Last minute revision of case studies relating to the DTM

Some quick notes on population case studies related to development and the demographic transition model.....
KERALA :- Kerala is a really good case study to know about as it provides an anomally the general pattern between population and development indicators in LEDC's/MEDC's and it also demonstrates the spatial differences within countries themselves.

• Kerala is India's longest lived, healthiest, most gender-equitable and most literate region with one of the best education systems. The state's basic human development indices are roughly equivalent to those in the developed world and the state is substantially more environmentally sustainable than many of the countries in Europe and North America. A survey conducted in 2005 also concluded that Kerala was the least corrupt state in India. Although Kerala is a poor state with a GDP of around $11000, it has very good demographic indicators........
• Population = 31.8 million
• Life expectancy = 73.3 years
• IMR = 20/1000
• Literacy rate = 96.6%
• CBR = 14/1000
• CDR = 6.4/1000
• TFR = 1.7
• WHY? 90% of the people own the land they live on, and each family can only have a maximum of 8 hectares. In 1957 a communist government was elected to power and fair price shops and ration cards were introduced to ensure that everyone could afford to eat. This government has a strong commitment to female education and a participatory democracy in which; every 10 years, 10% of the population are invited to meeting to express their views and help make decisions on how to take Kerala forward.

UK's transition through the DTM

STAGE 1 - Pre 1760

• Little medical care
• No effective contraception
• Subsistence farming

STAGE 2 - 1760 to 1880

• 1848 = Public Health Act ---> clean water and sewers mean less deaths to typhoid and cholera
• 1868 = Government condemn the construction of buildings that are unfit to live in
• 1876 = Compulsory Education Act
• 1880 = Food begins to be imported

STAGE 3 - 1880 to 1940

• 1891 = Children under the age of 11 not permitted to work due to compulsory education
• 1906 = Free school meals introduced
• 1907 = Midwife training begins
• 1911 = National Insurance set up
• 1921 = TB vaccine offered and the first Marie Stopes clinics set up tp offer family planning and free contraception
• 1929 = Pencillin, the first antibiotic, is discovered

STAGE 4 - 1940 to 2000

• 1946 = Welfare State created
• 1948 = NHS set up to provide free health care to all
• 1950's = The consumer society begins to take dominance in British society
• 1961 = The contraceptive pill is introduced
• 1967 = Abortion legalised
• 1980's = Women get equal career oppurtunities

The DTM is based on the UK. As outlined above, development in the UK took from 1760 to the present day as we had to wait for the invention of vaccinations, improvements in science and technolgy and the realisation that education was key before we could start to complete the transitions of the DTM. Nowadays the only thing that prevents other countries from developing is a lack of money and the presence of ongoing conflict and so many countries complete the transitions of the DTM a lot quicker than we did .............

Sri Lanka

• End of stage 1 :- 1921
• End of stage 2 :- 1953

Stage 2 was 32 years long

• Sri Lanka is still in stage 3 now. About 40% of the decrease in CDR was down to controlling malaria with DDT and the foreign aid which was used to improve the health care.
• Countries, like Sri Lanka, often complete the transitions of the DTM quickly as they don't have to wait for new inventions, like we did, they just need to be able to afford to access them and so once they can, the effects are rapid.