our future well-being. It is possible to
get a sense of the larger picture.”

What can be reasonably predicted? The world’s
population will be growing at a slower rate than it is

Lesson 2, page 10 Canadian and World Issues CGW4U-A

today, especially in the richer, developed countries,
but it will be larger by 2 to 4 billion people. It will also
be more urban, especially in the underdeveloped
countries. And it will be more elderly. However,
exactly how international migration and family
structures will change demographers cannot say.

“I also do not know whether we will inflict a
doomsday on ourselves by warfare, disease or
catastrophe. Our future depends on choice—on the
choices we have made in the past and those we
will make in the future,” adds Cohen. “We cannot
continue the exceptional growth of this last half
century without experiencing consequences.”

The demographic projections that Cohen cites
assume that fertility rates will continue to decline
and that more effective preventions and treatments
against HIV and AIDS will be implemented and major
catastrophes such as biological warfare, severe
climate change, or thermonuclear holocaust will not
be inflicted on the human population and the planet.
These assumptions underlie the United Nations
Population Division’s urbanization forecasts and its
online database, World Population Prospects: The
2002 Revision. In the Science article, Cohen reports
such statistical information as the following:

History of human population: It took from the
beginning of time until about 1927 to put the first
2 billion people on the planet; less than 50 years to
add the next 2 billion people (by 1974); and just 25
years to add the next 2 billion (by 1999). In the most
recent 40 years, the population doubled.

Birth rates: The global total fertility rate fell from
five children per woman per lifetime in 1950 to
2.7 children in 2000, a result of worldwide efforts
to make contraception and reproductive health
services available, as well as other cultural changes.
Encouraging as this is, if fertility remains at present
levels instead of continuing to decline, the population
would grow to 12.8 billion by 2050 instead of the
projected 8.9 billion.

Canadian and World Issues CGW4U-A Lesson 2, page 11

Urbanization: In 1800, roughly 2 percent of people
lived in cities; in 1900, 12 percent; in 2000, more
than 47 percent. In 1900, not one metropolitan
region had 10 million people or more. By 1950, one
region did—New York. In 2000, 19 urban regions
had 10 million people or more. Of those 19, only four
(Tokyo, Osaka, New York, and Los Angeles) were in
industrialized countries.

Poor, underdeveloped regions: Despite higher
death rates, the population of poor countries grows
six times faster than that of rich countries.

Population density: The world’s average population
density is expected to rise from 45 people per
square kilometer in the year 2000 to 66 people per
square kilometer by 2050. Assuming 10 percent
of land is arable, population densities per unit
of arable land will be roughly 10 times higher,
posing unprecedented problems of land use and
preservation for the developing world.

Aging population: The 20th century will probably
be the last when younger people outnumbered older
ones. By 2050, there will be 2.5 people aged 60
years or older for every child 4 years old or younger,
a shift that has serious implications for health care
spending for the young and old.

Although it is not possible to predict how global
demographics will affect families or international
migration, Cohen points out that three factors set the
stage for major changes in families: fertility falling to
very low levels; increasing longevity; and changing
mores of marriage, cohabitation and divorce.

In a population with one child per family, no children
have siblings, Cohen explains. In the next generation,
the children of those children have no cousins, aunts,
or uncles.

If people are between ages 20 and 30 on the
average when they have children and live to 80
years of age, they will have decades of life after their
children have reached adulthood, and their children

Lesson 2, page 12 Canadian and World Issues CGW4U-A

will have decades of life with elderly parents, Cohen
also points out. Cohen’s article kicks off a four-week
long series titled “The State of the Planet,” which
examines key issues of our planet’s well-being.
Cohen was asked to initiate the series because
“population is people and people matter.”

Source: The Rockefeller University, The Earth Institute, “By the Year 2050, Human Population Could Add 2.6 Billion
People,” www.earthinstitute.columbia.edu/news/2003/story11-19-03.html Posted November 19, 2003.

Support Question

(do not send in for evaluation)

11. Using the information you have read about the world’s
population changes, briefly describe, in one or two
sentences for each, five significant impacts that may occur
as a consequence of continued world population growth.

Regional Differences

At the start of this lesson, you were given data showing that the
world’s population grows by more than 200 000 (a significant-
sized city) each day. The UN projects that by 2050 the world’s
population will grow by between 1.5 and 4 billion. You have
also examined the consequences of there being too many people
in the world. Will everyone suffer these consequences equally?
Population growth is not equal in all regions of the world: in
some, growth is very fast; in others, it is much slower. There
are even regions where there is no population growth, and the
concern is that these populations are actually declining in size.
Figure 2.4 shows population totals for the world’s six continental
regions from 1900 to a projection for 2050.

Canadian and World Issues CGW4U-A Lesson 2, page 13

Region 1900 1950 2000 20

Africa 133 221 800 1766

Asia 947 1402 3684 5268

Europe 408 547 727 628

Latin America & Caribbean 74 167 517 809

North America 82 172 306 392

Oceania 6 13 31 46

Total world population 1650 2522 6065 8909

Figure 2.4. Population of world regions (in millions) 1900-2050.

Source: CIA World Factbook, www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/rankorder/2119rank.html and United Nations
Population Division, Department of Economic & Social Affairs, “World Population to 2300,” www.un.org/esa/population/
publications/longrange2/WorldPop2300final

Support Questions

(do not send in for evaluation)

Do a statistical analysis of the regional differences listed in
Figure 2.4.

12. Which region has been the most populated in each of the
years listed in Figure 2.4?

13. Which region shows the largest increase in actual
population numbers between 1950 and 2050?

14. Calculate the percentage of people living in each region in
the year 1950 and 2050.

(In order to do this for 1950, divide each regional
population by the world’s total for 1950 and multiply by
100. For example, in 1950, North America contained
172
2522

× 100 = 6.82%.)

15. Which region is projected to show the largest increase in
the percentage of the world’s population between 1950 and
2050?

16. Which region shows the greatest decline in percentage of
the world’s population between 1950 and 2050?

Lesson 2, page 14 Canadian and World Issues CGW4U-A

17. In which region did the population grow fastest between
1950 and 2000? To answer this, calculate each region’s
percentage of change in growth between 1950 and 2000.
For example, the population in Europe grew by 727 – 547 =
180 million between 1950 and 2000. Divide this growth in
population by the population in 1950 and multiply by 100.

This is a growth of
1

547

× 100 = 32%.

18. Refer to Figure 2.5 showing the growth of countries’
populations between 2005 and 2050.

Country
(2050 Rank)

Population (2005)
(millions)

Proj. Population
(2050)

India 1080 1531

China 1306 1395

United States 295 408

Pakistan 162 348

Indonesia 241 293

Nigeria 128 258

Bangladesh 144 254

Brazil 186 233

Ethiopia 73 170

Democratic Republic of the
Congo (DROC)

60 151

Figure 2.5. Populations over 150 million 2005–2050.

a) Calculate the percentage growth for each of the countries
shown between 2005 and 2050. (This is calculated in the
same way as Support Question 17.)

b) Why should the government of India be concerned about its
population growth?

19. Now for your conclusions. Consider the data you have
calculated and the information you have read. What three
significant conclusions can you make about the regional
change in world’s population between 1900 and 2050?

Canadian and World Issues CGW4U-A Lesson 2, page 15

Slow Growth and Decline

Rapid population growth, as you have learned, is worrying for
the world as a whole, but for many countries, most notably in
Europe, predictions indicate that their populations will continue
to decline. You will look at the consequences of this later and
learn why this is not good.

To understand the reason for different levels of growth and
decline, you need to understand the concept of total fertility
rate. Total fertility rate describes the number of children a
woman will have in her lifetime. For a country to maintain its
population, each couple needs to have 2.1 children. This is called
the replacement level. You may think that this should be 2.0,
but the added 0.1 takes into account the number of children who
die before they reach reproductive age.

In 2005, the total fertility rate for the world was 2.6 per
female. This number has dropped from 4.9 in 1975, but it is still
sufficient for the world’s population to increase in size. Countries
that include nearly half the world’s population, however, have
fertility rates at or below 2.1. These countries are in what are
described as the developed countries (DCs). In the less
developed countries (LDCs) of the world, the average fertility
rate is 2.5. The three countries with the highest fertility rates in
2005 were Niger at 7.55, Mali at 7.47, and Somalia at 6.84. This
portion of the world’s population will be responsible for about
70 percent of the future total population increase, or more than
3 billion people.

If the world fertility rates were to remain at around 2.6, the
world’s population would grow to more than 12 billion by 2300.
The United Nations, however, predicts lower fertility rates into
the future. Even a small change in the fertility rate can have a
significant effect. India, with a population of more than 1 billion,
and a fertility rate of 2.5, is destined soon to surpass China as
the world’s most populous country. If India, which is developing
its economy quite rapidly, manages to reduce the fertility rate
to 2.1, its population will be the same in 100 years as it is now.
On the other hand, if India continues with a fertility rate of 2.5,
it will add 2 billion people in that time. In sharp contrast with

Lesson 2, page 16 Canadian and World Issues CGW4U-A

this possibility, have a look at the table produced by the United
Nations in Figure 2.6 showing projected declining populations
from 2000 to 2050.

Rank Country Rate of decline in population
(% per year)

1 Estonia 1.46

2 Latvia 1.16

3 Ukraine 0.90

4 Bulgaria 0.86

5 Georgia 0.83

6 Guyana 0.81

7 Armenia 0.73

8 Russia 0.72

9 Lithuania/Yugoslavia 0.65

10 Hungary 0.55

Figure 2.6. Declining populations 2000–2050 (projected).

Source: United Nations Population Division, Department of Economic & Social Affairs, “World Population to 2300,”
www.un.org/esa/population/publications/longrange2/WorldPop2300final

World Fertility Rates

The map in Figure 2.7 shows the fertility rates in countries
around the world.

Figure 2.7. World fertility rates.

Source: UN World Population Data Sheet.

Canadian and World Issues CGW4U-A Lesson 2, page 17

Factors Affecting Fertility Rates

Some causes of higher fertility rates:

• the need for children in a workforce, especially true for
economies based on agriculture or that have extreme poverty

• low levels of education and literacy, especially for girls who
neither get a higher education nor enter the workforce

• cultures that allow girls to marry at a young age and hence
start families at an early age

• high death rates, which increase the pressure to have larger
families

• high rates of infant mortality

• where there are few social services, the need for children to
provide security for adults in their senior years

• patrilineal social organization (descent through the male line)
where the desire for a son increases family size

• lack of available birth control methods

• religion’s influence on the practice of birth control

Some causes of lower fertility rates:

• higher levels of education and literacy, especially where girls
enter higher education or the workforce

• legislation that limits the size of a family, such as China’s
One Child Policy, adopted in 1979

• economies that value career mobility, especially for women

• economies where families need two incomes

• high standards in health care, especially in postnatal and
child care.

• lower death rates, reducing the need for large families

• health and social care for seniors

• high costs of educating and raising children

• widespread availability of birth control methods

Lesson 2, page 18 Canadian and World Issues CGW4U-A

(do not send in for evaluation)

20. Refer to the map in Figure 2.7, which shows world fertility
rates.

a) Where should there be concern about high fertility rates?

b) Where should there be concern about low fertility rates?

21. What could be done to lower fertility rates in countries
that presently have high fertility rates?

Life Expectancy and Aging

Another important demographic trend today is that the world’s
population is generally getting older. Life expectancy is the
number of years you can expect to live. It takes into account all
ages of death. For example, if you live in a country with a low life
expectancy—for example, 45 years—it does not mean that you
are considered old at 45. It certainly means that many babies
and children are dying, which brings down the average lifespan.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the world’s average life
expectancy in 2005 was 64.33 years (62.7 male, 66.0 female). Due
to improvements such as better health care, less famine, cleaner
water, and knowledge about nutrition, survival rates are higher,
especially in the first year of life, and especially in the richer
developed countries. This pushes the average life expectancy
upwards. According to the CIA World Factbook, the microstates
of Andorra (83.5), Macau (82.1), and San Marino (81.2) have the
highest in the world. Japan has the highest (81.1) of countries
with a large population. Canada is ranked twelfth in the world
with 80.1.

This trend is not the same throughout the world. In many parts
of sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America, and Asia, life expectancies
are actually falling, due to the massive spread of AIDS. The
lowest life expectancies are in Swaziland (33.2), Botswana

Canadian and World Issues CGW4U-A Lesson 2, page 19

(33.9), and Lesotho (34.5). Twenty-four of the lowest twenty-five
countries are in Africa (war-torn Afghanistan is the exception).

High-income
OECD

Latin America
and Caribbean

E Asia and Pacific

E Europe and CIS

Arab states

South

Asia

Life expectancy (years)

changing life expectancy

80
70

1980 1990 2003

Sub-Saharan

Africa

SOURCE: UN

Figure 2.8. Changing life expectancy.

Source: United Nations Human Development Programme. By permission of Oxford University Press.

Did you know…

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the median age of the world’s
population is increasing. In 2005 it was 27; it is estimated to rise to
42 in 2050.

The UN has predicted what it describes as an “age quake” in
the world’s population, due to the average age of people in the
world becoming higher. It estimates that every single month
more than one million people turn sixty years of age. There is a
global trend toward population becoming older, which is caused
by two factors: women are giving birth to fewer children, and
people are living longer. The aging trend is usually found in
countries with improving economies and higher standards of
living. For example, the average age of Canada’s population in
2005 was 39 years, much higher than the world average of 27.
This also means that in the countries experiencing this age
quake, the percentage of population that is considered to be its
youth is declining. Figure 2.9 shows some sample predictions.

Lesson 2, page 20 Canadian and World Issues CGW4U-A

0–14 15–59 60+

Africa

DR of Congo 48.8 46.7 4.5

Ghana 40.9 54.0 5.6

Sudan 40.1 54.4 5.5

Asia

China 24.8 65.0 10.1

India 33.5 58.9 7.6

Japan 14.7 62.1 23.2

Europe

France 18.7 60.7 20.5

Czech Republic 16.4 65.2 18.4

Estonia 17.7 62.1 20.2

North America

USA 21.7 62.1 16.1

Canada 19.1 64.2 16.7

Latin America

Mexico 33.1 59.9 6.9

Brazil 28.8 63.4 7.8

Middle East

Saudi Arabia 42.9 52.3 4.8

Israel 28.3 58.6 13.2

Oceania

Australia 20.5 63.1 16.3

Figure 2.9. Age categories, selected countries, 2001.

Source: United Nations Population Division, Department of Economic and Social Affairs.

Canadian and World Issues CGW4U-A Lesson 2, page 21

What are the effects of a country’s population becoming either
smaller or older?

• Its workforce will shrink, as more people retire and fewer
younger people are available to replace them. The Federal
Human Resources Department predicts that by 2020 Canada
will have one million fewer skilled workers than it needs.

• As the workforce shrinks, fewer taxpayers will be making
contributions to support the larger group that is withdrawing
a government pension. Pension schemes may not have enough
income to support their payment obligations.

• Markets will shrink as more people have to depend on smaller
incomes.

• Health care costs will rise significantly to pay for care of the
elderly.

• A country’s dependency load (the amount of its population
under 16 and over 65) will rise. For example, Statistics
Canada predicts that Canada’s dependency load will rise from
20 percent in 2005 to about 40 percent by 2030. This means
that more dependents (young and older people) will depend
on fewer workers, who support them through families and
government services.

Population decline can be modified by government policies
that encourage immigration. For example, Canada encourages
immigration of skilled workers to enhance its workforce and
reduce the dependency load caused by its aging population.
Many immigrants from Africa are moving to Europe. You will
learn more about these migration patterns in Lesson 5.

Lesson 2, page 22 Canadian and World Issues CGW4U-A

(do not send in for evaluation)

22. Refer to the graph in Figure 2.8 showing the changing
life expectancy between 1980 and 2003. Write one or two
sentences on life expectancy trends in each region.

23. Using the data in Figure 2.9, describe the regional
differences in age categories. For example, European
countries (France, Czech Republic, and Estonia) have low
numbers of young people (0−14), but high numbers of older
people (60+).

24. What impact does an aging population have on a country?

Population Growth: Differing Opinions

There is much debate about population growth. Clearly, even
though the rate of increase is slowing, a considerable number of
people will be added to this planet over the next 50 years. How
concerned should you be about population growth? Some argue
that having more people is actually good for the future of this
planet. You will now examine two very different perspectives on
the impact of population growth.

Paul Ehrlich (1932− ) is a neo-Malthusian. As a biologist at
Stanford, he has long shared Malthus’s view that countries and
even the world face serious consequences if rapidly growing
populations are not addressed. He has written many books
predicting the consequences, such as damaged environments,
food shortages, disease, and conflict. He believes that the Earth
has a carrying capacity that humans are threatening to exceed.
Ehrlich calculates that the ideal world population is about four
billion, which has already been exceeded by more than two
billion.

Canadian and World Issues CGW4U-A Lesson 2, page 23

Ehrlich believes that the environmental effects of population
growth are a concern to all citizens of the world, not just
those living in regions where population is growing. Although
developed countries have dramatically lower fertility rates than
less developed countries, high levels of consumption in developed
countries have a huge impact on the world’s carrying capacity.
Although very populous countries such as China and India are
reducing their fertility rates, Ehrlich warns that improvements
in their economies are leading to increased levels of consumption.
The effect on the Earth’s carrying capacity remains disastrous.

Ehrlich argues that to avoid environmental collapse in the
future, two concerns must be addressed immediately: population
growth and wasteful use of the Earth’s resources. Technology can
be part of the solution if emphasis is placed on environmentally
friendly products that reduce demands on resources. Technology
is often part of the problem, however, when emphasis is placed
on consumer goods that are used briefly before being thrown
away.

Julian Simon (1932−1998) was an economist at University of
Maryland. He strongly believed that people were an asset to the
planet, and argued against neo-Malthusians, who predict serious
consequences as a result of overpopulation. Simon countered that
humanity will not run short of resources because people continue
to find new supplies. He saw great potential in the numbers of
people. The higher a country’s population, the more intellectual
potential it held. If a certain resource was running out, an
alternative would be found. He used energy as an example.
People used to burn wood as fuel. When the forests were being
depleted it was replaced by coal. As coal became scarcer, people
turned to oil, then to uranium. In the future, there may be more
reliance on alternative sources such as solar and hydrogen
energy as oil and gas is depleted. In fact, on some topics, Simon
seems to have been correct so far. Food has not run out as the
world’s population has risen. In fact, there is more food in the
world than is currently necessary. For instance, there is enough
grain in the world to provide everyone with 3200 calories per day
if it could be properly distributed. India and Mexico should have
run out of food for their growing population years ago, but with

Lesson 2, page 24 Canadian and World Issues CGW4U-A

advances in biotechnology, scientists have grown plants that can
produce more yield, survive droughts and cold, and resist disease
and pests. Life expectancy has continued to rise, except in AIDS-
ravaged Africa.

Key Question

Save your answers to the Key Questions. When you have
completed the unit, submit them to ILC for marking.

(50 marks)

2. Imagine that you are employed as a writer in the
Population Studies Department at the United Nations.
You have been asked to write a one-page update about
world population change. In order to complete your answer,
you should consult text and Web site resources and the
material in this lesson.

The references you consult should be included in a bibliography
at the end of your update. (For a quick reminder on how to
prepare your bibliography, refer to Lesson 1, pages 26–27.)

Your writing must be organized in paragraphs and should
include the following elements.

An appropriate and relevant title that sums up the topic of your
paper.

2 marks

A one-paragraph summary of world population totals and
projections to 2050.

5 marks

A paragraph identifying three regions where growth is greatest,
and the impacts of the growth.

3 × 5 marks
= 15 marks

A paragraph identifying three countries where population is in
decline, and the impacts of the decline.

3 × 5 marks
= 15 marks

A paragraph stating your opinion about what the UN should
consider the major concerns.

5 marks

Proper punctuation and a complete bibliography (list of the
references you consulted to write this assignment).

3 marks

Bibliography contains a minimum of three references and is
properly formatted.
Note: For a quick reminder on how to prepare your bibliography,
refer to Lesson 1, pages 26–27.

5 marks

Canadian and World Issues CGW4U-A Lesson 2, page 25

Useful Web Sites for Population Studies Research

CIA World Factbook: www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/
index.html

Population Reference Bureau: www.prb.org

UN Population Information Network: www.un.org/popin/

Zero Population Growth: www.zpg.org

Negative Population Growth: www.npg.org

Population Resource Center: www.prcdc.org

Demographia: www.demographia.com

Global Issues: www.globalissues.org

Worldwatch Institute Home Page: www.worldwatch.org/

Countrywatch: www.countrywatch.com/

About Geography: geography.about.com/science/geography/
?once=true&

Statistics Canada: www.statcan.ca/start.html

TV Ontario Educational link: www2.tvo.org/edulinks/default.
html

New Internationalist web page: www.oneworld.org/ni/index4.
html

World Resources Institute: www.wri.org/

Worldbook (The Living Planet): www.worldbook.com/fun/
ssystem/earth/html/intro.htm

UN Statistics Division: www.un.org/Depts/unsd/index.html

Lesson 2, page 26 Canadian and World Issues CGW4U-A

World News Online: www.worldnews.com/

BBC News: news.bbc.co.uk/

CNN News: www.cnn.com/WORLD/

Now go on to Lesson 3. Do not submit your coursework to
ILC until you have completed Unit 1 (Lessons 1 to 5).

3
CGW4U-A

Population Analysis

Canadian and World Issues CGW4U-A Lesson 3, page 1

Introduction
In the previous lesson, you learned about the rapid growth in

population, and how it could have serious consequences. You also
learned that population increase is much greater in some parts
of the world than others. In fact, in some areas population is not
increasing at all. Why are there regional differences between one
part of the world and another?

In this lesson, you will learn more about the study of population,
or demography. You will look at special population graphs
called population pyramids as well as a model that shows how
population growth changes over time. You will examine three
countries that face different population challenges.

What You Will Learn

After completing this lesson, you will be able to

• list the factors that influence selected world demographic
trends

• explain how a country’s culture or economy influences its
population policy

• measure the quality of life in developed and developing
countries by using statistical indicators correctly

Lesson 3, page 2 Canadian and World Issues CGW4U-A

Glossary of Key Terms

The following terms are in bold in the lesson.

age cohorts: people of the same age group, usually grouped into
five-year intervals.

baby boom: an exceptionally large age cohort, which results from
a period of unusually high birth rates.

crude birth rate: number of births for every 1000 people in a
population.

crude death rate: number of deaths for every 1000 people in a
population.

Demographic Transition
Model (DTM):

model that shows the relationship between births and
deaths at different stages in a country’s development.

fertility lag: birth rates remain high for a number of years despite
declines in infant mortality, as cultures take time to
adjust to changing realities. A characteristic of Phase
3 of the DTM.

general fertility rate: number of births compared to the number of women
of child-bearing age (15 to 49).

Gross Domestic Product
(GDP):

total value of goods and services produced by
workers and capital within a country during a year.

Gross National Income
(GNI):

once known as gross national product (GNP), it is
similar to GDP but includes remittances from foreign
income.

One Child Policy: policy used in China to limit fertility rates. Families
with more than one child suffered penalties under the
policy.

population pyramid: bar graph that shows the proportion of the population
that belongs to different age cohorts, as well as
whether they are male or female.

rate of natural increase: the birth rate minus the death rate. If this value is
negative, there will be a natural decrease in the
population.

scatter graph: graph that plots two sets of information onto a graph,
enabling the reader to see if the pattern created
reveals a relationship between them.

Canadian and World Issues CGW4U-A Lesson 3, page 3

Population Growth
Changes in population growth and decline occur because of two
factors:

• Natural increase or decrease: the difference between the
number of births and deaths

• Migration: the number of people who move into a country in
relation to those who leave to live elsewhere

Now look at these factors in more detail. The crude birth rate
is the number of births for every 1000 people in a population.
To calculate this, divide the total number of births in one year
by the total population, then multiply by 1000. The crude
death rate is calculated in the same way. The rates are always
expressed as a ratio.

For example, to calculate the crude birth rate of Country X,
which had 375 000 births in one year and a total population of
28 000 000, the calculation would be as follows:

375 000/28 000 000 × 1000 = 13.39

Therefore, in that year there were 13.39 births for every 1000 of
the population.

The crude birth rate would be expessed as the ratio 13.39/100

What is a high or low birth rate? According to World Factbook, in
2005, Niger had a birth rate of 51/1000, Mali’s was 50/1000 and
Uganda’s was 47/1000. These are very high. Canada’s birth rate
was 11/1000, which is very low (86th in the world). Germany’s
birth rate was the lowest, at 8/1000. As for death rates,
Botswana’s was the highest at 29/1000, followed by two other
African countries, Swaziland and Lesotho, at 28/1000. The lowest
death rates are found in the Middle Eastern countries of Kuwait,
Saudi Arabia, and Jordan, each with 2/1000. Canada’s death rate
is 8/1000.

Lesson 3, page 4 Canadian and World Issues CGW4U-A

If Canada has a birth rate of 11/1000 and a death rate of
8/1000, the population is naturally increasing slowly. The
difference between the birth rate and the death rate is key to
understanding a country’s rate of growth or decline. For example,
Niger has the highest birth rate, but its death rate is also high,
at 21/1000. As you will learn later, a high death rate is usually a
result of many children dying before their first birthday, which
prompts parents to have more children. Niger has a rate of
natural increase of 30/1000 (difference between the birth rate
of 47 and the death rate of 21). Canada’s rate of natural increase
is only 3/1000. So Niger has a high rate of population growth,
and Canada has a low rate.

Demographers are usually interested in the number of births
compared to the number of women of child-bearing age (15 to
49). To calculate this, divide the number of births in one year by
the total number of women aged 15 to 49, and multiply by 1000.
The answer is the general fertility rate for that country. (Note
this is a different calculation from the total fertility rate that
you learned about in Lesson 2.) To calculate the general fertility
rate of Country X, which had 375 000 births in one year and
9 000 000 women aged 15 to 49:

375 000/9 000 000 × 1000 = 41.66.

The general fertility rate for Country X in that year is
41.66/1000.

Canadian and World Issues CGW4U-A Lesson 3, page 5

Support Questions
(do not send in for evaluation)

25. The following chart shows population, birth, and death
figures for three countries in the year 2004. Complete the
chart by calculating the crude birth and death rates for
each country.

Population Births Deaths BR/1000 DR/1000

Brazil 186 112 794 3 132 264 1 144 588

Canada 32 805 041 355 606 253 582

Guinea 9 467 866 397 898 145 318

Source: CIA World Factbook, 2005.

26. Country Y has a population of 23 500 000. In one year
there were 480 000 births, and 8 280 000 women between
15 and 49. Calculate Country Y’s general fertility rate.

There are Suggested Answers to Support Questions at the end of
this unit.

Demographic Transition

Some countries of the world have been trying for many decades
to reduce their population growths. Several have been so
successful that they now experience no growth or, as in the
cases of Spain and Italy, population decline. Too few people in a
country is as much of a problem as too many. Some countries are
even trying to persuade couples to have more children. Changes
in birth and death rates usually take place over a considerable
period of time. Few countries are willing to take bold measures to
achieve desired changes in population growth or decline. China
is a rare exception: in 1979, it introduced its One Child Policy,
which changed its birth rate dramatically.

Birth and death rates appear to be linked to the economic well-
being of a country. It has been suggested that, as a country
becomes better off economically, the birth and death rates
decline. If a country remains poor, its birth and death rates

Lesson 3, page 6 Canadian and World Issues CGW4U-A

remain high. Is this true? A good way to test this is to use a
statistical technique called a scatter graph. A scatter graph
plots two sets of information onto a graph, which enables the
reader to see if the pattern created reveals a relationship
between them.

Figure 3.1 shows an outline for a scatter graph with two
variables. The horizontal axis represents a scale of economic
well-being: Gross Domestic Product (GDP) (the total value of
goods and services produced by workers and capital within a
country during a year) divided by a country’s population, or GDP
per capita. A country with a high GDP per capita is considered
well off. In 2005, the United States had one of the highest
rates of GDP per capita in the world with US$41 800; Canada
ranked 14th with US$34 000. Sierra Leone with US$800 and
the Democratic Republic of Congo with US$700 were among
the lowest. The vertical axis represents the birth rate. You are
now going to examine some data to test whether there is a
relationship between birth rates and levels of wealth.

Support Questions
(do not send in for evaluation)

27.

G
D

P
/C

a
p

it
a

Figure 3.1. Scatter graph outline.

Plot the data in Figure 3.2 for each country onto the graph in
Figure 3.1. As an example, data for Mexico has been plotted on

Canadian and World Issues CGW4U-A Lesson 3, page 7

the graph. Mexico has a birth rate of 21/1000 and a GDP per
capita of US$9600.

28. Is there a relationship in the pattern you have created?
Do the countries with high birth rates tend to be poorer?
Do countries with low birth rates tend to be better off
economically? Write a conclusion paragraph about what you
see. A good conclusion will use some examples as evidence.

Country Birth rate per 1000 GDP per capita (US$) 2004

Uganda 47 1500

Italy 9 27000

Uruguay 14 14 500

Haiti 37 1500

Canada 11 31 500

Ghana 31 2300

Argentina 11 12

Sri Lanka 15 4000

Pakistan 30 2200

Cambodia 27 2000

Bahamas 18 17 700

Germany 8 28 700

Peru 20 5600

Costa Rica 19 9600

Botswana 23 9200

Vietnam 17 2700

United States 14 40 100

Iran 17 7700

Dominican Republic 24 6300

Taiwan 13 25 300

Australia 12 31 300

Burundi 42 600

Barbados 13 16 400

Honduras 29 2800

Figure 3.2. Birth rate and GDP per capita for selected countries.

Source: CIA World Factbook, 2005.

Lesson 3, page 8 Canadian and World Issues CGW4U-A

Demographic Transition Model

The previous activity suggests that there is a link between
the economic success of a country and its birth rates. The
Demographic Transition Model (DTM) is a stylized
graph that suggests that changes in birth and death rates
are influenced by changes in a country’s personal and social
development, not just by economic change. According to the
DTM, countries that are less developed tend to have high birth
and death rates and countries that are more developed tend to
have low birth and death rates.

Phases of the Demographic Transition Model

Figure 3.3a. The Demographic Transition Model (DTM).
Source: Adapted from On the Threshold, Student Book by CARTWRIGHT et al. © 2002. Printed with permission of Nelson,

a division of Thomson Learning: www.thomsonrights.com. Fax 800 730-2215.

B
ir
th

a
n
d

d
e
a
th

r
a
te

s
p

e
r

1
0
0
0

Time

Phase 1: High
fluctuating stage

Phase 2:
Expanding stage

Phase 3: Late
expanding stage

Phase 4: Low
growth stage

Phase 5: Declining
stage

Birth rate
Death rate

Canadian and World Issues CGW4U-A Lesson 3, page 9

The Transition Phases

The model is divided into five phases of transition. Figure 3.3a
shows the DTM graph and Figure 3.3b shows the corresponding
descriptions of the five phases. Notice what happens to the
birth and death rates on the graph as a country moves
through the phases.

Description of the Phases of the Demographic Transition Model

Phase 1: High
fluctuating stage
Phase 2:
Expanding stage
Phase 3: Late
expanding stage
Phase 4: Low
growth stage
Phase 5: Declining
stage

• The birth rate is
high and stable,
while the death
rate fluctuates
above and below
the birth rate due
to incidences of
war, famine, and
disease.

• The population
growth is very
slow.

• The fertility and
infant mortality
rates are high, but
life expectancy is
low.

• This stage
characterizes
pre-industrial
societies, with
most of the
population in rural
areas.

• The birth rate
remains high, but
the death rate
begins to decline
rapidly.

• The large natural
increase results
in a population
explosion.

• Fertility rates have
not adjusted to
changes in social
norms, such as
later marriages
and the increase
in the number
of women in the
workforce.

• The infant
mortality rate
begins to decline
and life expectancy
increases,
due to health
improvements
in areas such
as nutrition,
clean water, and
access to medical
treatment.

• This stage
characterizes
developing nations
such as Nigeria.

• The birth rate is
rapidly declining
and the death
rate remains low,
as life expectancy
increases.

• The natural
increase is
declining, but the
population still
remains high.

• The fertility rate
begins to decline,
due to changes in
social norms and/
or implementation
of population
policies.

• This stage
characterizes
developing nations
such as China.

• Birth and death
rates are low and
stable, but the
birth rate remains
slightly ahead of
the death rate.

• The population
growth is slow and
stable.

• The fertility
rate is low and
life expectancy
continues to
improve.

• Economic and
social changes
occur. Many
women enter
the workforce or
pursue careers,
and couples
postpone having
families while
educational goals
are sought.

• Society is viewed
as an “aging” or
“greying” society.

• This stage
characterizes
developed nations
such as Canada.

• This stage extends
the demographic
transition model,
as low birth rates
lead to population
declines more
frequently
in European
countries. There
is a slowly rising
death rate and a
stable or slightly
declining birth
rate. There are
also negative
natural increase
results, meaning
that the death rate
exceeds the birth
rate.

• The population is
declining.

• This stage
characterizes
countries with
present and
predicted negative
population growth
rates such as
Russia.

Figure 3.3b.

B
ir
th
a
n
d
d
e
a
th
r
a
te
s
p
e
r
1
0
0
0
Time

Lesson 3, page 10 Canadian and World Issues CGW4U-A

Support Question
(do not send in for evaluation)

29. Refer to the DTM in Figure 3.3 and answer the following
questions:

a) For each phase in the model, identify two countries that fit
the description.

b) Identify the phases when the birth rate is greater than the
death rate.

c) Identify the phases when the death rate is greater than the
birth rate.

Fertility Lag

As you saw in Figure 3.3, one distinct pattern with the DTM is
that birth rates do not fall as suddenly as death rates. This is
referred to as fertility lag. Birth rates remain high into Phase 3
(late expanding stage), because most high death rates are caused
by high levels of infant mortality (death before the first birthday)
brought about by poor sanitation, water quality, nutrition, and
health care.

Families can compensate by having more children, hence high
birth rates accompany high death rates. As described in the
model, social and economic changes cause the death rate to fall
dramatically. Better health care—especially postnatal—results
in children surviving longer. Vaccinations against killer diseases
such as smallpox, malaria, and cholera, along with cleaner water
and more sanitary living conditions, reduce the number of deaths
of children and young adults. While the death rate plummets, the
birth rate does not fall until some time later.

The fertility lag happens for several reasons. Families continue
to have a large number of babies because they are accustomed
to many of them not surviving. In many poorer developing
countries, the majority of people live off the land in subsistence
agriculture (families growing food for themselves), and may want

Canadian and World Issues CGW4U-A Lesson 3, page 11

more children as guaranteed labour. They may also need children
to provide for them in their old age. Cultural pressures are also a
factor, such as the need for a surviving male for family, business,
or inheritance (in countries with a male-dominated society).

In Phase 4 of the DMT, birth rate and death rate move close
together. As parents gain confidence in their children surviving,
they eventually have fewer children and the country’s birth
rate falls. Changes in a country’s economic well-being and social
values may also change the dynamics of population growth. A
rise in the status of women, for instance, results in more women
benefiting from full-time education and entering the workforce.
Moving into Phase 5 of the DTM, fewer births than deaths or a
great deal of out-migration may cause a country’s population to
decline.

Population Analysis: Pyramids

To examine a country’s population, geographers can use a
special graphing technique called a population pyramid.
It is especially useful for looking at the age structure of the
population, the balance between males and females, and what
is likely to happen to the age structure of the population in the
future years. A population pyramid graphically displays age
groups—called age cohorts—as a percentage of a country’s
population. It allows demographers to analyze such things as

• dependency load of the population (the percentage of people
under the age of 15 and over the age of 65)

• percentages of the population in each age group

• likely changes to life expectancy in future years

• potential amount of fertility in future years based on the
potential number of childbearing females in the population

• effect of population policies on the population structure

• impacts of natural phenomena, such as the spread of AIDS or
other pandemics

Lesson 3, page 12 Canadian and World Issues CGW4U-A

The graph in Figure 3.4 shows the population pyramid for
Nigeria in 2000. You can see why it is called a pyramid: the base
is wide, and it narrows at the top. There are really two graphs
here, back to back. One shows how many males are in each age
group, the second shows how many females are in each group.
It is easy to compare one side to the other, and the vertical
differences through the age groups.

Figure 3.4. Population pyramid for Nigeria, 2000.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, International Data Base.

There are three general types of population pyramid:

Figure 3.5. Types of population pyramids.

Canadian and World Issues CGW4U-A Lesson 3, page 13

Expansive: The wide base indicates a large number of young
people and high birth rate. The sides of the pyramid are concave.
The population pyramid for Nigeria in Figure 3.4 is expansive.
This is typical of countries in the developing world, such as the
poorer countries of Latin America and sub-Saharan Africa. These
countries also have higher death rates (hence more children) and
lower life expectancies.

Stationary: There is an even appearance through most age
cohorts, meaning the walls of the pyramid are somewhat
straight. Both the birth rate and the death rate have declined.
This is typical of developed, industrial countries found
throughout Europe. A stationary pyramid will sometimes have a
bulge caused by a baby boom, which stretches out the pyramid
for a number of age groups.

Constrictive: There is a distinctive narrowing of the base. Here
the birth rate has plunged significantly. It will eventually lead
to a declining population as the birth rate falls below the death
rate. European countries such as Spain, Italy, and Russia have
this pattern.

Support Question
(do not send in for evaluation)

30. Refer to the shape of Canada’s population pyramid for
2000 in Figure 3.6.

a) What is the general shape of the pyramid?

b) From examining this shape, describe what is happening to
birth rates and death rates in Canada?

c) What evidence in this period is there that Canada had a
baby boom?

d) What will happen to the shape of the pyramid in 25 years’
time?

Lesson 3, page 14 Canadian and World Issues CGW4U-A

Figure 3.6. Population pyramid for Canada, 2000.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, International Data Base.

Case Study: Comparing Population
Challenges

Analyzing in detail the population problems that countries in the
world face provides an opportunity to see what the challenges
are and how the country responds in trying to overcome them.
In this part of the lesson, you will look at the very different
population challenges of three countries. Uganda in eastern
Africa is a country with a rapidly growing population where
women have on average nearly seven babies each in their
lifetime. The Ugandan government is struggling to control its
growing population. China, the most populous country on Earth,
is struggling to ease the pressure of having 1.3 billion people.
If the growth of this already large base were uncontrolled, the
country’s economy and resources would be overwhelmed. The
population of Russia, which spans much of Eastern Europe and
northern Asia, is dramatically shrinking. It needs people to
sustain economic growth and support for its aging population.
Three countries; three challenges; three different solutions.

Canadian and World Issues CGW4U-A Lesson 3, page 15

Uganda

The nation of Uganda straddles the equator in eastern Africa,
and is slightly smaller in area than the United Kingdom and
about half the size of Manitoba. Uganda has seen a dramatic rise
in population in the recent past. Fifty years ago, it had 5 million;
in 2005, it had a population of 26.9 million; it is predicted to rise
to 55 million by 2025 and to 130 million by 2050. With this high
rate of population growth—around 2.5 percent per year—the
country is struggling to develop economically.

Uganda has a strong tradition for large families. Infant mortality
is relatively high. The average number of children for each
Ugandan woman in her lifetime is 6.9. Only 23 percent of women
practise modern methods of birth control. Due to the large
number of children, the average age of the population in Uganda
is 15, and the majority is younger than that.

Uganda is experiencing slow but stable economic growth, but
unemployment remains very high and a huge proportion of its
population lives in absolute poverty. About half the population
has little or no access to safe drinking water or proper sanitation.
More than 80 percent of its people work in agriculture, mostly to
feed themselves. Coffee is its main export, followed by cotton and
tea. It also produces a significant amount of copper and cobalt.
Uganda has recently received a large amount of international
debt relief of up to US$2 billion. Its economy is still managed
by outside help through the World Bank and the International
Monetary Fund. Its external debt stands at more than
US$3.8 billion.

The government of Uganda is trying desperately to control its
population growth. In 1995, it created a National Population
Policy (NPP) that was aimed at lowering birth rates. With
other national policies such as the Youth Policy, Health Sector
Strategic Plan, and a Gender Policy, they hoped to improve social
conditions and make it unnecessary for people to have large
families.

In Uganda there are currently about 1.5 million with HIV and
100 000 with AIDS. While there has been a reported reduction
in HIV/AIDS infection rates, other emerging health issues merit

Lesson 3, page 16 Canadian and World Issues CGW4U-A

attention. These include reproductive health problems associated
with adolescents, problems associated with old-age populations,
and the health and socioeconomic needs of the marginalized and
disadvantaged population groups.

Uganda’s NPP attempts to

• provide people with better health-care services

• improve water and sanitation conditions

• create universal literacy, especially among the female
population

• improve roads to make it easier for peasant farmers to reach
local markets and therefore increase their incomes

• improve agriculture and provide better information on good
nutrition

• provide contraceptives in poor rural areas where fertility
rates are particularly high.

A major target of these policies is young females. Getting
them into schools and keeping them in secondary education is
considered vital. Improvements in gender equality can be seen in
a rising number of women in the civil service.

China

The Asian country of China is about the same size in area as
Canada. It is noted for its culture and ancient traditions, as well
as for its extremely large population—some 1.3 billion people, or
about one in five people in the world. How did it arrive at such a
large figure?

China came into being as the People’s Republic of China in
1949. At that time, its population was seen as a strength of the
new communist country, and more children would be an asset.
China’s population was 583 million in 1953. The Chinese leader,
Mao Zedong, encouraged families to have more children to boost
the number of workers in the industrial Great Leap Forward
between 1958 and 1961. Unfortunately, as a result there were
not enough farm workers, causing food production to fall. An
estimated 20 million died of starvation.

Canadian and World Issues CGW4U-A Lesson 3, page 17

In 1964, China’s population was nearly 700 million, and the
birth rate was very high, at 42/1000. In their first attempt to
slow population growth, the Chinese government adopted a
“later, sparser, fewer” policy: marry later, have fewer babies,
and space them out over a few years. This policy failed and a
stronger policy was needed. In 1979, the One Child Policy was
implemented, and it is still law today. The policy was based on
rewards and punishments:

• A woman who does not practise birth control after having one
child shall be fined 20 yuan each month.

• In some provinces, women with one child are to be sterilized.

• Unmarried pregnant women shall have an abortion.

• Those who disobey the One Child Policy will be taken off
waiting lists for housing, job-promotion opportunities, or be
forced to work for lower wages

• Families who obey the policy will receive better housing,
offered loans, job promotions with higher wages, and higher
educational opportunities.

This policy was very successful in the cities of eastern China,
where the fertility rate dropped to 1.2. In the cities, 70 percent
of families have only one child, compared to 10 percent in the
rural farming areas of central and western China. In rural
areas, where 80 percent of China’s population lives, the fertility
rate remains at 2.5, which illustrates that culture is still a
strong force, especially the tradition to have a male heir for
families and businesses. The increase in the birth rate among
the rural population continues to threaten the success of China’s
population policy. Some modifications have been made. A couple
is now allowed to try for a second child in the cities of eastern
China if one or both of the couple has an ethnic minority
background or if they are both registered single children.

How successful has the One Child Policy been? Some experts
suggest China has to be harsh in enforcing its policy. Some critics
believe that it has led to millions of “missing girls” who were
aborted. Men in China now outnumber women by 60 million.
Without this policy, however, China would have at least 200
million more people today.

Lesson 3, page 18 Canadian and World Issues CGW4U-A

There are other population concerns. China’s population is aging:
in the cities, nine working people support each retired person.
This ratio will change to four to one by 2025. China’s population
should peak at 1.6 billion by 2050. From then, the population
size will start to shrink, and it will lose its title as the most
populous country on Earth to India.

Russia

Russia spans the continents of Europe and Asia. It is the largest
country in the world in area, almost twice the size of the second
largest, Canada. Russia is facing its own problems caused by
significant depopulation, which threaten its attempt to raise
its economy and quality of life to the level of other European
countries. The U.S. Census Bureau predicts that Russia’s
population of 143 million will drop to 130 million by 2025 and to
110 million by 2050—a drop in population of 33 million in less
than fifty years.

Russian women on average are having only 1.3 babies, giving
it one of the lowest fertility rates in the world. According to the
World Factbook, for every 100 babies born in Russia each year,
170 people die. With fewer young people, the prospects of an
increase in the fertility rate do not look promising. In Russia
there are 10 to 13 million young men from the ages of 15 to 24.
By 2025, this number will drop to 6 million.

The prospects of a long healthy life for males are also bleak. The
life expectancy for girls in Russia is 72; for boys only 60, making
it the largest gap between genders in the world. Sixty percent
of Russian men smoke, and there is great concern about male
health due to excessive drinking of alcohol, smoking, and violent
death. Russia’s suicide and homicide rates are among the highest
in the world. The Russian economy is also at risk: even though it
is a society of gender equality, young males are a significant part
of economic production. There is great concern about maintaining
the quality of health care and providing for elderly people. With
fewer taxpayers, there will be pressure to provide lower-quality
service or to cut services altogether.

Canadian and World Issues CGW4U-A Lesson 3, page 19

What is Russia doing about this? The government has done little
in terms of a national policy, although many potential solutions
have been suggested, including tax breaks for families who
have more children and encouraging large-scale immigration
from its neighbouring countries and even China. The World
Health Organization (WHO) has suggested they address the
issues affecting the health of the population, such as alcohol
and tobacco consumption. Others have suggested more private
pension funding and health care. It is said that no one in
Moscow wears a seatbelt when driving. Simply making seatbelts
mandatory would help increase life expectancy. Some politicians
have even suggested legalization of polygamy, where a man has
several wives. This suggestion was not taken too seriously.

Key Question

Save your answers to the Key Questions. When you have
completed the unit, submit them to ILC for marking.

(40 marks)

3. Compare the population pyramids for China, Russia, and
Uganda in Figure 3.7.

a) For each country, describe the population pyramid for 2000
and how it changes by the year 2050. Be sure to use the
correct terms to describe the shapes.

• correct terms to describe each of the six shapes
(6 × 1 mark = 6 marks)

• brief explanation about the change in shape for each
country (3 × 2 marks = 6 marks)

b) Examine the graph for China for 2000. How can you tell that
China’s One Child Policy was somewhat effective?
(2 marks)

c) Using the Population Data Base in Figure 3.8, describe what
phase of the demographic transition model you feel China,
Russia, and Uganda are in. Explain your decision in each
case. (3 × 2 marks = 6 marks)

Lesson 3, page 20 Canadian and World Issues CGW4U-A

d) Which of the three countries currently has the highest
dependency load? What is its total? (2 marks)

e) As a result of their population trends, what problems may
each of these countries face in the years ahead?
(3 × 3 marks = 9 marks)

f) Briefly describe what each country is doing to address these
problems. (3 × 3 marks = 9 marks)

Figure 3.7. Population pyramids: China, Russia, Uganda 2000–2050.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, International Data Base.

Canadian and World Issues CGW4U-A Lesson 3, page 21

Canada Uganda China Russia

Population in mid-2005
(millions)

32.2 26.9 1303.7 143.4

Birth rate/1000 10 47 12 10

Death rate/1000 7 15 6 15

Natural increase (%) 0.3% 3.2% 0.6% −0.4%

Projected population
(millions)
2025
2050

36.0
36.9

55.8
130.9

1476
1437

130
110

Infant mortality rate/1000 5 88 27 15

Total fertility rate (babies
per woman)

1.5 6.9 1.6 1.3

Population (%)
Age <15 Age >65

18%
13%

51%
2%

22%
8%

15%
14%

Median age 38.5 15.0 32.3 38

Ratio male/female 0.98/1 1/1 1.06/1 1.06/1

Life expectancy (years) 80 48 72 67

Population with AIDS (%) 0.3 7.1 0.1 1.1

Married women using
contraceptives (%)

75 23 87 67

GNI/per capita (US$) $30 660 $1520 $5530 $9620

Population living below
US$2.00 per day (%)

0% 97% 47% 8%

Figure 3.8. Population data base.

Sources: Population Reference Bureau, www.prb.org/pdf05/05WorldDataSheet_Eng and CIA World Factbook,
www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/ug.html

Now go on to Lesson 4. Do not submit your coursework to ILC
until you have completed Unit 1 (Lessons 1 to 5).

4
CGW4U-A

Rich World, Poor World

Canadian and World Issues CGW4U-A Lesson 4, page

Introduction
You may have read a newspaper this morning that cost you
about one dollar. You may have had a soft drink that also cost
a dollar. So, you spent two dollars before you even got to work.
According to the World Bank, this is the total daily income for
about 1.3 billion people! It is estimated further that three billion
people live on even less than two dollars a day. More than three
billion people have little or no access to sanitation, a cause of
much disease. UNICEF estimates that some 30 000 children
die each day due to poverty. All this occurs in a world where,
according to the UN Human Development Report, the income
of the three richest individuals is greater than that of the 48
poorest countries combined.

According to the United Nations, the World Bank, and many
other sources, Canadians have a way of life that is the envy
of most of the world. There are freedoms in politics and choice
of government, as well as rights of equality and citizenship.
Canada is comparatively rich in a financial and economic
sense, and has vast resources and large amounts of trade with
other countries. Yet the country is not without its problems.
Thousands of Canadians live in what is considered poverty; there
are Canadian cities in need of billions of dollars for roads; the
costs of energy and transportation are increasing; and there are
national unity issues.

In this lesson, you will be introduced to the concept of poverty.
This is not as clear as it may sound. There are many definitions
of poverty, both for individuals and whole countries. What
does it mean when a country is “less developed”? What is an
“industrialized country”? You will examine the distribution of
poverty around the world. Which countries struggle and which
prosper? How can the poorer countries overcome their problems?
Is there a usual pattern for poorer countries when they become
more affluent? Finally, you will look at what is being done to
help the poorer countries by examining different ways in which
countries provide foreign aid.

Lesson 4, page 2 Canadian and World Issues CGW4U-A

What You Will Learn

After completing this lesson, you will be able to

• compare the economic goals of different regions of the world

• use appropriate statistical indicators to compare the quality
of life in a variety of developed and developing countries in
different parts of the world

• list the causes of economic disparity in Canada and regions
of the world

• rank the factors that influence the quality of life by their
relative importance

• explain the relevance of the work on poverty, disease, and the
environment done by governmental and non-governmental
organizations

• explain the effects of colonialism on the economic development
of countries and regions

• identify different methods of grouping countries, for example,
by economic level of development

Canadian and World Issues CGW4U-A Lesson 4, page

Glossary of Key Terms

The following terms are in bold in the lesson.

debt trap: debt that has become so high that it is unsustainable:
a country cannot afford to keep up with interest
payments and cannot pay down the principle.

developing countries: countries with emerging economies that are
increasing their wealth through industrialization and
trade.

First World/Third World: terms sometimes used to distinguish between the
developed countries (First World) and those that are
less developed (Third World).

G8: organization of eight of the richest and most powerful
countries in the world. It includes the United States,
United Kingdom, France, Italy, Germany, Canada,
Japan, and Russia.

Gross National Income
(GNI):

once known as gross national product (GNP), it is
similar to GDP but includes remittances from foreign
income.

index: numerical scale that compares variables with one
another. The UN uses various scales as a way to
measure development.

International Monetary
Fund (IMF):

international financial institution that works closely
with the World Bank. The IMF gets involved when
countries have a financial crisis, such as an inability
to meet debt payments.

Organisation for Economic
Co-operation and
Development (OECD):

organization of the 30 richest countries in the world.

Structural Adjustment
Programs (SAPs):

economic programs recommended by the World
Bank and IMF as conditions for additional economic
assistance.

World Bank: international financial institution that lends money to
countries for development projects.

Lesson 4, page 4 Canadian and World Issues CGW4U-A

What Is Poverty?
It is difficult to define poverty. A person who is considered poor
in Canada may be relatively well off in a country in sub-Saharan
Africa. You have already learned that billions of people survive
on less than two dollars a day. In a country like Canada, with
social services that help protect people from harm to themselves
and their families, living on that amount would be unthinkable.
Yet thousands of Canadians consider themselves poor.

So what is poverty? Here are the four accepted definitions:

Absolute poverty: inability to acquire the basic necessities for life,
such as food, water, shelter, clothing, and so on.

Human poverty: conditions where people have little or no access
to services that many Canadians take for granted: clean water,
sanitation, simple laws, and basic education.

Income poverty: situation where an income is insufficient to
meet the cost of living. This varies enormously around the world.
There are families in Canada that own automobiles and even
houses and feel that they are income poor. On the other extreme,
families with no homes and transportation in a poor village in
Ghana may feel that they have everything they need and are not
income poor.

Relative poverty: measuring the well-being of a person against
others in the same community. Again, this does not mean the
person is poor on a global scale. You can be well-off compared
to worldwide conditions, but poor compared to others in your
community.

Canadian and World Issues CGW4U-A Lesson 4, page

So how is poverty in the world measured? How are countries
judged to be rich or poor? If you are informed that half of the
world’s population is poor, how has this been measured? One
of the most common tools to measure poverty is the United
Nations Human Development Report. Every year this report
measures a country’s “long-term well-being” by using some fixed
measurements. It uses four indexes (an index is a numerical
scale that compares variables with one another) to measure a
wide range of things in people’s lives. The four indexes are

• Human Development Index (HDI)

• Human Poverty Index (HPI)

• Gender Empowerment Measure (GEM)

• Gender-related Development Index (GDI)

The Human Development Index (HDI) measures three
criteria:

• Duration of life: This is measured by using life-expectancy and
child-mortality (death before fifth birthday) rates.

• Education and literacy: This is measured by literacy rates and
high school and university enrollment numbers.

• Basic standard of living: This is calculated by dividing
the GDP (value of everything a country produces) by the
population, or per capita.

In measuring the standard of living, the UN takes into
consideration the cost of everyday things in that country, so even
though some people do not have much money, their costs for
basics (food, housing) may not be very high. This factor is called
purchasing power parity (PPP).

Lesson 4, page 6 Canadian and World Issues CGW4U-A

Human
Development
Index value

Life
expectancy at
birth (years)

Adult literacy
rate (% aged
15 and over)

GDP per
capita

(PPP US$)

High Rank

1. Norway 0.963 79.4 99 37 6

2. Iceland 0.956 80.7 99 31 2

3. Australia 0.955 80.3 99 29 6

4. Luxemburg 0.949 78.5 99 62 2

5. Canada 0.949 80.0 99 30 67

Medium Rank

81. Lebanon 0.759 72.0 86.5 50

82. Ecuador 0.759 74.3 91.0 36

83. Armenia 0.759 71.5 99.4 3671

84. Philippines 0.758 70.4 92.6 43

85. China 0.755 71.6 90.9 5003

Low Rank

173. Chad 0.341 43.6 25.5 12

174. Mali 0.333 47.9 19.0 994

175. Burkina Faso 0.317 47.5 12.8 1

174

176. Sierra Leone 0.298 40.8 29.6 5

177. Niger 0.281 44.4 14.4 8

Figure 4.1. Human Development Index 2005.

Source: United Nations Human Development Programme, Human Development Report 2005: International Cooperation at
a Crossroads. By permission of Oxford University Press.

The Human Development Report also ranks countries according
to the Human Poverty Index (HPI). This index uses criteria
that are very similar to those used for the Human Development
Index: how long people live, how literate they are, and their
standard of living. It also looks at how much access people have
to such things as clean water, basic food needs, and health care.
The HDI puts more stress on how financially well off a country’s
people are; the HPI puts more stress on availability and quality
of social services.

Canadian and World Issues CGW4U-A Lesson 4, page 7

The Gender Empowerment Measure (GEM) and the
Gender-related Development Index (GDI) examine the
level of importance that women have achieved in a country.
There is an assumption that a more advanced country will have
more policies that ensure both sexes are equal in status and
in what they can potentially achieve. The GEM looks at how
many women are in decision-making positions in business and
politics, such as how many women are in the country’s system
of government. The GDI also measures longevity and levels
of literacy, while taking into account biases against women in
countries that are measured. In 2001, Canada ranked eighth in
the world in the GDI; Norway ranked first.

Support Questions

(do not send in for evaluation)

31. What are the differences between human poverty and
income poverty.

32. What is the United Nations Human Development Report?

33. Summarize the differences between countries ranked
“high,” “medium,” and “low” in Figure 4.1.

34. How could the Gender Empowerment Measure (GEM)
and the Gender-related Development Index (GDI) be used
to help decrease discrimination against women in today’s
world?

There are Suggested Answers to Support Questions at the end of
this unit.

Lesson 4, page 8 Canadian and World Issues CGW4U-A

Levels of Development

What does it mean when you read that a country is “less
developed”? What is an “industrialized country”? There are many
ways to describe a country as rich or poor. The United Nations
has recently started to categorize countries as “developed,” “less
developed” and “developing.”

Development refers to many aspects of a country’s background.
For instance, a developed country has advanced industry with
much manufacturing and high-tech development where research
and innovation takes place. Sustained and steady growth of
wealth is generated by its industries, which generates high
levels of income per person and lots of consumer spending and
personal saving. There is a large accumulation of capital in
these countries with banks that have considerable international
connection. Multinational corporations—companies that
have expanded into many countries—are numerous. The
infrastructure (such as roads and telecommunications) of the
country is advanced and well maintained. The people are well
educated and there are many colleges and universities. There
are advanced hospitals and social services. There is usually a
stable government and the society is respected for human rights
and equality. The less-developed country will lack many of the
features of developed countries, especially in the economic areas.
Incomes will be low and all other aspects of public spending
(hospitals, schools, roads, and so on) will be poor due to a lack
of government taxes. The country’s economy may be based on
temporary wealth generated by resources, which it typically
exports to richer countries. A country described as a developing
country is somewhere between developed and less developed.

The terms related to development can be misleading, in that a
country such as Cuba may be economically poor but have high-
quality schools and hospitals. The UN allows countries to choose
a description that best suits their conditions. The UN has also
recently started to categorize countries in some of its reports
as “least-developed countries.” These countries are very poor
and show no evidence that conditions are likely to change. For
instance, Somalia and Niger show no development and would

Canadian and World Issues CGW4U-A Lesson 4, page 9

be described as “least developed”; Brazil and Mexico would be
described as “developing” because of their emerging industrial
manufacturing wealth.

The terms “industrialized” and “non-industrialized” are similar in
meaning to “developed” and “less developed,” but these terms put
the emphasis on a country having a way of generating wealth
through manufacturing industries.

Support Question
(do not send in for evaluation)

35. What are the differences between countries described as
“developed” and “less developed”?

Lesson 4, page 10 Canadian and World Issues CGW4U-A

Global Patterns of Poverty

According to the World Bank, the region of the world with the
highest percentage of people living on less than a dollar per
day—more than 46 percent—is sub-Saharan Africa (see Figure
4.2). This figure jumps to more than 76 percent for people living
on less than two dollars per day. The situation is not much better
in South Asia, where 31 percent live at less than a dollar a day,
and 77 percent at less than two dollars a day. Even in Europe
and Central Asia, the number of people living on less than two
dollars a day is nearly one in five, mostly as a result of poverty
in Russia, where 30 percent live below their national poverty
line. The UN estimates that in 80 countries more than one third
of the population lives in poverty. It estimates that in seven
countries—Mozambique, Sierra Leone, Niger, Burkina Faso, Mali,
Ethiopia, and Cambodia—more than half the population lives in
poverty. The gap between rich and poor countries is widening:
the income gap between the richest 20 percent and the poorest
20 percent of the world’s population (as measured by average
national income per capita) increased from 30:1 in 1960, to more
than 75:1 today.

The rich countries continue to dominate the world’s economy.
According to the UN, the one fifth of the world’s population that
live in the rich countries of Europe and North America and in
Japan earns more than 85% of the world’s GDP (total value of
everything that is produced). In contrast, the poorest fifth of the
world’s population earns only 1%. The rich fifth of the world’s
population consumes 86% of the world’s manufactured goods;
the remaining 80% just 14%. In 2004, according to the World
Bank, the very rich that make up about 0.13% of the world’s
population have financial control of over 25% of the world’s
assets in 2004. This domination will continue to expand. The
rich countries control the wealth that already exists. They also
have the majority of political power in organizations that control
this wealth, such as the international banks, corporations, and
even the UN. They dominate ownership of metal and energy
production. They also control most educational and research
organizations from which future development and ideas will flow.

Canadian and World Issues CGW4U-A Lesson 4, page 11

For instance, the countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-
operation and Development (OECD) (the 30 richest countries in
the world) hold 97 percent of all worldwide patents.

Region People living on less
than $1 a day (%)

People living on less
than $2 a day (%)

East Asia & Pacific 14.9 47.4

China 16.6 46.7

Europe & Central Asia 3.6 19.7

Latin America & Caribbean 9.5 24.5

Middle East & North Africa 2.4 23.2

South Asia 31.3 77.2

Sub-Saharan Africa 46.1 76.6

World Total 21.1 52.9

Figure 4.2. People living on less than $1 and $2 per day 2004.

Source: The World Bank, World Development Indicators 2005, www.worldbank.org/data/wdi2005/wditext/Table2_5.htm

Lesson 4, page 12 Canadian and World Issues CGW4U-A

1 Albania (81)
2 Algeria (69)
3 Angola (12)
4 Antigua and Barbuda (120)
5 Argentina (142)
6 Armenia (76)
7 Australia (172)
8 Austria (160)
9 Azerbaijan (87)
10 Bahamas (127)
11 Bahrain (139)
12 Bangladesh (37)
13 Barbados (149)
14 Belarus (123)
15 Belgium (170)
16 Belize (109)
17 Benin (17)
18 Bhutan (40)

37 Congo (36)
38 Congo, Dem. Rep. of the (9)
39 Costa Rica (134)
40 Côte d’Ivoire (15)
41 Croatia (129)
42 Cuba (124)
43 Cyprus (151)
44 Czech Republic (144)
45 Denmark (165)
46 Djibouti (23)
47 Dominica (108)
48 Dominican Republic (82)
49 Ecuador (79)
50 Egypt (56)
51 El Salvador (71)
52 Equatorial Guinea (60)
53 Eritrea (21)
54 Estonia (135)

73 Hungary (138)
74 Iceland (174)
75 India (49)
76 Indonesia (64)
77 Iran, Islamic Rep. of (70)
78 Ireland (164)
79 Israel (154)
80 Italy (155)
81 Jamaica (98)
82 Japan (167)
83 Jordan (86)
84 Kazakhstan (100)
85 Kenya (30)
86 Korea, Rep. of (146)
87 Kuwait (130)
88 Kyrgyzstan (74)
89 Lao People’s

Dem. Rep. (41)

19 Bolivia (62)
20 Bosnia and Herzegovina (110)
21 Botswana (51)
22 Brazil (111)
23 Brunei Darussalam (145)
24 Bulgaria (119)
25 Burkina Faso (3)
26 Burundi (5)
27 Cambodia (46)
28 Cameroon (34)
29 Canada (168)
30 Cape Verde (73)
31 Central African Republic (8)
32 Chad (11)
33 Chile (133)
34 China (72)
35 Colombia (112)
36 Comoros (42)

55 Ethiopia (7)
56 Fiji (95)
57 Finland (162)
58 France (159)
59 Gabon (58)
60 Gambia (25)
61 Georgia (88)
62 Germany (158)
63 Ghana (47)
64 Greece (152)
65 Grenada (83)
66 Guatemala (57)
67 Guinea (19)
68 Guinea-Bissau (10)
69 Guyana (84)
70 Haiti (26)
71 Honduras (61)
72 Hong Kong, China (SAR) (150)

aCountries are ranked based on the 2003 United Nations Human Development Index (HDI) from lowest to highest, 1=lowest HDI ranking and 175=highest HDI ranking.

Country Name (HDI Ranking)a

167

105

66 71

171

125
22

ATLANTIC
PACIFIC

ARCTIC

OCEAN

Tropic of CancerTropic of Cancer

Tropic of Capricorn

Equator

Antarctic Circle

133

47
4

65
135

48
70

81
16

51
1

122

Low-HDI

Medium-HDI

High-HDI

No Data

World Map of Human Development
Index

Canadian and World Issues CGW4U-A Lesson 4, page 13

108 Morocco (50)
109 Mozambique (6)
110 Myanmar (45)
111 Namibia (52)
112 Nepal (33)
113 Netherlands (171)
114 New Zealand (156)
115 Nicaragua (55)
116 Niger (2)
117 Nigeria (24)
118 Norway (175)
119 Occupied Palestinian

Territories (78)
120 Oman (97)
121 Pakistan (32)
122 Panama (117)
123 Papua New Guinea (44)
124 Paraguay (92)

160 Tunisia (85)
161 Turkey (80)
162 Turkmenistan (89)
163 Uganda (29)
164 Ukraine (101)
165 United Arab

Emirates (128)
166 United Kingdom (163)
167 United States (169)
168 Uruguay (136)
169 Uzbekistan (75)
170 Vanuatu (48)
171 Venezuela (107)
172 Vietnam (67)
173 Yemen (28)
174 Zambia (13)
175 Zimbabwe (31)

125 Peru (94)
126 Philippines (91)
127 Poland (141)
128 Portugal (153)
129 Qatar (132)
130 Romania (104)
131 Russian Federation (113)
132 Rwanda (18)
133 Saint Kitts and Nevis (125)
134 Saint Lucia (105)
135 Saint Vincent and the

Grenadines (96)
136 Samoa (Western) (106)
137 São Tomé and Príncipe (54)
138 Saudi Arabia (103)
139 Senegal (20)
140 Seychelles (140)
141 Sierra Leone (1)

90 Latvia (126)
91 Lebanon (93)
92 Lesotho (39)
93 Libyan Arab Jamahiriya (115)
94 Lithuania (131)
95 Luxembourg (161)
96 Macedonia, TFYR (116)
97 Madagascar (27)
98 Malawi (14)
99 Malaysia (118)
100 Maldives (90)
101 Mali (4)
102 Malta (143)
103 Mauritania (22)
104 Mauritius (114)
105 Mexico (121)
106 Moldova, Rep. of (68)
107 Mongolia (59)

142 Singapore (148)
143 Slovakia (137)
144 Slovenia (147)
145 Solomon Islands (53)
146 South Africa (65)
147 Spain (157)
148 Sri Lanka (77)
149 Sudan (38)
150 Suriname (99)
151 Swaziland (43)
152 Sweden (173)
153 Switzerland (166)
154 Syrian Arab Republic (66)
155 Tajikistan (63)
156 Tanzania, U. Rep. of (16)
157 Thailand (102)
158 Togo (35)
159 Trinidad and Tobago (122)

8
80

147

58
73

161

16444

78
94

90
54

53
149

116
103

101

117

111

109

21
174
59

108

163

17
63

67
25

38
37

139

6 9
61 88

173

154
77

120
138

121

162 169

148

100

166

1
3

INDIAN
OCEAN

OCEAN
OCEAN

Arctic Circle

Equator Equator

Tropic of Capricorn Tropic of Capricorn

Antarctic Circle

7289
110

157
172

99
99

123 145

142

7 6

107

114

56
34
12

170

129

16587
11

102
1

128

45
113

141

60
68

158

137

151

104

140

98
26

132

106

144

143

153

36
75

131

96 155

119

Figure 4.3. Regions classified by the Human Development Index.

Source: United Nations Human Development Programme. Human Development Report 2001. Used by permission of
Oxford University Press.

Lesson 4, page 14 Canadian and World Issues CGW4U-A

In all countries, there is a gap between those who own the wealth
and those who do not. According to the World Bank, Hungary
and Brazil have similar per person income levels. In Hungary,
the income of the top 20 percent of wealthier people is four
times that of the bottom 20 percent; in Brazil, the income gap is
much greater: the income of the top 20 percent is thirty times
that of the poorest 20 percent. Some countries that statistically
appear poor in world reports have very wealthy companies and
individuals. When you visit cities such as Shanghai in China
or Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, you are likely impressed with the
investment in skyscrapers and infrastructure. Much of this is
paid for by foreign-owned multinational corporations. You may
not see the large spread of shantytowns that grows outwards
from the city’s limits.

Support Question
(do not send in for evaluation)

36. Using the data in Figure 4.2 and the map in Figure
4.3, identify the regions of the world that have low
development scores.

Causes of Poverty

There is no easy explanation for the wide division between
wealth and poverty in the world. Many complex forces are
at work, some about people, politics, and power, some about
economics and trade manipulation.

Rich countries hold the power and make the decisions.
Organizations such as the World Bank, the International
Monetary Fund (IMF), the Organisation for Economic
Co-operation and Development (OECD), and the G8 are
dominated by rich and powerful countries. They are strongly
influenced by governments of countries such as the United
States and by private multinational corporations. When
economies in poor countries are weak, they find it difficult to
repay debts that have accumulated over many decades. They

Canadian and World Issues CGW4U-A Lesson 4, page 15

often spend more on debt repayment and interest each year
than on anything else. Financial organizations such as the IMF
and the World Bank sometimes step in and impose Structural
Adjustment Programs (SAPs) on the governments of these
nations. The governments are instructed that, in order to repay
loans, they have to make severe cuts to social programs such
as education and health care. Conditions in these countries
never improve as they struggle to repay loans. Essentially, the
governments lose some political autonomy, allowing the financial
organizations to make economic policy for them.

SAP decisions often affect trade policies. Richer countries tend
to be producers of goods and services, and have well-developed
industries such as the auto and computer industries. Poorer
countries tend to trade commodities: raw materials such as
metals, or agricultural products such as cotton, jute, coffee,
or tea. Trade policies are set by the international financial
organizations, which are controlled by self-interest. Sudan in
sub-Saharan Africa, for example, has been directed a number
of times that it must grow the cash crops cotton and sugar to
be sold on the world market. This is determined by the World
Bank to be the country’s best way to make money to repay their
debts. Who then grows the food needed by Sudan? They receive
cheap subsidized food from Europe and the United States (who
have food surpluses). This devastates local farmers, who cannot
compete with the cost of this cheap food. Sudan in this case
becomes very dependent on the policies of the countries who are
feeding it, and to whom large debts are owed. Wages are kept low
in order to keep prices of the cash crops competitive with other
commodity producers. This perpetuates poverty in the workforce.

Another problem in this “race to the bottom” is that poor
countries often relax regulations that protect workers. Farming
in Chile may be more harmful to workers who must use
crop spray chemicals banned many years ago in countries
like Canada, but these cheaper chemicals keep their crops
competitive on the world commodity market. According to the
World Bank, in more than 50 countries half of trade earnings
come from just two or three commodities.

Lesson 4, page 16 Canadian and World Issues CGW4U-A

Support Question
(do not send in for evaluation)

37. What do you think are the three main causes of a country
being poor?

Staircase of Development: From Poor to
Rich?

There are countries today that are considered affluent and
developed and have advanced economies. Others are poor and
are considered developing or less developed. Many countries in
Europe and North America, which two hundred years ago had far
less development, are now at the peak of economic development.
Do countries actually pass through levels of development
from poverty towards affluence, and is it possible to see stages
through which countries pass on a “staircase” of development?
A number of theories of development have been suggested. Here
you will learn about one of them, a simple description based on
stages of development proposed by economist W.W. Rostow in
his book The Stages of Economic Growth (1960). Rostow believed
that countries pass through five stages.

Stage 1: The Traditional Society

Here the economy is based on a rural population where
agriculture is dominant. This is a subsistence economy where
things are produced for self and community consumption. This
stage is characterized by a low level of technology. There is a
lack of a strong central government, which makes it difficult
to develop the infrastructure necessary to develop an economy
beyond the local level.

Canadian and World Issues CGW4U-A Lesson 4, page 17

Stage 2: Preconditions for Takeoff

The development of a strong central government encourages
entrepreneurs to start and grow their own businesses by
improving infrastructures such as roads, airports, and harbours.
The country’s natural resources are developed to support their
growing businesses. People and small business start to save
capital for later use.

Stage 3: The Takeoff

In this stage, there is a huge expansion in the number of
entrepreneurs and businesses. Large amounts of capital are
now invested in companies, especially in the manufacturing
industries. The economy reaches a level where business sustains
economic growth at more than 10 percent of the national income.
Large amounts of foreign investment accumulates in the country
to help it develop. People start to save larger amounts of money,
creating a class of future spenders.

Stage 4: The Drive to Maturity

There are significant developments in innovation and technology.
This particularly helps the manufacturing industries, which grow
significantly. Workers are drawn away from rural areas, and the
populations of cities expand. High levels of savings continue,
creating a wealthier consumer class.

Stage 5: The Age of High Mass Consumption

The country experiences high levels of production, consumption,
and foreign sales. New technologies lead to rapid change and
new products. The consumer population lives mostly in large,
modern cities. There is significant growth in income levels, which
further fuels the levels of consumption.

Some critics of Rostow’s model of development suggest it is based
on a very “Western”—European and North American—idea
that countries that do not become industrialized and urbanized
are somewhat “less developed” than those that are. It is also
strongly based on development resulting in the accumulation of

Lesson 4, page 18 Canadian and World Issues CGW4U-A

capital that can be used for modernization and further business
expansion. As you have seen, however, accumulation of capital
offers no guarantee that this will take place. Both Mexico and
Brazil borrowed heavily in order to fast-track their development.
Both fell deeply into debt and struggled with repayments,
causing tremendous social and economic hardships and the
establishment of a disproportionate society of a small rich elite
and a large mass of poor, especially in the shantytowns that
surround the large cities of both countries.

Support Question
(do not send in for evaluation)

38. What impact do you think rapid development in
telecommunications and spread of ideas has on a country’s
ability to pass from one stage of development to another?

Helping Hands: Foreign Aid

When a country faces problems, the international community
is generally helpful and supportive. A crisis can occur with
catastrophic suddenness, such as the South Asian tsunami
of 2004, when billions of dollars were collected to provide
immediate help. A sudden crisis becomes a media event and
people are moved by compassion when they are confronted by
the misery they see on their television screens. When problems
are long term, however, the media moves on to other stories, and
donors grow tired of supporting what may appear to be “lost
causes.” Severe poverty and crippling debt are examples of long-
term problems that require long-term commitments.

The United Nations has suggested that its long-term
development goals would be met if wealthy nations each
contributed 0.7 percent of their Gross National Income (GNI)
to international aid. First recommended by former Canadian
prime minister Lester B. Pearson, members of the UN agreed in
1970 to move toward this target. Few of the wealthy countries
are even close to the target, and many have not set a timeline to
achieve it (see Figure 4.4).

Canadian and World Issues CGW4U-A Lesson 4, page 19

Country Aid as % of GNI Country Aid as % of GNI

Australia (*) 0.25 Japan (*) 0.28

Austria 0.52 Luxembourg 0.87

Belgium 0.53 Netherlands 0.82

Canada (*) 0.34 New Zealand 0.27

Denmark 0.81 Norway 0.93

Finland 0.47 Portugal 0.21

France 0.47 Spain 0.29

Germany 0.35 Sweden 0.92

Greece 0.24 Switzerland (*) 0.44

Ireland 0.41 United Kingdom 0.48

Italy 0.29 United States (*) 0.22

* Indicates countries that have not set a timetable for 0.7%.

Figure 4.4. Official development assistance in 2005.

Source: United Nations Millennium Project, “Official Development Assistance in 2005,” © Organisation for Economic
Co-operation and Development, 2005, www.unmillenniumproject.org/involved/action07.htm

There are two main types of international aid:

Bilateral aid: One country gives money or assistance directly to
another country.

Multilateral aid: Contributions such as clothing, machines,
vehicles, food, and technical assistance are made to international
aid agencies (non-government organizations, or NGOs) who
distribute the contributions where they are most needed.

Countries give aid for many reasons. Some of these reasons are
purely humanitarian, like helping victims of natural disasters
such as earthquakes or famine. In other cases, aid comes with
certain conditions attached that also help the donor country.

There are four main reasons for giving aid:

Humanitarian: Aid is usually provided under emergency
conditions, such as the South Asian tsunami, famines in Sudan,
or wars.

Lesson 4, page 20 Canadian and World Issues CGW4U-A

Historic links: During the nineteenth and early twentieth
centuries, much of Africa was controlled by European
colonial masters. These countries were generally exploited for
economic gain or strategic value. After these countries gained
independence, their old colonial countries helped in their
development. Some wealthy developed countries keep ties with
countries that were once colonies. Perhaps the former colonial
power feels a sense of obligation for the times when the receiving
country was a target of exploitation. For example, France keeps
close ties with Algeria, Britain with Kenya, and Belgium with
the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Economic development: Economic aid is given mostly in
the form of short- and long-term loans to finance projects such
as the construction of roads, schools, and hospitals. It helps
create business opportunities, especially those linked to the
donor country. Recipient countries are sometimes obliged to
use companies from the donor country to help in construction
projects, or to provide expertise for such things as teacher
education colleges.

Political strings: Aid is often provided because it can extend
the influence of the donor country into the receiving country
or its surrounding region. Much of this aid may be in the form
of military equipment to help maintain a government that is
friendly toward the donor country.

Problems With Foreign Aid

While most foreign aid is considered to be of great value
to the receiving country, there are concerns about how it
is administered. For example, foreign aid often comes with
conditions. It may be in the form of a loan that must be paid
back in some way to the donor country or organization. It may
also require that materials and even labour for projects be
provided by companies from the donor country. Foreign aid is
often for short-term improvements, such as helping to overcome
a local drought, and does little to help a country over the long
term. Rather than being channelled into the building of schools
and health care programs, which provide long-term benefit,

Canadian and World Issues CGW4U-A Lesson 4, page 21

too much money or investment ends up in short-term relief
packages, such as the building of shelter and temporary hospital
facilities. Two-thirds of all foreign aid is donated to the richest 40
percent of developing countries; the poorest countries receive
the least. Foreign aid may even do harm, such as when local
farmers cannot compete with free or subsidized food flooding into
a country.

Support Question
(do not send in for evaluation)

39. What different types of international aid are there?

40. How can foreign aid sometimes do more harm than good?

The Debt Trap

A major problem for the poorer countries of the world has been
their inability to escape what became known as the debt trap.
When countries borrowed excessive amounts of money to try
to develop their way out of poverty, interest payments to such
organizations as the World Bank and the IMF were so large
that they became unmanageable. Money had to be redirected
from useful projects just to service the amount owed in annual
interest. The countries therefore had to borrow more in order to
help pay for this debt: a classic debt trap. Recognizing that some
countries could never escape this dilemma, in 1996 the World
Bank and the IMF created the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries
(HIPC) plan. The aim was to lower interest payments or even
forgive debts for the world’s poorest countries.

Consider how debt grew. In 1970, 60 of the poorest countries
owed $25 billion. By 2002, they owed $523 billion. In that same
period, more than $500 billion was actually paid as interest!
UNICEF believes that this debt burden was responsible for the
deaths of five million children in sub-Saharan Africa because
critical spending on health and food went to the banks and not to
life-saving projects. They predict a further three million deaths

Lesson 4, page 22 Canadian and World Issues CGW4U-A

before 2015. In total, the developing countries of the world still
owe more than $2 trillion.

Debt Relief

In 2005, the G8 (the group of eight leading industrial powers)
decided to help the most impoverished 18 countries by cancelling
the debts they owed to international banks. This debt forgiveness
would amount to more than $42.5 billion. A further 20 countries
may be eligible in the near future. Countries must prove they
have “good governance, democratization and open markets.”
This aroused some criticism that the rich countries will demand
even more say in how these poor countries are developed
and governed. Others feel that the World Bank cannot afford
this. It lends about $9 billion each year to countries for use in
development projects. The whole plan depends on rich countries
such as the United States and the United Kingdom giving
additional money to the World Bank to make up for these losses.

The following article by Ed Stoddard adds an interesting (if
depressing) perspective from a country (Malawi in Africa), a
recipient of “debt relief.”

Debt Relief Is Only a Small Step for
Poor Africa

Malawi is $2.9 billion in debt but the cash that was
borrowed hasn’t done Simao Aloni or his home
village of Chiromo any good. Campaigners for debt
relief argue that as a result, the people of dirt-poor
Malawi shouldn’t be burdened with it.

The Group of Eight wealthy nations pledged on
Saturday to help to rid the world’s poorest countries
of their weighty debt, launching a programme that
fell short of the immediate action demanded by
Africa. The compromise deal pledged only that the
G7 would look at cancelling up to 100 percent of
the debts owed to international institutions by the
poorest countries on an individual basis.

Canadian and World Issues CGW4U-A Lesson 4, page 23

The miseries of places like Chiromo highlight the
urgency of the task but also underscore a brutal
fact: debt relief will be only one small step towards
filling the chasm that exists between Africa and the
rich world. “If people see electric lights here, it’s
a novelty,” said Aloni as he washed dishes for his
employer, a city businessman in Aloni’s home village
of Chiromo on a camping trip. His meagre wages
in the commercial capital Blantyre help to support
his family in Chiromo who, like almost everybody
else here, eke out an existence from fishing or
subsistence farming.

Malawi’s accumulated foreign debt—which is equal
to about 154 percent of its gross domestic product
(GDP)—has certainly not been spent here. Once
a bustling trading town across the Ruo River from
neighbouring Mozambique, Chiromo has sunk into
squalid poverty.

The former police station is now a roofless shell.
Inside, it is overgrown with a riot of wild vegetation.
Roads that were once paved are now sand-tracks
full of potholes. Villagers living in simple brick or mud
huts on the river banks have no electricity. Most are
clothed in rags. Hand-hewn wooden canoes are the
main mode of transport. People who bathe or wash
clothes in the river because they have no running
water run the risk of being eaten by crocodiles.
These are scenes that can be repeated endlessly
throughout the world’s poorest continent, where
much of the money that has been borrowed—or
simply thrown at governments as aid—has been
squandered or stolen.

Despite decades of aid and borrowing, Africa has
grown steadily poorer, the income gap between
places like Chiromo and the rest of the world steadily
wider. The United Nations Development Programme
(UNDP) says that sub-Saharan Africa’s per capita
GDP—the economy’s annual output divided by the
number of people—was $469 in 2002 compared with

Lesson 4, page 24 Canadian and World Issues CGW4U-A

$22 987 for the affluent members of the Organisation
for Economic Co-operation and Development.

According to the World Bank, in 2003, gross national
income in Malawi, a sun-drenched and fertile land
that is once again confronted with food shortages,
was only $160. Malawi’s foreign debt is crippling
and any relief would be welcome. But much more
than that needs to be done. “The most powerful tool
toward closing the disparities between Africa and the
rest of the world is market access. These countries
must grow their export base,” said Robert Bunyi,
Africa economist at South Africa’s Standard Bank.

Boosting exports is easier said than done. Malawi’s
government has made cotton and textiles the lynchpin
of its development plan as it attempts to diversify
an economy heavily dependent on tobacco and
sugar exports. The fact that it is pinning its hopes
on a cotton-driven industrial revolution, over two
centuries after Britain’s began, throws its state of
underdevelopment into sharp relief. And the debt relief
initiative coincides with an end to a curb on clothing
imports from developing nations to rich countries which
is expected to hit African textile producers hardest as
they face stiff competition from Asia.

American economist Jeffrey Sachs has recently
argued that more—but well-targeted—aid is needed
to pull Africa out of its “poverty trap.” Africa’s
extreme poverty, he argues, has led to low savings
rates. As a result, level of capital is so small that it
falls below the threshold needed to start modern
production processes. In Chiromo, the people have
nothing to save. And they are unable to pay off
debts incurred over decades that were squandered
elsewhere.

Canadian and World Issues CGW4U-A Lesson 4, page 25

Support Questions
(do not send in for evaluation)

41. Explain the meaning of the expression “debt trap” when
applied to indebted countries.

42. Will forgiving Malawi its debt of $2.9 billion help
conditions in villages such as Chiromo? Use information
from the article “Debt Relief Is Only a Small Step for Poor
Africa” by Ed Stoddard.

Poverty in Canada?

How can there be poverty in Canada? It is one of the richest
countries on Earth, and often described by the UN as one of
the best places to live. Canadians’ quality of life is envied by
most countries. There is considerable demand from people who
live elsewhere to make Canada their home. People who are
impoverished want to live in Canada as a way of raising their
quality of life.

How would you define poverty in Canada? How is it that the
country has 1.5 million “poor”? Are they the same as the poor you
read about earlier in this lesson? There is little agreement about
what constitutes poverty in Canada. Statistics Canada uses a
measurement called Low-Income Cut-Off (LICO) to describe
people who spend 55 percent or more of their income on basic
necessities such as food, shelter, and clothing. People in this
category would have very little income left for other purposes
such as transportation, health care, education, or recreation.
Using this measure, Statistics Canada calculates that 17 percent
of Canadians—5.4 million—would be considered below the LICO
line. Critics of the LICO are quick to suggest that spending
55 percent of your income on necessities does not make you
truly poor. You still have 45 percent of disposable income, large
compared to billions of others around the world.

Lesson 4, page 26 Canadian and World Issues CGW4U-A

The Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development
looks at poverty differently, using a measure based on the
median after-tax income for a country. Those below the median
line (halfway between the highest and lowest) are considered
poor. In this case, approximately 10 percent of Canadians would
be considered poor. Statistics Canada uses a pre-tax median
described as the Low Income Measure. Those below the median
line are considered to have low incomes.

An NGO that represents more than 250 poverty groups across
Canada is the National Anti-Poverty Organization. It believes
that as many as one in six Canadians (about 17.5 percent) live
in poverty. It also suggests that more than 60 percent of single
people under the age of 24 live in poverty.

While the debate rages about how many Canadians live in
poverty, people continue to struggle against the financial costs
of living in Canada and providing basic needs for themselves
and their families. There is particular concern about children
who experience these challenges:

• Children in low-income families are more likely to become
runaways or foster children.

• Children from low-income families tend to be less healthy
than those from higher-income families.

• Children in low-income families are much more likely to
experience family violence.

• Children from low-income families are less successful
educationally.

• According to Statistics Canada, one out of eight children lives
in a family with a very low average income.

• According to Statistics Canada, 40.9 percent of young single
women live in poverty, compared to 35 percent for young
single men.

• The top 20 percent of Canadians in income levels earn
45 percent of all generated income; the bottom 20 percent in
income levels earn less than 5 percent of all income.

Canadian and World Issues CGW4U-A Lesson 4, page 27

• 39 percent of food bank recipients are under 18 years of age.

• Pensions are related to earning over a lifetime of work, raising
concerns that women, who earn one-fifth less than men, will
have greater struggles in old age.

Support Question

(do not send in for evaluation)

43. Some would say that there is no poverty in Canada. How
would you respond?

Lesson 4, page 28 Canadian and World Issues CGW4U-A

Key Question

Save your answers to the Key Questions. When you have
completed the unit, submit them to ILC for marking.

(45 marks)

4. A former Canadian prime minister, Lester B. Pearson,
recommended that the international community donate a
fixed proportion (0.7 percent) of its annual earnings (gross
national income) toward international aid.

Country Aid as % of GNI Country Aid as % of GNI
Australia (*) 0.25 Japan (*) 0.28
Austria 0.52 Luxembourg 0.87
Belgium 0.53 Netherlands 0.82
Canada (*) 0.34 New Zealand 0.27
Denmark 0.81 Norway 0.93
Finland 0.47 Portugal 0.21
France 0.47 Spain 0.29
Germany 0.35 Sweden 0.92
Greece 0.24 Switzerland (*) 0.44
Ireland 0.41 United Kingdom 0.48
Italy 0.29 United States (*) 0.22
* Indicates countries that have not set a timetable for 0.7%.
Figure 4.4. Official development assistance in 2005.

Source: United Nations Millennium Project, “Official development Assistance in 2005.” © Organisation for Economic
Co-operation and Development, 2005, www.unmillenniumproject.org/involved/action07.htm

Note: This table is identical to the one that appears following
the heading “Helpful Hands: Foreign Aid” earlier in this lesson.

Canadian and World Issues CGW4U-A Lesson 4, page 29

a) Examine Figure 4.4. To what extent was Canada meeting its
commitment to this goal in 2005? (3 marks)

b) How does Canada’s record compare with those of other
wealthy nations? (3 marks)

c) Suggest a reason for Canada’s record of commitment.
(3 marks)

d) Some critics suggest that needy Canadians should be helped
first. Others feel that Canada should be giving far more in
international aid. Where do you stand on this issue? Write
four paragraphs on your feelings about aid and the priorities
of the Canadian government. Your paragraphs should
contain the following information:

An opening paragraph that identifies the issue: Where should
Canada place its priorities in terms of fighting poverty?

4 marks

A paragraph that clearly identifies your position and outlines
two credible and relevant arguments.

2 × 4 marks
= 8 marks

A paragraph that supports one of your arguments and is backed
up by two items of information, evidence, or relevant examples.

2 × 4 marks
= 8 marks

A paragraph that supports the second argument and is backed
up by two items of information, evidence, or relevant examples.

2 × 4 marks
= 8 marks

A final paragraph that sums up your position. 4 marks

Correct spelling and grammar. 4 marks

Now go on to Lesson 5. Do not submit your coursework to ILC
until you have completed Unit 1 (Lessons 1 to 5).

5
CGW4U-A

Global Migration

Canadian and World Issues CGW4U-A Lesson 5, page 1

Introduction
Canada is a land of immigrants. According to Statistics Canada,
more than 18 percent of Canadians migrated here from another
country. In the 2001 census, 76 percent of Canadians identified
an ethnic origin other than “Canadian” or “North American
Indian.” People from all over the world have migrated here and
placed their mark on the land called Canada.

In this lesson, you will learn about the nature and dynamics of
human migration. You will explore the various types and motives
for international migration. You will also examine the reasons
people make the significant decision to move to another country.
You will learn about various models of migration, including
push-pull structural theory and the capital-value approach.
You’ll have the opportunity to assess the interaction between
the global economy and the migration of people. Finally, you will
learn about recent trends and migration patterns, such as the
emergence of human trafficking and the international efforts to
prevent it.

What You Will Learn

After completing this lesson, you will be able to

• explain why recent events involving refugees have occurred
and evaluate what governments are doing about these events

• comment on the impact of selected human migrations on
natural and human systems

• list ways in which countries are working together to help with
the flow of people between their countries

• suggest ways in which regions of the world such as Europe
or Asia can persuade other regions to help them control
problems such as illegal migration and trafficking of people

• explain how a country’s migration policy is influenced by its
economic and cultural conditions

Lesson 5, page 2 Canadian and World Issues CGW4U-A

Glossary of Key Terms

The following terms are in bold in the lesson.

brain drain: loss of skilled professionals caused by emigration.

environmental refugee: person forced to leave their home due to an
environmental catastrophe.

global migration: individual or family moves across an international
border for permanent or semi-permanent residence.

involuntary migration: when people are forced to move from one country to
another without wanting to do so.

landed immigrant or
permanent resident:

someone who has been given legal status to remain
in a country and eventually apply for citizenship.

pull factor: something that attracts people toward another home
and way of life, such as employment opportunities.

push factor: something that pushes people away from their home
and way of life, such as warfare.

stepped migration: migrants usually take a series of steps before
reaching their final settlement destination.

temporary resident or
seasonal migrant:

worker who moves to a country in order to fill a job
requirement for a set period of time.

transnationalism: allegiance to multiple countries, often with dual
citizenship.

voluntary migration: people themselves make a decision to move.

Canadian and World Issues CGW4U-A Lesson 5, page 3

What Is Global Migration?
In a constantly evolving world of work opportunities and living
conditions, one way to improve way of life for oneself or one’s
family is to decide to move to another country. It can be an
enormous gamble and is often a life-altering decision. Global
migration occurs when an individual or family moves across an
international border for permanent or semi-permanent residence.
According to the International Organization for Migration
(IOM), up to 1.5 million people move from one country to another
each year. Canada receives among the most global migrants
of any country in the world. Only four countries have a higher
percentage of immigrants in their population: Luxembourg,
Australia, Switzerland, and New Zealand.

People who travel from one country to reside in another fall
under one of two types of migration: voluntary and involuntary.

Voluntary Migration

Voluntary migration involves people who themselves make
a decision to move. There are many reasons for making this
decision, and there are a number of different types of voluntary
migrant.

Settlers are individuals and families who decide that there is
a better future in living permanently in a different country.
Countries such as the United States, Australia, and Canada have
benefited greatly from settlers. In the past, this kind of migration
often involved lengthy and time-consuming journeys, isolation
from friends, and many hardships. Today, advances in travel
technology and telecommunications mean this is not as difficult.
Families and friends left behind are much “closer” and can be
in regular contact, making a transition to a new life a lot easier.
Most of these migrants follow carefully monitored government
processes and rules. Most acquire landed immigrant or
permanent-resident status. As the term implies, a permanent
resident has the legal right to remain in the country. Most will
eventually become citizens of their adopted country.

Lesson 5, page 4 Canadian and World Issues CGW4U-A

Countries that receive immigrants often benefit from the many
skills of the new settlers. Many professionals and doctors, for
example, leave India and Pakistan for higher-paying jobs in the
Middle East, Europe, or North America. From the perspective
of India or Pakistan, this is known as a “brain drain” since the
country loses many of its educated people. Figure 5.1 shows the
percentage of native-born and foreign-born persons in selected
OECD countries that have received post-secondary education. In
Canada for example, there is a higher likelihood that you have
received post-secondary education if you were foreign-born than
if you were born in Canada. In this respect, Canada has imported
skills through immigration.

Native-born Foreign-born

Canada 31.5 38.0

France 16.9 18.1

Germany 19.5 15.5

Hungary 10.7 19.8

Korea 26.7 31.2

New Zealand 27.2 31.0

Sweden 22.8 24.2

Switzerland 18.1 23.7

USA 26.9 24.8

Figure 5.1. Persons with higher education in selected OECD countries.

Source: Jean-Christophe Dumont and Georges Lemaître, Counting Immigrants and Expatriates in OECD Countries: A
New Perspective. © Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, 2005.

Temporary residents or seasonal migrants move to a
country in order to fill a job requirement. A worker may have
received a job offer that involves a fixed-time contract. Letters
of permission or visas are granted by the host country allowing
the worker to stay, often with his or her family, until the job
is complete. At that time, they are required to return to their
country of origin. For example, seasonal agricultural workers
from Latin American countries help harvest crops in the United
States and Canada; domestic workers from eastern Asia work as
child minders in Europe, North America, and the Middle East;
and telecommunication specialists from Europe work in Middle
Eastern countries developing telephone and satellite systems.

Canadian and World Issues CGW4U-A Lesson 5, page 5

Figure 5.2 illustrates the importance of temporary residents to
the economies of some poor countries. Temporary residents often
send a significant portion of their savings home to the rest of
their families. For example, the remittance of funds by Mexicans
working overseas amounted to 2 percent of Mexico’s GDP.

The International Labour Organization believes there will be a
huge increase in international work contracts in the near future
as companies expand throughout the world. The OECD suggests
further that as the developing world becomes more industrialized
and modern there will be a massive increase in jobs. It predicts
that by 2020 the workforce in the developing countries will
increase 40 percent. This corresponds to an estimated 700
million new jobs. There will be enormous pressure for the global
movement of people with skills to fill these jobs.

2001 $m % GDP

1 Mexico 9920 2%

2 India * 9119 2%

3 Philippines 6325 8%

4 Morocco 3234 10%

5 Egypt 2876 3%

6 Turkey 2786 1%

7 Bangladesh 2100 4%

8 Dominican Republic 1960 10%

9 El Salvador 1899 14%

10 Jordan 1818 22%

* For India the data are for 2000

Figure 5.2. Remittances sent to country of origin, 2001.

Source: Peter Stalker, Stalker’s Guide to International Migration, pstalker.com/migration/mg_stats_5.htm; IMF Balance
of Payments Statistics (2002); United Nations Human Development Programme, Human Development Report (2002).

Student migrants spend fixed amounts of time in a host country,
often many years, attending educational establishments such as
schools, colleges, and universities. Many are offered permanent
residency status on the completion of their studies because of the
value of the skills they acquire.

Lesson 5, page 6 Canadian and World Issues CGW4U-A

Many thousands of people move to new countries without the
permission of the host country, and are thus illegal workers.
They have faked documents, or none at all, and have to remain
“invisible” to the authorities of that country. As they live in secret
from the law, they are also prone to exploitation with threats of
exposure to the authorities. Most find themselves in very low-
paying jobs or illegal work such as the sex trade. On discovery,
they are deported back to their country of origin.

Involuntary Migration

Involuntary migration takes place when an individual or family
is forced to move from one country to another without wanting to
do so. There are three main reasons: poverty, fear of conflict, and
the quality of the environment.

Absolute poverty and despair may make it difficult for
individuals and families to survive. They are often forced to try
to find a better opportunity for themselves. This may involve
illegally crossing to another country where they believe economic
conditions are better. As in the case of all illegal workers, these
people can become prey to exploitation. This is often described as
a modern form of slavery.

An environment can deteriorate in quality to the point that
people can no longer live there. Perhaps the soils have dried
up or lost their nutrients, or trees may have been cut down
to provide wood for fuel. Faced with lack of food or adequate
water, millions are forced to seek refuge elsewhere and become
environmental refugees. The International Organization for
Migration suggests there are about 25 million environmental
refugees worldwide, mostly in Africa, East Asia, and Central
America.

Conflict and fear drive individuals and families across borders
seeking a safe haven. Wars, regional conflicts, local war lords,
and drug kings cause people to fear for their personal safety and
that of their families. The United Nations estimates that nearly
one in six people around the world lives in a climate of fear. This
puts enormous stresses on “safe countries” such as Canada to
accept refugees on humanitarian grounds.

Canadian and World Issues CGW4U-A Lesson 5, page 7

Involuntary or forced migration is a growing problem. The
United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), formed
to help refugees settle around the world, estimates that there are
about 50 million refugees and displaced people. The majority are
women and children. In Africa alone, it is estimated 10 million
people are displaced within their own countries, and more than
4 million have fled to neighbouring countries.

Support Questions
(do not send in for evaluation)

44. What are the four types of voluntary migrants?

45. Describe some of the reasons people may be forced to migrate
elsewhere.

There are Suggested Answers to Support Questions at the end of
this unit.

Two Theories of Migration

Push-Pull Structural Theory

Geographers have long considered that people migrate due to
major influences in their economic, political, or social lives. These
are called “push” and “pull” factors. A push factor is something
that pushes people away from their home and way of life. A pull
factor attracts them toward another home and way of life. Push-
pull structural theory therefore describes significant outside
forces that act on individuals and families to urge them to move
to other countries.

An example of a push factor would be land that is drying out. A
farmer may be forced to take his family to an area with better
growing conditions. According to the New Internationalist, about
135 million people are threatened by what it describes as “land
degradation”—grazing land that is turning into desert. Fighting
in Afghanistan has forced thousands to flee into nearby Pakistan
for refuge. Fighting and conflict have forced hundreds of

Lesson 5, page 8 Canadian and World Issues CGW4U-A

thousands to flee areas of Sudan and seek refuge in neighbouring
countries such as Chad, Uganda, Democratic Republic of Congo,
Kenya, and Ethiopia. Economic conditions have forced thousands
to migrate from impoverished areas to try their luck in what
they consider better-off countries.

Migrants are also attracted to new places because of what they
have to offer, or pull factors. Canada, which receives hundreds
of thousands of applications each year from people and families
who want to live there, is regularly reported in the UN Human
Development Report to be one of the best countries in the world
in which to live. Canada’s high levels of literacy and educational
opportunity, standard and quality of life, health care, income
levels, and political stability are a magnet for people in countries
with inferior conditions.

Capital-Value Theory

Another perspective on migration emphasizes an individual’s
choice. At all times an individual has an economic value or
potential value. A person may have a low-paying job with little
prospect of getting better. His or her possessions may be of
poor quality or otherwise inadequate. The individual may feel,
however, that he or she has a skill that would be better rewarded
in another country. This person may have obtained the skills
through an investment in education involving time and money.
This person places a capital value on her or himself, and must
also consider the best ways to use this capital. A decision may be
made to try to use this capital value in another country, hence
the decision to migrate.

Many immigrants come to Canada believing that they can earn
more money than in their country of origin. Many Canadians
move to the United States, where incomes for their qualifications
can be higher. This decision may also be shared by a family
group. The costs (and therefore the financial risks) of sending a
family member to another country are shared by the family. If
things work out, the migrant will send money home (payment on
the investment). If things do not work out, the family will help
pay the cost to repatriate the migrant.

Canadian and World Issues CGW4U-A Lesson 5, page 9

Support Questions
(do not send in for evaluation)

46. Briefly describe the push-pull structural theory and provide
two examples of forces that push and pull migrants.

47. Use the capital-value theory to explain why an individual
may want to migrate.

World Migration Patterns: Regional
Summaries

Figure 5.3 illustrates major trends in migration today. An
interactive form of this map is available at pstalker.com/
migration/mg_map.htm# On this Web site, when you move the
mouse over the arrows, two or three sentences pop up describing
who is migrating.

Figure 5.3. A flow map of migration patterns.

Source: Peter Stalker, Stalker’s Guide to International Migration, pstalker.com/migration/mg_map.htm#

Lesson 5, page 10 Canadian and World Issues CGW4U-A

North America

Canada is a key immigration target, and plans on receiving
300 000 migrants each year. Many new Canadians come from
Asia, especially China and India. The United States receives
a million migrants every year, as well as considerable illegal
immigration (about 300 000 annually), mostly from China and
Mexico. An estimated 10.3 million illegal migrants are in the
United States. Ten percent of all Mexicans now live in the United
States. The American authorities are increasing security at
border areas subject to a great deal of illegal traffic. Caribbean
countries are active areas of emigration: one in ten Cubans lives
in the United States, and there is a great deal of migration from
Jamaica, Dominican Republic, and Haiti. This trend has occurred
due to stark contrast between the standard of living in the
United States and that of its southern neighbours.

South America

Venezuela attracts a considerable number of migrants from
Colombia and Ecuador because of its oil wealth. There are
many Peruvians and Bolivians in Argentina, working as farm
labourers, as well as much illegal immigration from Peru and
Paraguay to Argentina. Japan now accepts as immigrants
Brazilians and Peruvians of Japanese descent. More than
1.5 million Brazilians and 2 million Colombians live in other
countries.

Africa

There is a mass migration of sub-Saharan Africans across the
Sahara Desert toward Morocco, which is a short boat ride across
the Straits of Gibraltar from Spain. From there, they can seek
employment and a better life in other parts of Europe. Within
Africa, migrants travel from the poorest countries to others
that have somewhat better conditions. Many go to Côte d’Ivoire
from Mali, Ghana, and Guinea to work in the cocoa and palm-oil
industries. Migrants flow to South Africa from Mozambique to
work in the mines there.

Canadian and World Issues CGW4U-A Lesson 5, page 11

Political instability and tribal violence have created millions of
refugees throughout Africa. These desperate people often live
their entire lives in refugee camps administered by the UN,
unable to go home and unwanted by other nations. Many African
countries that have difficulty meeting the needs of their own
people are ill-equipped to cope with the responsibility of these
additional people.

Oceania

Nearly one million of the four million foreign-born Australian
residents are from the United Kingdom, their traditional
source. Nevertheless, Australia is very multicultural, with more
than 150 national groups. Many recent immigrants come from
Vietnam, Indonesia, the Philippines, and China. In contrast, New
Zealand is three-quarters ethnically British.

Europe

Much of the immigration to the United Kingdom is from India
and Pakistan, since they were once colonies of the U.K. Since the
formation of the European Union, around half of the migration
to the U.K. comes from other EU members. Most migrants to
Germany—about two million—are Turkish. China is a source
of illegal migration via Russia and Eastern Europe. Russia
has received more than two million returning Russians from
surrounding countries following the breakup of the Soviet
Union. There have also been a lot of emigrants from Russia as
restrictions on travel during the communist years have been
lifted. Italy receives many migrants from Albania, and Spain
receives many from Morocco. France receives many Africans from
former colonies, such as Algeria and Morocco. Familiarity with
the language is a pull factor for these migrants. It is estimated
that there are three million illegal migrants in Europe.

Lesson 5, page 12 Canadian and World Issues CGW4U-A

Asia and the Middle East

With the world’s two most heavily populated countries, China
and India, Asia is a major focal point of migration. Middle
Eastern countries attract migrant workers from South Asia,
especially India, Pakistan, Indonesia, and Sri Lanka, for
domestic, service, and high-tech industries. India provides highly
skilled workers for North American, European, and Middle
Eastern industries. Uncertainty in Hong Kong caused by the
takeover by communist China led many citizens of the former
British colony to seek residence elsewhere, especially other
former British territories such as Canada and Australia. There
is much illegal migration in Asia: to Thailand from Burma; to
Malaysia from Indonesia; to South Korea from China and North
Korea; to China from North Korea. Many refugees have left
Afghanistan and Iraq in recent years (mostly to Pakistan and
Jordan respectively). Japan has more than 1.5 million foreign
temporary workers, and some 25 percent of Singapore’s workers
are foreign. Israel received more than one million new settlers in
the last decade. Most of them migrated from the republics of the
former Soviet Union.

Support Questions
(do not send in for evaluation)

48. Review the flow map in Figure 5.3, the notes you read on the
Web site, and the notes on regional summaries in this lesson.
For each region, select one item of information that you feel is
important and interesting about that region.

Canadian and World Issues CGW4U-A Lesson 5, page 13

Realities of Migration

The following list details the realities of global migration as
observed by the International Organization for Migration (IOM),
an organization that helps international migrants with technical
and humanitarian help and information on migration policies
and international laws. Since its foundation in 1951, it has
helped more than 11 million migrants.

• More migration takes places within countries than between
countries. Nearly twice as many Africans migrate within their
own country than to another country.

• Migration normally takes place in steps. Migrants often
move from rural areas to cities, then to another country. This
country may not be the final destination, especially for those
migrants who have been forced to flee for their own safety.
After reaching their first “safe country,” they may decide (or
be required) to move to a final destination. This is called a
stepped migration process.

• Cities are major magnets for migrants looking for a new
beginning. An estimated 1.5 million make the move from
rural areas to cities each year. About half of all Canada’s new
migrants end up in the Greater Toronto Area.

• Remittances sent to developing countries by migrants
working abroad amounts to $226 billion each year—three
times the money these countries receive through development
assistance. Banks now openly compete for international
transfer services.

• According to UNESCO, African countries—which make up the
majority of all least developed countries (LDCs)—lose 20 000
skilled workers to the developed world every year.

• Developed industrial countries encourage highly skilled
immigrants to choose their countries by offering incentive
plans. For instance, Germany started the Green Card
Initiative in 2000, and the U.K. has offered the Highly Skilled
Migration Programme since 2002.

Lesson 5, page 14 Canadian and World Issues CGW4U-A

• Many countries turn a blind eye to illegal immigrants who fill
non-skilled jobs in the construction and service industries.

• Traditionally, men made the initial migrations, followed by
women and families who later joined him. Women now make
up nearly 50 percent of all migrants. They also tend to take
on more non-traditional roles than women who have not
migrated.

• Most countries believe in the policy of family reunification.
In some countries, such as Canada, Australia, and the United
States, it is a major part of their immigration policy.

• More than 50 countries in the world have more than
15 percent of their population born in a different country.

• The International Labour Organization believes that there
will be more migration from Latin America and South and
East Asia to North America, and from Africa, South Asia,
the Middle East, Eastern Europe, and Russia to European
countries.

• According to the IOM, about a quarter of all countries are
seeking to lower immigration levels. Eleven, including the
Philippines, India, and Bangladesh, actually encourage their
citizens to leave for other countries.

• There is a greater trend towards transnationalism:
allegiance to multiple countries and dual citizenship is
becoming more common.

• According to estimates of the UNHCR, the majority of
refugees do not have the financial resources to travel very far.
They usually end up in neighbouring countries that first offer
them safety. More than two-thirds of all displaced persons are
in the countries of Asia and Africa, places that can least afford
to provide extra services and help.

Support Question
(do not send in for evaluation)

49. What three pieces of information do you find most interesting
from the list of migration realities?

Canadian and World Issues CGW4U-A Lesson 5, page 15

Human Trafficking

There is a growing problem with human trafficking of people
across borders and ignoring a country’s laws and system of
immigration. The UN has defined trafficking as the “recruitment,
transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, by
means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion
for the purpose of exploitation. Exploitation shall include, at
a minimum, the exploitation of prostitution or other forms of
sexual exploitation, forced labour or services, slavery or practices
similar to slavery.”

The United States estimates that between 700 000 and
2 million women and children are transported across borders
for trafficking purposes each year. In Thailand, trafficking has
become more profitable than illegal gambling and the drug
trade. There are many reasons trafficking in human cargo takes
place. Crime networks are willing to place illegal migrants
into situations of exploitation and profit. Illegal migrants may
end up working in unregulated, dangerous, or demeaning jobs,
where wages are extremely low or confiscated in exchange for
not reporting the migrant to authorities. Many are manipulated
into the sex trade, where they are exploited as prostitutes. Many
victims were forced out of their country by poverty. Attracted
by advertisements promising a job and a better future, they
willingly pay money to gain quick, illegal entrance into more
prosperous countries. Criminal groups prepare all the forged
documentation that the victim needs. In some cases, they are
victims of kidnapping and threats of violence. Asia supplies the
largest number of victims, followed by Latin America.

Trafficking is a global problem, encompassing countries as
widespread as the former Soviet Union, Moldova, Cambodia,
Brazil, Sierra Leone, Sudan, and Thailand. The IOM has said
that the trafficking of people from the Russian Federation is a
multi-billion dollar industry. It has become a major source of
income for Russian organized-crime groups who have trafficked
up to 100 000 Russian women to more than 50 countries in
North America, Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and within other
parts of Russia. According to the UN, millions of women are

Lesson 5, page 16 Canadian and World Issues CGW4U-A

trafficked into the sex industry. For example, many Nigerian
women have ended up as street prostitutes in Italy, and
Albanian, Moldovan, and Ukrainian women have been found
smuggled into European prostitution. Even the United States is
the destination of 14 500 to 17 500 trafficked persons each year,
according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

People who are the victims of trafficking are often viewed as
criminals, since they are illegally in the country. Therefore,
they are often afraid to complain to the police. In 2003, the
UN published its trafficking protocol, which decreed that all
trafficked persons were to be viewed as victims and not as
criminals. It suggested that the problem required a global
response, not just individual countries fighting the problem. The
UN calls human trafficking the second-most profitable global
crime, behind drug trafficking, and it is growing much faster.

In the following article, you will read personal stories about the
impact of human trafficking.

Set Me Free …

“I was told by an acquaintance to work at his
restaurant in Japan. I decided to accept his offer as
I thought my family might improve their life if I sent
them my salary. Soon after my arrival in Japan, I
realized that I was sold. My life since then has been
like that of an animal.

“I was sold three times. I begged my last owner to let
me go home but she said I owed her lots of money
which I had to pay back by sleeping with customers.
I was always scolded and forced to do all kinds of
terrible things.

“It is impossible to describe how horrible and
miserable my life was. For six-and-a-half months
I was totally controlled by her. Every day I had to
go out and sleep with men. I had no physical nor
spiritual freedom. She threatened that wherever I
escaped to, I would be traced and killed and so
would my parents in Thailand. What I did was the
only way to set me free from her. There was no other
alternative.”

Canadian and World Issues CGW4U-A Lesson 5, page 17

This letter was written by Gun, a 25-year-old Thai
woman from an impoverished rural family, to her
Japanese lawyer. In 1991, she and two Thai friends
escaped from their captor by stabbing her to death.
They fled with her bag, thinking that it contained their
passports. They did not know that in the bag there
was seven million yen ($80 000) in cash. They were
arrested in the same night. In 1994 the prosecutor
charged them with premeditated murder and they
received a life sentence—though due to international
campaigns and petitions their imprisonment was
reduced and they are now serving their last year in
prison.

In the global flow from South to North, there are
now as many women migrants as men. But whereas
male migrants are absorbed into the formal sector,
female migrants have no option but to join the
informal one—as domestic workers, “entertainers”
(a euphemism for prostitutes) and waitresses. These
low-paid jobs have limited prospects and little
security. Women such as Gun from countries like
Thailand are pushed into the sex industry in more
advanced countries within their own region or in the
North.

Several hundred thousand are victims of international
trafficking which generates billions of dollars of profit
for the traffickers. A recent study on illegal business
in Thailand revealed that trafficking of women for the
purpose of prostitution generates higher profits than
illegal gambling, the drugs trade or arms trafficking.

Most women who are trafficked are poor and
uneducated. Like Gun, they allow recruitment by an
agent as this seems like their best option. Often they
are not told they will have to work as prostitutes.
Poverty and unemployment lead them to pay
money—which they can little afford—to be taken to
a new country with the promise of a new job. They
pay an agent’s fee of 15 000 to 30 000 baht ($350
to $600). When the women are sold to employers
in Japan, this amount is added to the bond which

Lesson 5, page 18 Canadian and World Issues CGW4U-A

they must pay back, usually at more than double the
agreed price. Japanese employers pay the agent
thousands more for the service of a woman when
she arrives in Japan, which means that her debt is
inflated to between 400 000 to 700 000 baht ($9200–
16 200). And then women are often resold before
their first debt is paid back. It can take them years to
pay all of these debts.

Japan, the richest country in the region, has become
a major destination for trafficked women. “During
the boom, we had to charter a whole plane to
carry all the women,” a female trafficking agent
told a magazine in Thailand. Her network included
organized criminal gangs in Japan and corrupt Thai
officials. Local organizations estimate that 80 000
to 100 000 Thai women are working illegally as
prostitutes in Japan.

The United Nations Working Group on Contemporary
Forms of Slavery considers trafficking of women as a
serious crime and a gross violation of human rights.
Yet there is no efficient international mechanism
to stop the crime and provide redress for affected
women, whose numbers are growing in every region
of the world.

There are penal codes dealing with trafficking in
all countries involved. But most only enforce their
immigration laws to punish and deport the women,
instead of considering them subject to a modern
form of slavery. This revictimizes the women who are
criminalized and endangered by their illegal status.

Nida, from northern Thailand, had been trafficked
to Japan where she fell out of a window escaping a
“client”: “I felt a sharp pain in my back, and I could
not move my legs. I was still conscious when my
friend took me to the hospital. The first hospital
would not admit me because I was a foreigner.
And others did not want to give me any treatment
because I tested HIV-positive.” As illegal immigrants,
women who are trafficked are left to fend for
themselves.

Canadian and World Issues CGW4U-A Lesson 5, page 19

Escape is not easy, though many try. Nor is earning a
living afterwards. Nuj, from the Thai side of the Thai-
Burmese border, escaped from her agent with a little
money. She plans to do a hairdressing course. “Then
I’ll go home and open my own shop. When that day
comes, perhaps all the depressing experiences will
fade away from memory.”

The answer is not to fight against migration or
prostitution per se but to stop the abusive practices
against women who are trafficked. And to recognize
that these women are simply trying to make a living.
We should focus on how to promote women’s rights
to freedom of movement, ensure that they are able
to make well-informed decisions—and stop their
exploitation.

Source: “Set Me Free …,” Siriporn Skrobanek, New Internationalist, www.newint.org/issue305/free.htm,
Retrieved June 5, 2006.

Support Questions
(do not send in for evaluation)

50. Define the term “human trafficking.”

51. What evidence is there that human trafficking has become a
global problem?

52. The article “Set Me Free …” suggests that women who are
caught in the trafficking process are treated as criminals and
revictimized. What does this mean?

53. What has the United Nations done to help victims of human
trafficking?

Lesson 5, page 20 Canadian and World Issues CGW4U-A

Canada’s Immigration Policy

Figure 5.4 shows the breakdown of immigrants to Canada in
2000 and 2005. These years are fairly typical of the pattern
over the past decade. Notice that Canada recognizes three
different categories of immigrant: economic, refugees, and family
classification.

Category Number of
Immigrants 2000

Percentage of
Total 2000

Number of
Immigrants 2005

Percentage of
Total 2005

Economic 136 299 59.9% 156 310 59.6%

Family
Classification

60 612 26.6% 63 352 24.2%

Refugees 30 092 13.2% 35 768 13.6%

Others 460 0.2% 6 806 2.6%

Total 227 463 262 236

Figure 5.4. Immigration to Canada by category, 2000 and 2005.

Source: Citizenship and Immigration Canada, www.cic.gc.ca/english/pub/facts2005/overview/1.html

Economic Immigrants

Economic immigrants must submit an application form to
the Canadian government before they can come to Canada.
Applicants under the economic classification are evaluated
on the likelihood they will be able to become economically
established in Canada. These immigrants are evaluated through
a point system that is meant to encourage immigration by skilled
workers. To qualify under this system, an immigrant must have
at least 67 out of a possible 100 points. Figure 5.5 explains how
points are awarded. In addition to the point system, a person
can apply through the economic classification as an investor or
entrepreneur. An investment of $400 000 or more in a Canadian
business is needed for the person to be accepted.

Canadian and World Issues CGW4U-A Lesson 5, page 21

Education Up to 25 points for a master’s degree or Ph.D.

Work Experience Up to 21 points for four years of work in an approved
list of occupations

Age 10 points if aged between 21 and 49, less 2 points for
each year over or under

Employment Up to 10 points if a job offer has already been received

Official languages
(French and English)

Up to 16 points for proficiency in one official language.
An additional 8 points for proficiency in the second
official language.

Adaptability Up to 10 points for other considerations, such as
having spent time in Canada in the past studying or
working, having relatives in Canada, and so on.

Figure 5.5. How points are awarded for skilled workers.

Refugees

Canada accepts a number of immigrants from refugee camps
operated by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
In addition, a person who arrives at a Canadian border can ask
to be admitted as a refugee. Immigration officers at the border do
an initial assessment; if they feel that there might be a case, the
person is admitted temporarily until they can be given a hearing
in front of the Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB). Figure
5.6 shows the number of refugee claimants and the number of
positive outcomes from 1989 to 2001.

Lesson 5, page 22 Canadian and World Issues CGW4U-A

Year Number of Claims Number of Positive
IRB Outcomes

1989 12 092 4840

1990 21 046 10 429

1991 29 008 19 913

1992 31 345 17 610

1993 35 702 14 203

1994 22 375 15 298

1995 26 409 9704

1996 26 009 9619

1997 22 721 10 038

1998 23 897 12 929

1999 29 450 12 984

2000 34 289 14 003

2001 44 075 13 383

Figure 5.6. Refugee claims in Canada.

Source: Government of Canada, Library of Parliament, Adapted from www.parl.gc.ca/information/library/PRBpubs/
bp185-e.htm#appendix1tx

Family Classification

The third category of immigrants is the family classification.
For compassionate reasons, Canada allows citizens and landed
immigrants to sponsor family members as immigrants. The
family member may be a spouse, dependent child, parent or
grandparent, or the orphaned child of a close relative. The
sponsored person must pass a health assessment and criminal
check. The sponsor must be willing to financially support the
sponsored person for up to ten years.

Canadian and World Issues CGW4U-A Lesson 5, page 23

Support Questions
(do not send in for evaluation)

54. What are the three categories of immigrants that Canada
recognizes?

55. Identify two ways that immigrants in the economic category
can be admitted.

Good Policy or Bad Policy?

Immigration policy is a hotly debated topic, with strong emotions
and opinions expressed by different people. Here are a few
examples:

1. “Canada is what it is today thanks to the many immigrants
that have settled here. Ever since the United Empire
Loyalists fled the United States following the American
Revolution, Canada has had a long-standing tradition
of welcoming refugees to our shores. The Underground
Railroad brought escaped slaves from the southern states.
In the twentieth century, people fleeing from the disruption
of the two world wars came from all parts of Europe. More
recently, people from Asia, Africa, and Latin America have
been grateful to Canada for the opportunity to establish a
new life in safety and security. These refugees make ideal
citizens because they understand how fortunate all of us
are to live in a land of freedom that is open to all people
of good will.”

2. “Canada is admitting far too many immigrants without any
clear understanding of the negative effects. Some people may
argue that Canada is a large country that can accommodate
far more people than it presently holds, but they ignore the
fact that much of Canada has a polar climate and that most
immigrants settle in a few cities in the south. Cities such as
Toronto are sprawling out of control due to the concentration
of immigrants in established urban centres. Much of our

Lesson 5, page 24 Canadian and World Issues CGW4U-A

best agricultural land is being taken up by housing, and
cities cannot cope with all of the problems, such as providing
language instruction for the new immigrants. There are
many Canadians who are unemployed and we don’t need
additional people who will be looking for jobs. We need to be
thinking about Canadians first, and stop trying to save all
of the disadvantaged people who want to come to our shores.
We can’t save the whole world!”

3. “People who are opposed to immigration need to get their
facts straight! Immigrants don’t take jobs away from
Canadians. In fact, they help to spur the economy because
the services they require create additional jobs. Under our
points system, many immigrants who apply have a job
waiting for them that was unfilled by a Canadian because
there wasn’t anyone available with the necessary skills.
These immigrants make Canada more productive and able
to compete in an international market.”

4. “Canada should stop admitting so many refugees. It is
unfair that economic immigrants must wait in line and
pass a stringent set of criteria before they are admitted, but
refugees can be admitted merely by claiming they are being
persecuted. Many of these people do not have legitimate
cases and are just trying to jump ahead of the line by
making refugee claims. They cost Canadian taxpayers too
much money in proceedings at the Immigration and Refugee
Board. Only refugees officially designated by the United
Nations should be allowed to enter Canada.”

5. “As Canada’s baby boomers age and as our birth rate
continues to decline, the country is entering Phase 5 of
demographic transition. When this occurs, the tax burden
on the working population will increase as health care
costs and other social services for the elderly will increase
government spending. The only way to solve this problem
is to continue to encourage immigration to supplement
the working population. If anything, the current levels of
approximately 250 000 per year are insufficient to prevent
an eventual decline in Canada’s population. We should
probably increase immigration to approximately 300 000 per

Canadian and World Issues CGW4U-A Lesson 5, page 25

year. We could easily do this by increasing the number of
refugees we accept and decreasing the requirements under
the point system.”

6. “Canada should abolish the point system that places a
value on human beings. All immigrants should be valued
for the contributions they can make to the country. It is
offensive to say that a person who has a university degree is
‘more valuable’ than a person who only has an elementary
education. The level of education does not reveal a person’s
attitude or work ethic. To prove the point, many refugees
who would not qualify under the point system become
upstanding and successful citizens. Instead of a point
system, Canada should use a lottery and allow anyone
in whose number is drawn, as long as they do not have a
criminal record or serious health problem.”

Lesson 5, page 26 Canadian and World Issues CGW4U-A

Key Question

Save your answers to the Key Questions. When you have
completed the unit, submit them to ILC for marking.

(25 marks)

5. Examine the six opinions expressed about Canada’s
immigration policy. When you answer the following questions,
be sure to distinguish factual information from opinions.

a) Identify two facts that are mentioned that support Canada’s
current immigration policy. (2 × 2 marks = 4 marks)

b) Identify two facts that do not support Canada’s current
immigration policy. (2 × 2 marks = 4 marks)

c) Examine Figure 5.4. Which of the three categories of
immigrants is the largest? Suggest why Canada would
favour admission of this group. (4 marks)

d) Examine Figure 5.5. Which two criteria earn the largest
number of points? For each criterion, explain why this would
be considered important. (2 × 2 marks = 4 marks)

e) What is your opinion of Canada’s immigration policy? Write
one paragraph describing your views. Be sure to back up
your opinion with three facts. (9 marks)

Style

Paragraph

• begins with an opening sentence that clearly states your
opinion (1 mark)

• ends with a concluding sentence that restates your opinion
with a general reference to the evidence presented (1 mark)

• accurate spelling and grammar (1 mark)

Content

Opinion is backed up by three facts (3 × 2 marks = 6 marks)

Canadian and World Issues CGW4U-A Lesson 5, page 27

Useful Web Sites for Global Migration Research

Center for Migration Studies: www.cmsny.org/imr-publication.
htm

Global Commission on International Migration:
www.gcim.org/en/

Institute for the Study of International Migration:
www.georgetown.edu/sfs/programs/isim/

UNESCO: International Migration and Multicultural Policies:
portal.unesco.org/shs/en/ev.php-URL_ID=1211&URL_DO=DO_
TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html

International Labour Migration: www.ilo.org/public/english/
protection/migrant/

Revision Notes (Migration): www.revision-notes.co.uk/
revision/171.html

OECD: www.oecd.org/department/0,2688,en_2649_33931_1_1_1_
1_1,00.html

People’s Weekly World: www.pww.org/article/
articleview/6642/1/258/

World Bank: www.worldbank.org

OneWorld.net: www.oneworld.net/

This is the last lesson in Unit 1. When you are finished, do the
Reflection for Unit 1. Follow any other instructions you have
received from ILC about submitting your coursework, then
send it to ILC. A teacher will mark your work and you will
receive your results online.

Turn in your highest-quality paper
Get a qualified writer to help you with

“ aaa ”

Get high-quality paper

Guarantee! All work is written by expert writers!

Still stressed from student homework?

Get quality assistance from academic writers!

Order now