Deck 22: Population, Urbanization, and Environment

Question 1

In global perspective, the crude birth rate of high-income nations such as Canada is

A) much higher than average.
B) slightly higher than average.
C) about equal to the average.
D) below average.

Answer 1

D

Question 2

Demography is defined as the study of

A) democratic political systems.
B) human population.
C) changes in human culture.
D) the natural environment.

Answer 2

B

Question 3

If you were studying countries with very low infant mortality, in which of the following global regions would you be most likely to look?

A) Latin America
B) Africa
C) Europe
D) Asia

Answer 3

C

Question 4

Canada is a high-income country; therefore, its population growth is likely to result from which of the following?

A) both immigration and natural increase
B) natural increase only
C) immigration only
D) emigration only

Question 5

Which of the following four statements about migration is NOT true?

A) Migration can be voluntary or involuntary.
B) Movement into a territory is called immigration.
C) Movement out of a territory is called emigration.
D) Migration has little or no effect on population size.

Question 6

Why are sex ratios usually below 100?

A) Many societies abort male fetuses.
B) More females than males are born.
C) Women typically outlive men.
D) Men typically outlive women.

Question 7

Through most of human history, families had many children because

A) children were a source of needed labour.
B) they were able to determine that most of their children would be male.
C) food was more plentiful, so nations could support a larger population.
D) parents sought the large dowries that marrying off their daughters would produce.

Question 8

In 2012, the world was home to about how many people?

A) 7 billion
B) 6 billion
C) 900 million
D) 160 million

Question 9

If a nation has a sex ratio of 106, as India does, it is very likely that parents there

A) value sons more than daughters.
B) value daughters more than sons.
C) value children of both sexes equally.
D) place little value on children.

Question 10

Which of the following regions of Canada has the highest birth rate?

A) the North
B) the Prairies
C) the Maritimes
D) Ontario and Quebec

Question 11

Which of the following concepts refers to the number of live births in a given year for every thousand people in a population?

A) fertility
B) refined birth rate
C) crude birth rate
D) fecundity

Question 12

Which of the following concepts refers to the maximum possible child-bearing for women?

A) the crude birth rate
B) fertility
C) fecundity
D) the refined birth rate

Question 13

Assume a country has a population of 400 million people and in a given year has 4 million births. What is this country's current crude birth rate?

A) 0.1
B) 1
C) 10
D) 4 million

Question 14

The crude birth rate of North America is roughly _____ of Africa's.

A) 1/2
B) 1/3
C) 1/4
D) 5/6

Question 15

The demographic measure called the "sex ratio" refers to

A) how easily couples conceive children.
B) the number of males for every 100 females in the population.
C) the number of females for every 100 males in the population.
D) the ratio of children to adults in a population.

Question 16

Fertility refers to

A) life expectancy for a nation's population.
B) norms that encourage people to have children.
C) the maximum number of children a woman can have.
D) the incidence of child-bearing in a nation's population.

Question 17

Looking at countries around the world, what is the relationship between average income level and rate of population increase?

A) The lower the average income, the greater the population increase.
B) All nations are increasing at about the same rate.
C) The higher the average income, the greater the population increase.
D) Poor nations are holding steady; rich nations are decreasing.

Question 18

Currently, about how many people are added to the world's population each year?

A) 740 000
B) 7.4 million
C) over 80 million
D) over 840 million

Question 19

When in history did global population begin to spike upward?

A) 1500
B) 1750
C) 1900
D) 1975

Question 20

If you were to examine an age-sex pyramid for a low-income nation, you would expect to see which of the following patterns?

A) a wide base, indicating a high birth rate
B) a square shape, indicating a low birth rate
C) a bulge in the middle, indicating a "baby boom"
D) a wide apex, indicating long lifespans

Question 21

Which of the following statements correctly describes societies at the post-industrial level of economic development?

A) birth rates are low
B) death rates are high
C) birth rates are high
D) both birth and death rates remain nominal

Question 22

When did the world's population reach 1 billion?

A) 1600
B) 1700
C) 1800
D) 1900

Question 23

Currently, about how much of the global population increase is taking place in low-income nations?

A) 33 percent
B) 50 percent
C) 75 percent
D) 98 percent

Question 24

Most historians agree that the first city was

A) Ur.
B) Uruk.
C) Jericho.
D) London.

Question 25

How did the world's population change during the twentieth century?

A) it decreased by a quarter
B) it doubled
C) it tripled
D) it quadrupled

Question 26

In poor nations of the world today, what is the average number of children born to a woman?

A) ten
B) eight
C) six
D) three

Question 27

The concept "zero population growth" refers to the level of reproduction that

A) produces a perfect age-sex pyramid.
B) keeps the sex ratio steady at 100.
C) maintains population at a steady state.
D) will take the population steadily downward to zero.

Question 28

Canada has ____ CMAs.

A) 775
B) 400
C) 100
D) 33

Question 29

The basic idea behind demographic transition theory is

A) population patterns reflect a society's level of technological development.
B) population increase will outstrip the planet's ability to support us.
C) population increase is now mostly in high-income nations.
D) technological development is happening at a slower rate than previous decades.

Question 30

In low-income countries, increasing opportunities available to women is likely to

A) stagnate the economy.
B) lower the birth rate.
C) result in less schooling for men.
D) increase the birth rate.

Question 31

In Canada, the birth rate is currently

A) at the replacement level.
B) below the replacement level.
C) slightly above the replacement level.
D) well above the replacement level.

Question 32

Malthus argued that

A) population would decrease in geometric progression.
B) food and other resources would increase in arithmetic progression.
C) people would reproduce to a sustainable point, then plateau.
D) food and other resources would increase in a geometric progression.

Question 33

In 1975, in which city would we have found the world's tallest free-standing structure on land?

A) New York City
B) Chicago
C) Toronto
D) Montreal

Question 34

In what year was half the Canadian population living in urban places for the first time?

A) 1880
B) 1920
C) 1931
D) 1985

Question 35

Which of the following nations would you expect to be most concerned about declining population?

A) a landlocked country such as Chad
B) a large country such as Brazil
C) a high-income country such as Japan
D) a low-income country such as Bangladesh

Question 36

Thomas Robert Malthus claimed that

A) the world could sustain an ever-larger population.
B) population increase would eventually bring chaos to the world.
C) industrialization would reduce the birth rate.
D) population decrease threatened the world in the future.

Question 37

About how long ago in history did the first cities emerge?

A) 12 000 years ago
B) 4000 years ago
C) 2000 years ago
D) 1000 years ago

Question 38

With the Industrial Revolution, how did the physical design of cities change?

A) Cities took on a new focus on religion.
B) Straight boulevards gave way to winding streets.
C) Urban populations became much smaller.
D) Cities took on a new focus on business.

Question 39

In medieval cities of Europe, what was found at the city's centre?

A) a central business district
B) the ghetto
C) government buildings
D) the cathedral

Question 40

In the pre-industrial stage of economic development, population

A) increases very slowly, with a high birth rate offset by a high death rate.
B) increases rapidly due mostly to natural increase.
C) increases rapidly due entirely to immigration.
D) decreases very rapidly.

Question 41

Which of the following statements expresses the "limits to growth" thesis?

A) We are rapidly consuming the Earth's finite resources.
B) Whatever problems technology creates, technology can solve.
C) Quality of life on the Earth is now improving.
D) Growth makes sense because it raises living standards.

Question 42

Which of the following concepts was used by Ferdinand Tönnies to refer to a type of social organization in which people come together only on the basis of individual self-interest?

A) Gemeinschaft
B) Gesellschaft
C) mechanical solidarity
D) organic solidarity

Question 43

A third urban revolution is now taking place in

A) the United States.
B) high-income nations.
C) middle-income nations.
D) low-income nations.

Question 44

Which of the following accounts for most water use in the world today?

A) industry
B) agriculture
C) households
D) water parks, golf courses, and other recreational settings

Question 45

Which of the following concepts refers to the optimistic approach to environmental issues that claims science can promote progress and solve environmental problems?

A) the sustainability thesis
B) the Malthusian thesis
C) the limits to growth
D) the logic of growth

Question 46

Mounting evidence suggests that the average temperature of the planet is

A) now steady.
B) rising.
C) falling.
D) lower than it has ever been.

Question 47

The concept "megalopolis" refers to which of the following?

A) a vast urban region containing many cities and suburbs
B) the largest city in any country
C) a dense, central city
D) the "rural rebound"

Question 48

What percentage of the earth's water is in the oceans?

A) 10
B) 37
C) 60
D) 97

Question 49

Which of the following statements expresses the "logic of growth"?

A) Material affluence is dangerous to humanity.
B) Technology and human ingenuity will continue to improve our lives.
C) Quality of life on the Earth is declining.
D) Growth makes no sense because we cannot sustain it indefinitely.

Question 50

Which of the following is evidence of the shortage of fresh water now found around the world?

A) China's supply of ground water is increasing, while everywhere else it's declining rapidly.
B) Water supply in the Middle East is at a sustainable level, while everywhere else it's declining rapidly.
C) Mexico City has pumped so much water from the ground that the city continues to sink about two inches per year.
D) The use of bottled water is required in most first-world countries.

Question 51

Which of the following concepts, used by Emile Durkheim, means about the same thing as Tönnies's concept, Gesellschaft?

A) mechanical solidarity
B) organic solidarity
C) Gemeinschaft
D) anomie

Question 52

Why is the gradual loss of the world's rainforests an important environmental concern?

A) Rainforests are vital to maintaining the planet's biodiversity and climate.
B) Rainforests are necessary grazing lands.
C) Rainforests are a vital source of hardwoods and other raw materials.
D) Rainforests are a source of carbon monoxide.

Question 53

As a rich nation that values consumption and convenience, we can be described as

A) a "Malthusian society."
B) a "recycling society."
C) a "disposable society."
D) a "Marxist society."

Question 54

The study of the link between the physical and social dimensions of cities is referred to as

A) urbanism.
B) urban ecology.
C) mechanical solidarity.
D) urbanization.

Question 55

Environmentalists argue that we should address the problem of solid waste by

A) using less.
B) burning it.
C) burying it.
D) chemically breaking it down.

Question 56

According to Emile Durkheim, while traditional, rural societies are held together by _____, modern urban societies are held together by _____.

A) likeness; difference
B) difference; likeness
C) money; morals
D) choice; conformity

Question 57

The concept "environmental deficit" refers to

A) long-term harm to the environment caused by a short-sighted focus on material affluence.
B) the fact that too few people are engaged in the study of the natural environment.
C) the fact that natural scientists ignore the social dimensions of environmental problems.
D) efforts to protect the environment to benefit future generations.

Question 58

Less than 1 percent of the earth's water is suitable for

A) irrigation.
B) manufacturing use.
C) swimming.
D) drinking.

Question 59

Which Canadian prime minister was declared the "greenest prime minister" in history?

A) Pierre Elliott Trudeau
B) Jean Chretien
C) Stephen Harper
D) Brian Mulroney

Question 60

Which of the following concepts refers to the study of the interaction of living organisms and the natural environment?

A) sociobiology
B) ecology
C) demography
D) urban studies

Question 61

People's movement out of a territory is called immigration.

Question 62

An annual growth rate of about 2 percent will cause a society's population to double in about 35 years.

Question 63

Fecundity is a simple and useful way to measure population increase.

Question 64

The average life expectancy for Canadian females born today is about sixty years.

Question 65

The infant mortality rate for Aboriginal people in Canada is higher than the Canadian national average.

Question 66

The environmental racism thesis falls within which theoretical approach?

A) the structural-functional approach
B) the sociobiology approach
C) the symbolic-interaction approach
D) the social-conflict approach

Question 67

To calculate a crude birth rate, divide the number of live births in a year into the total population and multiply the result by 1000.

Question 68

The planet's population first reached 1 billion about the year 1500.

Question 69

Which of the following is NOT one of the three strategies on which sustainable living depends?

A) bring population growth under control
B) reduce waste
C) conserve finite resources
D) reduce urbanization

Question 70

An age-sex pyramid is useful, in part, because it helps predict the demographic future of a society.

Question 71

Sex ratios are usually greater than 100 because men typically outlive women.

Question 72

In many low-income nations, parents value sons more than daughters, which explains why the age-sex ratio in these nations may be higher than 100.

Question 73

The crude death rate is a good measure of a society's population decline.

Question 74

The forced transport of 10 million slaves from Africa to the western hemisphere is an example of involuntary migration.

Question 75

The crude death rate for Canada is very high by world standards.

Question 76

The crude birth rate in North America is lower than that for Asia.

Question 77

Most people migrate due to a combination of "push" and "pull" factors.

Question 78

In general, low-income countries grow as much from immigration as from natural increase.

Question 79

Demography is the study of the size and composition of a society's population.

Question 80

Thomas Robert Malthus expected population to increase according to an arithmetic progression.