Week 14 / Demography / Bae Sae A

1. Summary

Demography is the study of changes in population, scale, distribution and composition, birth, death, migration, and social mobility. The term was first used by Guillard in 1855 and is distinguished from the more general area of population theory by its history and characteristic methods. Demography can explain many sociological phenomena. An example here is the World War. They say the cause of World War I can be explained by population.

The most important indicators of demographics are birth and death rates. There are several variables to increase and decrease the birth rate. The higher a woman's educational attainment, the lower the birth rate. The birth rate is also related to the level of development in a country. In developing countries children are economic assets, but children are not assets because there are few farmers. That is, the birth rate decreases because it is expensive to raise. Death rates are closely related to life expectancy. Life expectancy depends on wealth, race, and job satisfaction.

It also explains the concept of population growth and overpopulation. Overpopulation affects child poverty, lack of resources, spread of infectious diseases, and lack of arable land. The best solution is to promote women's rights in education, the economy, and the family.

2. What was interesting?

I noted that the cause of the war was population. I have previously only considered the cause of the war as political differences between the state and the country, status in the world, and wealth. It was interesting to say that the degree of competition for resources depends on the population. How will the decision of our lives affect the birth rate? Recently, marriages, births, and child-rearing tend to be dominated by individual choice. The influence of personal decision-making has increased. It is a trend not to give birth voluntarily according to the cost of childcare, time and career cut-off of women.

3. Discussion Point

This year, South Korea's birthrate is less than one. It is said to be the only zero point country on earth. There are many factors that affect the nation's birth rate. They include the burden of childcare expenses, the discontinuation of women's careers, double income and so on. What other factors are there?