Lesson video

Hello, my name is Mrs. Grey.

And I'm so excited that you've decided to learn geography with me today.

Today's lesson is in the unit of "Population: Where do People Live?" And the title of the lesson is "The Future of the World's Population." By the end of the lesson, you will be able to describe different theories of population change, and understand that climate change will impact population change.

There are some key words that we'll come across in today's lesson.

They are population density, climate change, and migration.

Population density is the number of people living in a defined area.

For example, 300 people per square kilometre.

Climate change is a large-scale and long-term change in the planet's climate, including weather patterns and average temperatures.

And migration is moving from one place to another with the intention of staying there.

So today's lesson is split into two learning cycles.

The first, how will population change in the future? And the second, how will climate change influence population? So let's have a look at that first one, how will population change in the future? So let's have a look at this graph then.

This shows population from 1950 to 2100.

Now you might think, "We're nowhere near 2100.

So how can we possibly know what the population will be?" And we know because they are projections.

So they are what people think is gonna happen, based on lots and lots of data and information.

So world population is expected to increase until around 2090.

And then after 2090, it's actually predicted to start to decrease.

Have a look at this graph and see how it goes up and changes.

And when it gets through around 2090, it starts to go down again because it's predicted to decrease.

Now can you see how the world population is predicted to change? Can you look at the different times along the bottom, the different years, and can you see what the population is expected to be in those different years? So in 2020, the population was 7.

89 billion.

What was it in 2040? Or what is it expected to be in 2040? It's expected to be 9.

18 billion in 2040.

What about 2060? In 2060, it's expected to be 9.

99 billion.

So almost 10 billion in 2060.

In 2080 it's crossed over that 10 billion mark, and it's expected to be at 10.

28 billion.

And then in 2100 it dips again slightly, 'cause it's projected to start going down, and it's expected to be 10.

18 billion.

Very, very big population.

Okay, so let's do a check of what we've done so far then.

In what year is world population predicted to decrease? So to start going down again? Is it A, 2060? B, 2090? Or C, 2120? 2120.

What do you think the answer is? So pause the video, write down your answer, and then come back and let's see how you got on.

Okay, how did you get on? In what year is world population predicted to decrease? And the answer is 2090.

Well done! So although world population is predicted to increase until 2090, this increase will not be equal across the globe.

So it's not expected to increase equally everywhere.

It's gonna have different levels of increase, or decrease, in different places across the world.

So it's expected to increase overall, but not equally.

So it's expected to increase in Oceania, Africa, and North America.

You can see those highlighted on this graph there.

So Oceania, Africa, and North America are expected to have an increase in population.

Now it's actually world population, not world population, sorry, the local population, so, of continents is actually expected to decrease in Europe, Asia, and South America.

So world population's expected to increase overall, but in Europe, Asia, and South America, their populations are expected to decrease.

Can you see those highlighted on that graph there? How does this graph work? It looks quite different to any graphs that you've maybe seen before.

How does it actually work? So it shows population by world region.

So this blue section at the bottom, this shows the population of Europe.

The orange section shows the population of North America and that sits on top of the blue section.

So combined, they show the population of Europe and North America.

And then all the colours combined together, they show the total world population.

So they show the population of the whole world when they're all stacked up together.

But for the individual continent, you've got to look at that colour, and see what the population is of that particular colour.

Okay, so which region of the world is expected to have the biggest increase in population from 2020 to 2100? So we've got lots of information here.

We've got a table with information from 2020, all the different continents and the populations of those continents.

And then we've got some information of 2100, and what we predict the populations of those different continents are gonna be then.

So which one, have a look at those numbers.

Which one is expected to have the biggest increase? Can you see? Let's have a look then.

So Izzy says, "Africa." And she's right.

Well done.

Its population is expected to increase by 2.

43 billion.

Now did you notice that some of those numbers are in billions, and some of them are in millions? So it's really important when you're looking at data that you also look at the units that come after it, because there's a big difference between billion and million, isn't there? So it's important that you look at that.

Okay, so next question.

Which region of the world is predicted to have the biggest decrease in population from 2020 to 2100? So have a little look at that data again, make sure you're looking at million and billion, and which area of the world, which region, which of these continents is predicted to have the biggest decrease? What do we think? Izzy says it's Europe.

Well done, Izzy.

Its population is expected to decrease by 157.

3 million.

So Europe's expected to have a decrease.

Okay, so let's do another little check then.

True or false? Population is expected to increase in all regions of the world from 2020 to 2100.

Is that true or false? Pause the video, write down your answer, and then let's come back and see how you got on.

Right, how did you get on? True or false? Population is expected to increase in all regions of the world from 2020 to 2100.

That is false.

But why is it false? So although world population will increase until 2090, this increase is not equal across the globe.

For example, the population of North America is expected to increase, but the population of Europe is expected to decrease.

Did you get that right? Well done.

Well let's have a little look at these maps then.

These are showing population density.

And we can see population density in 2020 and projected, so what people think the population density will be like in 2100.

So population density is the amount of people in a particular area.

So the darker the red colour, the more people, the higher the population density, the more densely packed together people are.

And the lighter the colour, the less densely populated.

So they're more sparsely populated.

So can you see any differences? What's the differences between population density in 2020 and population density in 2100? Can you identify any areas that have seen an increase in population density, or a decrease in population density? What can you see? Have a good look at those maps.

Can you see any of the colours changing? Any of the colours getting darker? More into the darker red, and therefore showing an increase? Can you see any of the colours getting lighter, and therefore showing a decrease in population density? Let's have a look.

So population density in Africa increases.

So the colours of some of the countries in Africa turn darker, which shows an increase in population density.

So you can see all of those different countries in Africa.

And overall, it's a lot darker in 2100, so more densely populated, more people packed in those spaces than there was in 2020.

But population density in South America decreases.

So you can see those colours in South America.

Some of the colours have turned lighter.

Yeah, so they're getting more sparsely populated, which is showing a decrease in population density.

So we can see that there's been lots and lots of differences across the globe.

Some areas have seen an increase in population density, but some areas have seen a decrease in population density.

So another check then.

Which areas of the world are expected to see a decrease in population? Is it A, Oceania, Africa and North America? Is it B, Asia, South America and Europe? Is it C, Africa, Asia and Oceania? Or is it D, South America, North America and Europe? So pause the video, write down your answer, and then let's come back and see how you got on.

Okay, how did you get on? The answer is B, Asia, South America and Europe.

They're the regions of the world that are expected to see a decrease in population.

Well done.

So now we're onto our first task of the lesson.

So question one.

Use the data to answer the following questions.

So we've got some data here, which we've already seen in the lesson.

This is showing populations of different regions in 2020, and in 2100.

And you're gonna have to use this data to answer these questions.

So A, is the population of Asia expected to increase or decrease from 2020 to 2100? And by how much? And then B, is the population of Oceania expected to increase or decrease from 2020 to 2100? And by how much? So we're looking at Asia and Oceania, and you have to decide whether that looks like the population's gonna increase or decrease, and then calculate by how much.

Now remember to look at the units for those different regions, is it millions or billions? And make sure that you look at that, and you write that, the correct one in your answer.

And then let's have a look at question two.

So question two.

Use the graph to answer the following question.

So again, we've seen this graph.

This is showing how the population has changed from 1950, and what it's expected to happen when it gets to 2100.

So we've got three questions here using the graph to help you answer them.

So A, is the world population expected to increase or decrease from 2020 to 2080? B, when is the world population expected to reach 10 billion? And C, when is the world population expected to start to decrease? Okay, so a couple of questions for you to be getting on with there.

Pause the video, write down your answers, and then come back and let's see how you got on.

Okay, how did you get on? So we were looking at this data to answer those questions.

So is the population of Asia expected to increase or decrease? And by how much? And the answer is decrease by 0.

08 billion.

Did you get the billion right? Make sure you looked at the units.

Well done.

And then B, what about the population of Oceania? Was that expected to increase or decrease? And by how much? And the population of Oceania is expected to increase by 28.

87 million.

Well done.

So look at the next ones then.

So looking at this graph, is the world population expected to increase or decrease from 2020 to 2080? And the answer there is increase.

The line's going up.

So it's expected to increase.

When is the world population expected to reach 10 billion? And that's 2060.

Can you see where it says 10 billion? Have a look along and you can see the year there is 2060 and see when is the population, the world population expected to start to decrease? And the answer there is 2090.

How did you get on? Well done.

Okay, so we're gonna move on to the second cycle of our lesson now, which is how will climate change influence population? So climate change is a large-scale and long-term change of the planet's climate, including weather patterns and average temperatures.

So it's on a big scale, it's not just a small area, a big scale, and over a long period of time.

Climate change has many impacts, such as rising sea levels, drought, and increased tropical storms. Climate change can cause lots and lots of impacts.

Now Sam asks, "How does climate change influence population?" Really good question, Sam.

What's climate change got to do with population? Well the answer is that the impacts of climate change can result in people migrating, result in people moving from where they are, to somewhere else to live.

In some locations, populations are gonna decrease, because people are moving away.

And in some locations, populations will increase, because people will move there.

So if you think about those, all those different impacts of climate change, rising sea levels, drought, increased tropical storms, that is gonna cause people to move away, isn't it, to safer locations? So it will result in an increased population in some places and a decreased population in others.

So a quick check then.

True or false? Climate change can cause people to migrate and change populations.

Is that true or false? Have a think, pause the video, write down your answer, and then come back and let's see how you got on.

So what do we think? Climate change can cause people to migrate and change populations.

Is that true or false? That is true.

Well done.

Why is it true? So climate change can cause people to move to new places.

This can lead to populations getting smaller in some areas, as people leave and growing larger in other areas where people move to.

Well done.

So Kiribati is a small island nation in the Pacific Ocean.

You can see on the map there.

Kiribati faces significant challenges due to rising sea levels caused by climate change.

So climate change is rising sea levels, and that is really, really influencing Kiribati.

It's leading to increased flooding, and the fresh water that they have on their island is becoming salty.

So those fresh water resources are becoming salty, and you can't use it as it's salty.

So it's causing lots and lots of problems. Now many residents are relocating to countries like Australia and New Zealand in search of greater safety and stability.

Now this migration is leading to a decrease in Kiribati's population, and it's contributing to population growth in the receiving countries, Australia and New Zealand.

So Australia and New Zealand are big countries that are close by to Kirabati.

And because Kirabati's experiencing rising sea levels and causing lots of issues with their fresh water, people are moving, understandably, to somewhere safer.

But because of that, the population of Kiribati is decreasing, and populations of the countries that they're moving to, Australia and New Zealand, they're increasing, 'cause they've got more people there.

So, another little check then.

Where are the people of Kiribati migrating to? Where are they moving to? Is it A, Australia? B, the USA? C, New Zealand? Or D, the UK? So have a think, pause the video, write down your answer, and then come back and let's see how you got on.

Okay, how did you get on? Where are the people of Kiribati migrating to? And there's two answers here.

Australia and New Zealand.

Well done.

Okay, now we're gonna move on to looking at drought.

We've looked at rising sea levels, now we're gonna look at drought.

So drought means there isn't enough rain.

So crops can't grow, animals don't have water, and people can't get enough food or water.

Climate change is causing more drought across the globe, which can force families to move to other places to survive.

If people are living in places where there's not enough rain and they can't grow any food, animals don't have water, they're gonna have to move somewhere else so that they're able to survive.

So that climate change causing drought, which is then resulting in people needing to move.

Now in Africa's Sahel region, droughts made farming very difficult, and you can see where the Sahel region is there on the map.

People migrated away as they needed to find food and work elsewhere, because they had drought in those regions, they weren't able to farm, so people had to move somewhere else, so that they could have food to survive, and work to make money.

Let's have a little look at tropical storms now then.

So tropical storms can destroy homes, schools, and farms, leaving people with nowhere to live, and no way to earn money.

This forces them to migrate to safer places.

Now, understandably again, if people are living in those regions where they're suffering with tropical storms and destroying their lives, they're going to have to move somewhere else to be safe.

You can have a look at this map here, and it shows the distribution of tropical storms across the globe.

So we can see where tropical storms tend to happen, but climate change is increasing frequency, distribution, and intensity of tropical storms. So increasing frequency means that there's more of them happening.

Increasing distribution means that they're happening in more places.

And increasing intensity means that they are stronger.

So the tropical storms, they're getting worse because of climate change, in lots and lots of different regions.

There's more of them, they're in more places, and they're stronger.

That's gonna have a huge impact on people, and cause people to need to move.

In the Philippines, many people had to leave their homes after Typhoon Haiyan in 2013.

It caused massive damage and flooding.

And you see where the Philippines is located there on that map.

So they had a huge typhoon, causing huge, huge damage and flooding, and they had to leave because their homes and livelihoods were damaged.

Okay, another check then.

Why do people migrate due to drought? Is it A, crops can't grow? Is it B, the temperature is too hot? Or is it C, there isn't enough water? What do you think? Pause the video, write down your answer, and then come back and let's see how you got on.

Okay, how did you get on? Why do people migrate due to drought? And the answers are A, crops can't grow.

And C, there isn't enough water.

Well done.

Okay, so we're onto our final task of the lesson now.

And your task is this.

Explain using examples how climate change can influence population due to one, rising sea levels, two, drought, and three, tropical storms. So use examples, explain how climate change can influence those three things.

All right, so have a good think about it, pause the video, write down your answers and then come back, and let's see how you got on.

Okay, how did you get on? So were you were to explain using examples how climate change can influence populations? Let's have a look at rising sea levels.

In countries like Kiribati, the land is flooding, and fresh water is becoming salty, making it hard for people to live there.

Many people are moving to safer countries like Australia and New Zealand, where populations are increasing.

So have a look at drought.

Droughts mean there isn't enough water for crops, animals or people.

In Africa's Sahel region, farming has become impossible.

So families have had to move to places where they can find food and work.

And tropical storms. Storms like Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines destroyed homes and farms, leaving people with no choice but to move to safer areas.

How much of that did you get? Well done.

Okay, so what have we learned in today's lesson about the future of the world's population? We've learned that there are different theories about how population will change in the future.

The population of some places around the world is likely to significantly increase.

The population of some places around the world is likely to decrease.

And climate change will have an impact on the movement of people around the world.

Thank you for joining me for today's geography lesson.

I've really enjoyed it, and I hope you have too.

I'll see you next time.