TOPIC 12 POPULATION SIZE AND DISTRIBUTION

TOPIC 12 POPULATION SIZE AND DISTRIBUTION

Importance of a population Census

Population growth

Population distribution

Effects of HIV / AIDS on population

Problems of a high population

Solutions to a high population growth

End of topic exercise

Glossary 

Population

This topic has several terms that you need to understand. These terms are commonly used, therefore you will learn the meaning of each one of them.

Population 
The number of people who live in a given area. The number of people in a home, class, village or town is a population. 

Census 

This is the official counting of people in the country. This is the process of determining the number of people in an area at the time of head count. 

Population decrease 

This is when the number of people in a given area goes down or reduces. 

Birth rate 

This refers to the number of new babies born in a given area or country per year. 

Death rate 

This refers to the number of people who die in a given area or country. The number of people dying per year per 1000 of the population. 

Fertility rate 

This is the ability of each woman to produce children in a specific period of time. 

Population distribution 

This refers to how the numbers of people are spread out across the country either more in one place and fewer in another

Population density 

The number of people living in an area per square kilometre or square unit area. 

Census night 

This is the night before the census is carried out in a given area or country. 

Teenagers 

These are youths between the age brackets 13 - 19 years of age. 

Importance of a population census 

The government needs to find out how many people live in all parts of the country. This can be done by carrying out a census.

Population census is conducted once every after ten years in Uganda. Census is carried out from house to house so as to get the accurate figures of people living in an area or a country. Census was organised in the following years 1921, 1931, 1948, 1959, 1969, 1980, 1991 and 2002.

During census, people are asked to provide certain information such as the number of people in a home, age, sex, level of . education, type of work they do so as to earn a living, the type of houses in the homestead, marital status and their ethnic background.

The population of Uganda has been growing gradually every year, for example, the total population of Uganda in 2007 was 28.4 million people. In 2013, the population was estimated to be 36 million.

Population census is important in the following ways. 

Helps the government to know the total number of people who live in the country. 

Allows easy planning for the population when providing services. Government can plan building schools and health facilities that match with the number of people.

Helps the government to plan how to get revenue that can be used to provide social services to the population.

Census provides information that help to determine the standard of living of the people.

Government is able to know the number of males and females.

 Activity

1. Carry out a simple census in your family. Gather information about the following: 

Names of family members, sex, education, age, occupation and relationship with the head of the family. Compare your information with your friends in your class. 

2. In small groups, discuss the problems faced when carrying out population census. 

3. Discuss in pairs, the kind of information government collects during census.