Population growth

Growth of population refers to the change in the number of inhabitants of a country/territory during a specific period of time, say during the last ten years. Such a change can be expressed in two ways: in terms of absolute numbers and in terms of percentage change per year.

Population change

There are three main processes of change of population:

birth rates, death rates, and migration. The natural increase of population is the difference between birth rates and death rates.

The birth rate is the number of live births per thousand persons in a year. The death rate is the number of deaths per thousand persons in a year. The third component of population growth is migration.

Migration is the movement of people across regions and territories. Migration can be internal (within the country) or international (between the countries). Internal migration does not change the size of the population but influences the distribution of population within the nation. Migration plays a very significant role in changing the composition and distribution of population.