yl:social studies

Using Resources
MAUREEN CAMPBELL
CHARACTERISTICS/COMPOSITION
OF A POPULATION
The composition of a population is the make-
up or distribution within a group of people of
specified individual attributes, such as
sex/gender, age, religion, marital status,
Contributor education, occupation, and ethnicity.
 Size: Is there overpopulation,
“Human resources are like natural resources; underpopulation, or is there an optimum
they’re often buried deep. You have to go population? Every human population has a size
looking for them; they’re not just lying around which is referred to as the total population in a
on the surface. You have to create the country.
circumstances where they show themselves.”  Sex ratio: Every population has a male-to-
– Ken Robinson female ratio and people in different age groups.
Age and sex are two attributes that largely
influence an individual’s role in society. Age
OBJECTIVES structural dynamics include fertility, mortality, as
 Explain and use correctly concepts and well as related changes in family planning and
terms associated with human and physical social arrangements.
resources.  Ethnic composition: Every country needs
 Describe the structure and characteristics to know the composition of the people living in
of a population. it, as it must meet the needs of each group.
There must also be encouraged integration and
RESOURCE may be defined as a source or

A
NORMAN GRINDLEY/CHIEF PHOTO EDITOR tolerance.
supply from which benefit is produced. It
Students of Gaynsted High School, St Andrew, seen leaving early as some  Religious composition: Different religious
may be further seen as persons, assets, faiths are practised or followed in the Caribbean.
teachers stayed away from the classroom.
materials, or capital which can be used to We enjoy freedom of religious beliefs and
accomplish a goal. Generally, resources are considered to be resources. nature can create them. observances. The most common religion in the
materials, money, services, staff, or other assets The term ‘human resources’ may, therefore, be  Non-renewable resources are resources Caribbean is Christianity, with several religious
that are transformed to produce assistance and, defined as the skills, energies, talents, abilities that form extremely slowly and those that do not faiths such as Seventh-day Adventists,
in the process, may be consumed or can and knowledge that are used for the production naturally form in the environment. Minerals are Anglicans, Baptists, Roman Catholics, and the
become unavailable. of goods or the rendering of services. Human the most common resource included in this list goes on.
resources are seen as individuals who make up category. By the human perspective, resources  Occupational distribution: We practise job
The benefits of utilising resources include: the workforce of an organisation, business are non-renewable when their rate of specialisation, as we are engaged in a variety of
 Increased wealth for a country. sector or an economy in general. consumption exceeds the rate of occupations. We possess different skills, talents
 Meeting needs or wants of members of the replenishment/recovery and abilities which are used to produce goods
society. Resources may be classified as renewable or and services. There are professionals,
 Proper functioning of a system that is non-renewable. Complete the following by stating whether fishermen, farmers, mechanics, and the list goes
necessary to fulfil citizens’ needs and wants. each item is renewable or non-renewable. on.
 Enhancing individuals’ well-being which, 1. Trees  Dependency ratio: This is the term used to
RENEWABLE RESOURCES
ultimately, will help the society. 2. Sunlight describe the ratio of the number of dependents
Any natural resource (such as wood or solar 3. Gold to the number of economically active people.
energy) that can be replenished naturally with 4. Bauxite
TYPES OF RESOURCES the passage of time. 5. Beaches
There are two types of resources: human  Renewable resources are ones that can be ACTIVITIES
6. Forests
resource and physical/natural resources. replenished naturally. Some of these resources, 7. Animals  State TWO reasons each why we need to
such as wind, are continuously available and 8. Nuclear know the age ratio, sex ratio and dependency
NATURAL RESOURCE their quantity is not noticeably affected by 9. Diamonds ratio in a country.
human consumption. Resources from a human- 10. Marine Life
Anything obtained from the environment to use perspective are classified as renewable only
satisfy human needs and wants. DEMOGRAPHY/POPULATION STUDIES WHERE DO WE OBTAIN DEMOGRAPHIC
so long as the rate of replenishment/recovery
INFORMATION?
exceeds that of the rate of consumption.
HUMAN RESOURCES Population may be defined as the total Information on a population is usually
number of persons inhabiting a country, city, or collected in a population census, which is an
Human beings, through the labour they NON-RENEWABLE RESOURCES
any district or area. It is, therefore, the body of official count of a country’s population. In most
provide and their other attributes, especially in Those that are consumed much faster than
organisations they are a part of, are also inhabitants of a place. CONTINUED ON PAGE 24

16 YOUTHLINK MAGAZINE | MARCH 20-26, 2018

 yl:social studies
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 16 THE POPULATION PYRAMID ACTIVITY b. Concepts related to physical resources:
countries it is carried out every 10 years. A population pyramid illustrates the age and Find the meaning of the following concepts development, environment, conservation,
sex structure of a country’s population. The and terms associated with human and physical energy, renewable resource, natural resource,
The census yields information about: population is distributed along the horizontal resources. non-renewable resource, infrastructure, food
a. Concepts related to human resources: security, pollution, conservation, global
 The size of the population. axis, with males shown on the left and females
population, birth rate, death rate, natural warming, green house effect.
 Persons of working age. on the right. The male and female populations
increase, life expectancy, infant mortality rate, c. State THREE characteristics of a population
 Persons employed or unemployed. are broken down into five-year age groups
fertility rate, migration, immigration, emigration, pyramid.
 Age and gender. represented as horizontal bars along the vertical
net migration, brain drain, urbanization, d. Suggest THREE observation that can be
 Educational attainment of individuals. axis, with the youngest age groups at the depopulation, population density, population made from the statistics shown on/in a
 Marital status. bottom and the oldest at the top. The shape of distribution, dependency ratio, employment, population pyramid.
 Religion. the population pyramid gradually evolves over unemployment, underemployment,
 Ethnicity. time based on fertility, mortality, and unemployable, labour force, sustainable Maureen Campbell is an independent contributor. Send
 Migration. international migration trends. development, population census and human questions and comments to
resource. [email protected]

Mitchell Watson, marketing manager, Pepsi-Cola Jamaica, joins in a group photo with girls’ under-17 discus champions (from right) Cedricka Williams of Holmwood
Techincal High School, who placed first with a throw of 40.62 metres; Raphae Guthrie of Excelsior High School, who placed second with a throw of 36.14 metres; and
Johnicia Davis of Hydel High School, who placed third with a throw of 32.99 metres at the Digicel Grand Prix Athletic Championship, staged recently at the National
Stadium.

24 YOUTHLINK MAGAZINE | MARCH 20-26, 2018

Send questions and comments to kerry-
[email protected]