Differences in Population Characteristics Between Developed and Developing Countries

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Comparing and contrasting population characteristics of developed and developing countries give valuable insights into social, political and economic processes of countries. All numerical data given in this essay are in tables 1. and 2., and is correlated from the CIA (Central Intelligence Agency) website (ODCI, 1998). It is important to point out that countries that were picked were chosen at random, and they are only but a few representative countries. To be able to compare and contrast population characteristics, it is first necessary to define particular terms. The population characteristics to be examined are only but a few indicators of how a countries population is. The population characteristics that are going to be looked at in this essay are population growth, crude birth rates, crude death rates, life expectancies at birth and infant mortality rates. However at this point it is important to note that space limitations of this essay preclude me from touching on other population characteristics and other countries. Before defining any population characteristics, it is important to define what a developed and developing country is. A developed country is a country that had undergone development or industrialisation. A developing country can also be called less-developed or undeveloped, and is a country that is undergoing development, and is in the early stages of developing an industrial economy (Bernard, 1997). Developed countries include all regions of Europe, North America, Australia, New Zealand and Japan. Developing countries include all regions of Africa, Asia (excluding Japan), Latin America, the Caribbean, and regions of Melanesia, Micronesia and Polynesia (UNDP, 1997). Population growth rate is the average annual percent change in the population resulting from a surplus of births over death and the balance of migrants entering and leaving a
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