Victor Martin

Third Block
Friday, February 20, 2015
AP Human Geography

Demographic Data Collection and Analysis

Reflection Paper

Based on the information I have researched, the countries I have picked are
different from one another in so many ways. The Philippines is growing at an
exponential rate. It is the only country in my list that is over 100 million, and it is
still growing. The Philippines looks like a develoing country, because of its low
gross national income, using purchasing power parity rates. However, it is nothing
compared to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which has one of lowest life
expectancy and GNI, PPP. In addition, its population is growing excessively. These
two countries are growing fast, but its because of their high birth rates. This could
be due to the lack of contraception, safe sex, and the people that live there probably
dont go to school. In the Congo, women are viewed as creatures and items that are

worth very little, and usually get raped often. For the case of the Philippines,
however, there are many factors that lead to it.
The population of the Philippines has been considered as one of the most
indisputable alarming obstacles that stand on the path of developing countries. The
country has great numbers in human resources than in rich countries, but the high
employment and production is very low. The Philippines has a population of 101
million people, but an area of 115,831 square miles, which is slightly larger than
the state of Arizona. The density is really nothing compared to the 57 people per
square mile in Arizona, as it is 872 per square mile. Its like the huge city where
people live on top of one another. This rapid population really because of their
cultural and religious reasons. Most of the people there are Catholic, and this
means they should not use birth control, and have as many offspring as possible.
But the proble is this: these offspring will need milk, vitamins, and special care.
Providing this for them creates a large number of problems after that problem: the
demand for almost all of the nations resources. When this happens, the
government needs to build more schools for education, get food, provide jobs,
clothing, and shelter for them to live. However, the government will most likely
not do that, which leads to seeing children in shacks, getting crumbs of food and
wearing dirty clothes. There has to be an ultimate solution for both the Philipines
and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where one cares more about their

religious values, and the other relies on treating women like trash and doing a
number of inappropriate things to them. If only they can see it in their own eyes.
Germany, is a well developed country. There GNI is ranked 16, but there is
one basic problem. The population is decreasing. This is due to Germanys stage of
growth. Its growth is at stage 4, which is zero to little growth. From the
information that I researched, Germanys rate of natural increase is in the low
negatives, meaning that there are more deaths than births in the country. In
Germany, not just men, but women are important figures, especially in the
government. Women there have lost the importance to raise children and are
focused more on prosperity. Another big thing is that the countrys labor laws is
reducing their wages while increasing baby expenses. This leads to the citizens of
Germany not caring a lot about raising kids, but more into their work professions.
The United Kingdom and France are very similar. Both having relevant
natural increases give them fair amounts of increases in their population. However,
France is growing more than the United Kingdom. This is because of how France
is more at a stage 3, where the country is experiencing some moderate growth,
whereas the UK is between stage 3 and stage 4. The birth rates and death rates
balance out the population, bringing out a small, but increasing, population change.
France is pretty moderate, as well, but has a larger population than the UK.

Canada and Australia are both getting moderate, increasing growths,

meaning that they are at stage 3s. The two countries have huge land areas, which
leads to more natural resources than their people. The two are very developed as
well, with large GNI and well developed economies. The two have high, moderate
growths, with Australia having more growth than Canada. The sparsely populated
countries have no worries with problems, and are very wealthy, because of their
low populations.The United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, are developed
countries, but with large amounts of population growth due to the discovery of oil
and other valuables that resulted in them becoming extremely wealthy. The death
rates for both have been decreasing, with the rate of natural increase rising,
because of their birth rates. Their populations are increasing, and their GNI is very
high as well. These four countries exemplify good amounts of moderate growth,
and because of their small populations, this leads to more wealth from resources
where they dont used it all up.
The remaining three, Malaysia, Colombia, and Iran all resemble developing
countries, because of their high population growth, low GNI, and high birth rates
compared to the death rates. I believe that Malaysia is at a moderate growth, stage
3, because its growth is somewhat similar to Australia, but the natural increase rate
is higher and the GNI is much smaller. Plus, the Malaysia is much smaller in area
than Australia, 23 times smaller. But it has not shown significant growth like Iran

or Columbia. The other two are definitely in a stage 2, which shows rapid growth.
The Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Philippines share this type of
growth, because of their signs of fast growth in the past 65 years. However, these
countries are not improving in terms of GNI, with the Congo having one of the
smallest GNI per capita and lowest life expectancy. The other countries, except for
the Philippines and the Congo, have life expectancies above world average, which
is 67.88 years. This could mean that these countries are going under an industrial
and medical revolution due to the peoples health improving.
The countries with a lot of immigration are Australia, Canada, United
Kingdom, and France. Germany has gone through some immigration, but the
population is still not increasing. Australia and Canada have a significant
population of non indigenous people, and the natives have a much smaller
population. The other countries really dont have a lot of immigration, but certainly
emigration, which is going from that specific country. People from the Philippines,
Africa, and some parts of the Middle East come to developed countries for better
education, healthcare, and for a better lifestyle as well. However, the population of
these countries are still increasing, for many different beliefs in culture and
religion. There were many aspects that definitely surprised me when researching
these countries. The most surprising one was the Philippines, because I really
didn't expect a beautiful country like this one to get put down because of its rapid

growth. The archipelagos resources certainly wont be able to take the population
in the future, with the peoples Catholic aspects and lack of education and things. I
have had family members visit the Philippines, with the Chocolate Hills being their
most exciting site, but in a couple of years, there could be some development near
this rare geological site, because of the population there.

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