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Asked by anon-351471 on 1 Mar 2023.
Question: How do factors like high birth rates, high deaths rates or ageing populations impact food security?
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Charlotte Lemanski answered on 1 Mar 2023:
Food security is complex because there is sufficient food for the population, but it’s not always accessible for all people in ways they can afford or reach. So it’s less about birth/death rates and more about distribution and affordability – and that really comes down to how governments choose to prioritise food regulation in their regions.
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Jake Sales answered on 1 Mar 2023:
Hi – I mainly look at UK housing data and demographics and so the patterns I tend to see in my work are to do with whole areas becoming ageing populations and wealthier populations (and the opposite!).
Sometimes that is to do with the price of housing in those areas and the affordability for younger people. The effect that I see is that the employment profile tends to change alongside the age profile for those areas. Fewer younger people means fewer lower skilled, manual jobs generally and in rural areas that means they need to look for farm labour to travel in.
It used to be that farm workers would live closer to where it was needed but that is getting rarer as property values rise and wealthier people with city jobs move in. Farmers need to pay more for workers to want to travel in which means higher food prices and a less flexible workforce.
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George Foden answered on 1 Mar 2023:
That’s a very good question! It’s complicated, as so many things are when it comes to people. I agree with Charlotte that it is often less to do with the number of people and more to do with the way that food is distributed and how accessible it is for ordinary people. However, some of the ways that birth and death rates, or ageing populations, might affect food security might include:
A high birth rate might increase the amount of food needed over time, as a growing population will require more resources to sustain them. Often the poorest people in society will be the first to lose access to the amount of food they require for a healthy life, and this goes back to the ways in which food is distributed.
A high death rate likely reduces the number of people living in an area, so if all other things remained the same then the amount of food available to each person might be higher, so they actually have more than they need. However, if people who work in the food industry are dying, or ageing out of working age and into retirement, then there might be less people available to harvest the food or deliver it to shops, and this might reduce the food supply and decrease food security.
One other factor that has a massive impact on food security is climate. When the climate changes rapidly this can have an effect on the growth of food supplies and disrupt the harvest. A changing climate also increases the risk of pests, like the fall armyworm, which is a serious problem particularly in parts of Africa. It’s species grows faster in hotter temperatures, and then it eats and destroys crops that are otherwise grown for human consumption. It is an invasive species in Africa, brought over to the continent by produce and goods shipped from the Americas, so population movement, and trade in goods, can also impact food security.
These are some of the issues that people around the world are trying to address right now, and there’s lots of exciting developments happening every day.
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Vanessa Pilley answered on 1 Mar 2023:
You might find this resource useful: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/zt2cmsg/revision/1
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John McLaverty answered on 3 Mar 2023:
This is a complicated question and the three elements in it can potentially influence food security in different ways.But the biggest issue is that there’s also more than enough food in the world for everyone but it’s not distributed fairly – and solving that is a political question not directly related to the size and age distribution of the population
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