POPULATION GROWTH
Population can be defined as the number of inhabitants in a particular area. It deals with people and their dwellings and also with the environment that this people live in. Population can be defined through various perspectives ranging from age, ethnicity, birthplace, location and many more. Population can also be defined in different categories and they include population size, population structure and population distribution. Population distribution is the widespread of people with certain similar characteristics within a particular area. Population size refers to the total number of people inhabiting a particular area. As for the population structure it refers to the number of people with similar characteristics within a population.1
Population growth is the change of the number of people living in a particular area over a certain period of time. The population growth rate can be either positive or negative meaning it can either be an increase in population or a decrease in population. Simply put, population growth rate is the birth rate minus the death rate of a country or a particular area. There are two percentages that are linked to the population growth of a country and they include the natural growth and the overall growth. The natural growth accounts for the number of births and the number of deaths that are experienced in a particular country or region. The overall growth however, accounts for the migration of a particular country, that is, it caters for the number of people migrating to and from the country or region.2
1.Population Statistic Unit. Statistics New Zealand Statistics House. ( November 2009).
2.Matt Rosenberg. Population Growth Rates and Doubling Time. Population Growth Rates. (March 2011).
According to the neoclassical perspective of population growth, population growth rate is defined as the birth rate less the death rate and is independent of the GDP. This means that this perspective does not take into account...