(a) Define the following terms: (i) death rate: (ii) population explosion (b) Explain the factors that influence death rate in Tropical Africa. (c) Outline ...

(a) Definitions

• (i) Death rate: the number of deaths per 1,000 people in a population in one year. It is also called the crude death rate or mortality rate.
• (ii) Population explosion: a very rapid and sudden increase in the population of an area over a short period, caused mainly by a high birth rate combined with a sharply falling death rate.

(b) Factors that influence death rate in Tropical Africa

• Medical/health facilities: where hospitals, drugs, immunisation and trained personnel are adequate the death rate falls; where they are scarce it rises.
• Food supply and nutrition: adequate, balanced food lowers deaths, while famine and malnutrition raise them.
• Disease: the prevalence of malaria, cholera, HIV/AIDS and other tropical diseases raises mortality.
• Sanitation and clean water: good sanitation and safe water reduce deaths, poor sanitation increases them.
• War, natural disasters and civil unrest, and the general standard of living/poverty, also affect death rates.

(c) Three effects of a growing population in Tropical Africa

• Pressure on land and food: more mouths to feed lead to food shortage, land fragmentation and over-cultivation.
• Strain on social services and infrastructure: schools, hospitals, housing, water and roads become overstretched.
• Unemployment and overcrowding: too many job-seekers cause high unemployment, rural-urban migration, slums and environmental degradation.