Factors affecting population change

 What are the factors that affect population

Population is changed due to many reasons. Population change means population growth in most of the situations. It is because, human population is growing globally except some rare anomalies. 

Basic factors affecting population change are birth, death, migration and marriage. 

a) Birth 

Birth is the process of being born from mother to initiate own life on the earth. It is the main factor of population change. Birth increases the population of family, village and the country. Birth is affected by the fecundity power of mother and father. It is a natural phenomenon. Birth is affected by various factors that can be categorized as social, economic and environmental factors. Social factors are primarily related to social status, customs, traditions, family structure etc. The economic factors are related to poverty, status of employment and occupational status of people. Environmental factors affecting birth include the climatic conditions, geographical status and its impact on human fecundity. 

factors affecting birth 

1. Social Factors: Illiteracy, Early marriage, Polygamy, preference to son, family structure, universal trait of marriage, high infant mortality rate, status of female. 
2. Economic factors: Economic status, Poverty, Occupation, Unemployment 
3. Environmental factors: Climate, Pollution 

b) Death 

Death is defined as the permanent disappearance from all the processes of life. For all living beings, death is a definite natural phenomenon. Sooner or later death occurs compulsorily for every individual. When there is death, population decreases. So, it is one of the major factors of population change in the country. 

Factors affecting death 

Death is affected by various factors like social, economic and environmental factors. The social factors included illiteracy, lack of health facilities and prevalence of diseases. The economic factors include poverty and lack of nutritional food. Similarly, the environmental factors like climatic conditions and natural calamities also affect the total number of deaths. Unhealthy and bad climatic condition is the cause of several types of chronic or fatal diseases. Diseases decrease average life expectancy of people that causes decrease in population. If there is good and healthy environment, the prevalence of diseases and death rate also decreases. 

c) Migration 

Migration is the movement of people from one place to another. This is an important factor of population change. Migration is the unnatural and human guided phenomenon of population change. There are two types of migration: in-migration and out-migration. Migration may be categorized as national migration (within one country) and international migration (between two country) on the basis of origin and destination of migrants. Migration is mainly influenced by pull and push factors. Thus, due to migration of people population size is also determined. People are more likely to migrate those where there are more facilities and infrastructure and as a result, the population along with the population density of those places becomes higher in comparison to those rural and backward places.

Factors affecting migration 

1. Social Factors: Marriage, Availability of services and facilities, education, health, transportation, communication, social evils and crimes, etc. 
2. Economic factors: Employment, Fertile land 
3. Environmental factors: Climate, Natural Calamities etc. 

In the migration process, people who go out to another place are called emigrants (or out-migrants) and people who come to live are called immigrants (or in-migrants). Most of the time, people come to live in search of pleasurable life, income opportunities, and other needs of life. People want to migrate to those places where the facilities for health and education are easily available. 

d) Migration 

Migration is a social and biological bond between a male and a female. It is an essential process required to establish a new family and continue the dynasty by passing down of generations. The reproduction and production of babies is socially and legally accepted only if the parents are married couple. Therefore, marriage is very important demographic determinant. There are many factors affecting marriage. They are the social norms, traditions, psychological states of people, legal provisions, family structures, etc. 

In developing countries like Nepal, Bangladesh, there are many superstitious beliefs and blind faiths. People think that their quest to heaven after their corporal death is assured only if they have grandchildren. Due to such faith people keep priority on early marriage. Social norms and values also determine the decisions of marriage in different situations. Besides, legal provisions of countries also determine the marital behavior of people. IN many countries, the appropriate age for marriage is 20 years from legal point of view but there is also a provision of marriage even in 18, 19 years with the consent of parents which also puts impact of it. IN Bangladesh, it is 18 years and 24 years for girls and boys , in India 18 years for girls and 21 years for boys, in Sri Lanka and Bhutan, the legal age at marriage is 18 years for both girls and boys.