Causes of population change

The size of population keeps on changing. It increases or decreases according to time and space. The major factors affecting population are birth, death and migration.

Birth increases the population while death decreases the population. Migration also causes population change. Internal migration does not make any changes but international migration makes the differences in the size of population. But as a whole, migration does not affect in the size of population change.

Factors affecting the population change

• Birth
• Dead
• Migration

Birth

The birth is a chief natural factor affecting the population change. It results into the increase of population. Higher birth rate, quicker the population growth.

The following are the prominent factors which plays an important role in increasing population, they are:

• Ignorance: Education plays a very important role in the population growth control. It helps to change the though, opinion and thinking of man. It brings important change in the life of people. It helps to make life happy. Uneducated people cannot decide what is wrong and what is right wrong and what is right. Because of illiteracy females produce more number of children and don't know about the adaption method for family planning. 
• Status of family: Fertility also depends upon the status of women. Women from the higher social status love to have small family. It is naturally interior social status likes to bear the burden of motherhood of a large family. Educated and employed woman also avoid having big families.
• Polygamy:The tradition of polygamy at certain places in our society even today. Thus, a man having more than one wife produces more children which naturally increase the population of the country.
• Lack of health education:Every people know that health is very necessary. Health education teaches man about nutritious food, measure for maintaining health, methods of protection from diseases, etc. people do not take nutritious food which causes malnutrition due to the lack of health education. It increases infant mortality rate.
• Unemployment:The people of developing countries are surrounded by the problem of unemployment. It plays vital role in growing the population. The majority of people have to sit without work. Thus, the male and female have to pass their lives without the source of entertainment, so they involved in sex. In such condition there is more possibility of more children. 
• Poverty:Poverty is one of the major factors of population growth. There are thirty eight percent of people of the total population who are below the poverty line. These people are facing a lot of problems and its hard for them to maintain day to day life. They think that their children are the only source of income for them. 

Dead

Death is an important natural cause to bring change in population. It decreases the population of a country. Reduction in death rate automatically brings down the birth rate. The main reason for the decrease in death rate in Nepal is the decrease in the infant and child rate.

The following are the factors responsible for the death they are:

• Illiteracy:Due to lack of proper knowledge of child care, infant and child rate are increasing in Nepal. It is because of illiteracy, people go to seek the treatment from witch doctor instead of visiting doctors for medical treatment. They believe in superstition. They also die due to simple diseases because of their superstitious believe.
• Disease:The diseases are also one of the reason of high death. The people die most often due to chronic disease, and fatal diseases.
• Climate:The climate of a place or region or country plays a vital role in the determination of death rate. The people living in hot place die quickly more in number than the people living in cold climate. The people living in hot place becomes old very soon. Due to hot climate, disease is immersed and transmits. But people living in cold climate do not suffer from it and there is less chance of transformation of diseases.
• Lack of nutritious food:Easily available local cereals like pulses, food grains, green vegetables and fruits, etc. and animal products like fish, meat, eggs and milk products are the sources of nutrition. Nutritious food helps in growth and development of the body and protects the body from different diseases. There must be a good combination of protein, vitamin, carbohydrates, minerals, fat, etc. 
• Natural calamities:The unwise and unethical activities of human beings such as deforestation, establishing industries in urban areas and other irresponsible activities are responsible for the degradation of environment.

Migration

Movement of people from one place to another is called migration. Migration causes change of population. As we migrate from one place to another the population of one place decreases while of other place increases. It is considered as unnatural element of population change. The number of immigrants is gradually increasing like Nepalese emigrants. People come for business and employment and starts to live permanently.

The following are the determining factors to population change:

• Marriage: Marriage is social factor that cause change in population of a particular area. For example, if a woman is married to foreigner, the population of origin decreases whereas the population of her husband's country increases.
• Availability of services and facilities: The facilities like education, transport, communication etc also inspire people to migrate from one place to another. People from village area migrate towards urban areas to get more facilities which cause change in population.
• Employment: People are compelled to migrate from their origin place due to lack of employment opportunities.People migrate to place where they can get job and earn money so that they can fulfill their basic needs.
• Natural calamities: Natural calamities is considered as environment factors that cause change in population. Natural calamities like flood, landslides, volcano etc are compelling people to migrate people from one place to another.

Environmental Effects of Population Growth

The increasing population results into increasing demands, needs and services. Their needs are unlimited but country has limited resources to fulfill their needs and desire. The growing population needs more fuel, timber, food, cloth, and more facilities of education and health. The people started to exploit the natural resources which results in the environment degradation. Thus society, culture, natural resources and economic development are affected by the growing population.

In this respect, various consequences of population growth are as follows:

Environmental effects

The environment of any area is affected by the composition of population and growth rate of population. If there is any imbalance between population growth and the environment, the environment gets degraded and people have to face many difficulties to meet their needs and demands. 

Forest and vegetation

 Forest and vegetation are the most important aspects of human life. Various species of vegetation play an important role increasing a balance in the environment, they help to keep environment clean, fresh, green and beautiful. They protect the soil from landslides and soil erosion. The needs and demands of people are increasing along with the growth of population. It leads to degradation of forest and vegetation.Many forest and vegetation are being cleared by the people for fodder, grass and their settlement. Thus, deforestation has become an acute problem in Nepal. Due to deforestation many species of wildlife, medicinal herbs and other important forest products are in acute shortage. 

Aquatic lives and terrestrial animals

 The growth of population has affected the marine life adversely. The water resources such as underground water, river, well, pond, tank, sea and ocean, etc. have begun to dry and the existing ones have been polluted. The survival of fish and amphibians has disappearance. It has badly affected man, other creatures and plants. Thus, the growth of population has made the condition of aquatic creatures very difficult. The terrestrial part refers to the earth crust. It composed of soil, sand, dust particles and stone. 

Air

 Living organisms cannot survive without fresh air. Fresh air saves the life. Polluted air causes diseases. Oxygen content of the atmosphere decreases by deforestation. Contents of carbon dioxide and other toxic gases increase in the atmosphere.Unmanaged urbanization and industrialization produces smoke, dust particles and other harmful wastes. Insecticides and other toxic chemicals mix inn air and pollute the fresh air of environment. Polluted air can produce different kinds of diseases like skin diseases, eye irritation, lung diseases, etc. Vegetation is also affected by the smoke and dust particle.

Water

 The source of water is adversely affected by the growth of population. The quality water is being degraded due to growing human activities in the environment. Sometimes, soil is deposited in the sources of water. It causes water pollution. Dumping of garbage and other waste, discharge of excreta materials into river make the water polluted. People become the victim of various types of diseases by drinking polluted water. Water is also polluted by excessive use of chemical fertilizers and insecticides. Chemical fertilizers insecticides remain in soil for a long period of time and slowly move down and pollute the underground water.

Land

 Land is the most important natural resource and sources of varieties of food. Human activities are responsible for land pollution and the loss of productivity of the land. Use of fertilizers, insecticides, etc. kill the natural fertility of the soil and soil finally losses its quality. The pressure on land increases with the increasing population. The size of land cannot increase along with the growth of population. There is a high possibility of imbalance between the population and the available land.

Floods

Floods are usually called natural calamities. But human activities have contributed to the sharp rise in floods. Cultivation of land, deforestation, overgrazing and mining has removed water absorbing vegetation and soil. Urbanization also increases flooding. Heavy rainfall occurs during the monsoon period. This down-power runs off from the mountain so rapidly that most of it cannot be controlled and used. The massive runoff water causes periodic flooding. During, the monsoon period, the speed and level of water is increased in streams, rivulet and rivers.Traditional method of cultivation and deforestation in the hilly region has caused soil erosion and landslide. These activities have also reduced the water holding capacity of soil which has favored the flooding. 

Noise pollution

Human settlement has become very dense many places of Nepal due to the rapid growth in population. People conduct a lot of activities in the growth of urbanization and establishment of much unpleasant or unwanted sound that causes discomfort. Noise increases along with the growth of urbanization and establishment of many industries in the town areas. The sound produces by increasing number of buses, trucks, motorcycle, trains, airplanes and heavy use of radio, television, etc is polluting environment and causing sound pollution. 

Social and Economic Effects of Population Growth

It is found that economic development is slow where the population is increasing at faster rate. According to geographical condition, available means and resources, productivity rate and available cultivable land, the population growth rate is great problem. Population problem means the problem of fulfilling the basic needs like housing, food. Thus, the rapid population growth of population directly affects the economic, social and environmental development of a country.

Healthy mind and manpower are the pillars of development of a nation. People must be physically, socially and mentally healthy for the development of any nation. Thus, development of a nation depends upon the types and health condition of the manpower. Rapid population growth adversely affects the availability of health services and facilities. 

The government of Nepal has limited resources which do not allow it to increase health services and facilities. Because of proper health service, people get infected by various types of diseases such as cholera, diarrhea, dysentery, etc. The untimely death of people due to lack of treatment has become very common in Nepal.

Education

Education is an important need for everyone. Knowledge, skill and technology can be developing through the media of education. The skilled and specialized manpower is produced. It creates social, cultural and political awareness in people and makes them advanced. It helps in the complete development of man.But the high growth rate of population has had an adverse effect n the development of education.There is continuous increase in school and campus going students due to the increase in population. The number of schools, teachers and physical facilities are to be increased in the population to the increase in the number of students. Availability of reading books and educational materials and many other things are necessary for the quality education. Such are challenge to our country. The obstacles for quality education are the increase in population.

Culture and cultural heritage

Rapid population growth has degraded the environment. Environmental pollution results into the destruction of structure of the cultural heritage. The dust particles, various types of pollutants emitted from different industries, vehicles mix in the air and they pollute the atmosphere. Growing population brings changes in social values and beliefs, cultural behavior, traditions and customs of the society. It also affects the marriage patterns, festival, dresses, ornaments and thinking of the people. It attempts to bring in the western way of life which means deterioration of our culture. The young boys and girls are becoming immoral due to deterioration in our culture. They are attracted toward western culture which affects our culture badly. Therefore, in order to save our culture and cultural heritages, it is wise enough to control population growth of a country.

Employment

A human being has many needs. He/she has to work hard to earn money to fulfill all these needs. The main source of income is employment. Employment helps a person to develop his/her personality and skill. It also provides the solution to financial problems faced by people to fulfill their fundamental needs. Unemployment causes economic problems along with social, political and psychological evils. Most of the active people in Nepal are going aboard in search of jobs. Rapid population growth creates problems of unemployment because manpower increases with the increase in population. It is not possible to provide job to all the people because government has limited resources and means and so it can create only limited opportunities.

Educated people have not got job according to their qualifications. Agriculture is the main source of employment in our country but now agriculture land is decreasing due to human settlements. The soil has loss its fertility and people are now migrating from hills to terai. Due to this, the Terai has become over crowded. Thus, control of population and its management is only the solution of this problem.

Drinking water

Nepal is rich in water resources though we are facing problem of drinking water. There is no equal distribution of water in the entire region. Due to lack of technology and capital, a large number of Nepalese could only see the clean and pure drinking water but they are unable to utilize it. Shortage of drinking water can be easily seen in rural and urban areas. Due to tremendous increase in population, sources of water have become polluted.At present situation, the sounds of water are getting dry due to cutting of trees and destruction of the environment.

Measures of Population Management

Reducing the rate of population growth and making plans for attraction and distractions in migration come under population control. The control of population growth is necessary to promote development activities for the welfare of the people.

The following are some of the measures to control population growth.

1. Birth spacing: Birth spacing is the duration of time between the births of two children. Normally, the birth spacing of four to five years is useful or healthier for the both mother and child. There should be a gap between the two children and the decision for the gap should be taken unanimously by both husband and wife. This process of maintaining a gap between two children slows does the rate of birth by controlling frequent birth and ultimately helps in the control of population growth.
2. Marriage at appropriate age: In Nepal, the marriageable age for boys is twenty-five years and girls are twenty years. But in most of the families, boys and girls marriage before the marriageable age. Marriage at appropriate age means getting quality of life, prosperous and happy family.
3. The condition of Woman and Education: Woman has occupied more than half of the total population of Nepal. But the women in Nepal are lagging behind in terms of educational status, political opportunities and the use of health facilities and services. The literacy rate of Nepalese women is comparatively lower than that of man. The status of women cannot be changed and uplifted by law and rules only without providing them, educational opportunities and uplifting their educational status. Thus, education is the powerful thing that plays a vital role in women empowerment and personality development. If they are educated then they can understand the role of women in family planning, making a decision, and reproductive rights, social and political activities. This makes a positive influence on the control of population growth.
4. Females status upgrading: The women are mostly illiterate and are considered inferior to males in our Hindu society. To carry the family and to determine number of family, women's attitude is also to be upgraded. The women can also play a vital role in the determination of family number. The women will not allow the male to have polygamy. If women status is upgraded, it may help control the population.
5. Measures of contraception: There are various methods of controlling birth. One of them is adopting the methods of contraception and use of contraceptive devices which prevent the meeting of sperms and ovum for fertilization through the use of artificial methods and devices can be divided into two categories that are given below:

Temporary Methods

The measures which help to bear children after some year's gap are called temporary methods. It can increase the gap between first and second children. The female and male can adopt different temporary methods, they are:

Pills

It is one of the contraceptives devices for female which is taken orally. It is known by Nilocon or Gulab in our market. It makes hormonal changes in the ovary and stops the ovulation so that secretion of ova is not possible. But it has to be taken regularly.

Merits

• If it is taken regularly, it is highly effective.
• It helps to regularize menstruation.
• It does not give any trouble in sexual intercourse.

Demerits

• It is not effective if it is not taken regularly.
• It may cause headache and dizziness to some women.

Foam tablet

It is called kamal tablet in Nepali. It is pushed into cervix about ten to fifteens before sexual intercourse. It can melt and from the coat of form which prevents sperm from entering the womb.

Characteristics:

1. It is easy and inexpensive.
2. It is an effective device and has no negative effect.
3. It is useful for those who have vaginal dryness.

Drawbacks:

1. It is uneasy because it should be kept in the cervix before every sexual intercourse.
2. The users should wait for ten to fifteen minutes for intercourse after keeping foam tablet in the cervix, which is not always practical. So, females find it boring.

Femidom ( female condom)

It is a condom for women. It is made up of thin polyurethane or transparent rubber. It is used in the vagina so that sperm does not enter. It is a strong, transparent health which lines the vagina to create a barrier against sperm. It prevents sexually transmitted diseases also.

Merits

1. It can be used by women of all ages.
2. Attractive with vaginal dryness can also be use it to increase lubrication and reduce painful intercourse.

Demerits

1. It is the single use disposal device.
2. It is an expensive device.
3. It should be used with the male condom.

Vaginal cream

The chemical substance can be used in another way of instead of foam tablet. These are cream paste, jelly, and aerosol. It is used in the vagina before sexual intercourse. It kills the sperm entering into the cervix. It is very costly. It is not available in Nepal.

Permanent Measures

The permanent method of family planning provides permanent solutions to the pregnancy and birth. A permanent method for male is vasectomy and for a female is minilap and laparoscopy.

Vasectomy

It is also called male sterilization. It is permanent surgical operation for a male in which the doctor makes a small opening in man's scrotum and closes the both tubes that carry sperms from the testes. This gives permanent solution to conception.

Merits

1. This does not make differences in good health and sex satisfactions.
2. It can be performed by minor surgery.

Demerits

1. It is not effective immediately. A sterilized man needs condoms for consecutive twenty ejaculations.
2. It requires a surgical process.

Minilap

It is a permanent method of female contraception. It should be after forty-five days of delivery or within the eight days of menstruation.

It is a minor operation done on women who no longer has any wish for more children. It is done by a small surgery in the lower part of abdomen. The fallopian tubes are cut and tied up. This operation can be done if she is practicing other contraceptives devices.

Characteristics

1. It is permanent method.
2. It does not have any effect on health satisfaction of sex.

Demerits

1. It is useful for only those who do not wish to have any more children

Laparoscopy

Laparoscopy is also one of the permanent measures of contraception. It involves a surgical operation as a sterilization in which the doctor makes a small incision in the abdomen just below the naval and finds two fallopian tubes with the help of laparoscope. After that every fallopian tube is closed with a clip or a ring. This should be done after thirty or forty days of the delivery or within five to eight days of the menstruation.

Merits

1. It is permanent method with the effectiveness of 99. 5%.
2. This has no adverse affect on health and sex relationship between husband and wife.

Demerit

1. It is only suitable for the women who do not have any desire for any more children.
2. It requires a surgical procedure.

Gender Issues Intervention

Every effort is underway to integrate gender issues in various development programs in Nepal.Government of Nepal is trying to incorporate all the aspects concerning women on various policies and programs.

Women health and reproductive health

In our society, women are discriminated and given less priority than man. Women have very few rights on matters relating to child birth, looking after a child, and educating a child. Following steps should be taken to overcome all theses problems:

• Discrimination of women at household level should be abolished.
• The burden of women should be reduced on various activities like working in kitchen, carrying etc. Man should share equally in all thees tasks.
• Development of awareness towards the change of attitude on early marriage, preference of son etc. meed to be addressed and conduct effective programs on these aspects.
• Special care is needed for safe pregnancy and at the time of delivery, and also during abortion.

Women and civil code

There is equal rights of every citizen and there is no discrimination against any citizen according to The Constitution of Nepal. It has provide equal rights to male and female. In the Interim Constitution of Nepal, 2063, equal status of women has been established by amending limited rights of women on citizenship, employment, property etc. Women Commission has been established to give equal rights to women and also for the welfare of the women. Though rules and laws seem to have greater provisions, the implementation of theses provisions is weak.

Women and violence

Violence can be defined as the activities that damage the physical and mental states. The acts of violence may be non-cooperation, trafficking , pressurizing etc. Women are found to suffer at homes and societies from different types of violence.

Some examples of violence against women are as follows:

• Family disputes due to alcohol drinking habits of husband.
• Family disputes due to different violence against women like calling her witch.
• Women is subjected to all kinds of troubles for not bringing enough dowries.
• The widows are heated in our society.
• Women are always not given cooperation and misbehaved in our society.

Women and property right

We can still find gender discrimination in our society. Women are not given equal shares in productive works. They do not have equal shares in property right.

Some comments on the women's property rights are as follows:

• Women's right on the parental property has not been established yet in our society.There is a provision that if women does not get married till her 35 years of age, she will get the share of her parental property.
• It is difficult to claim family or parental properties until the right of women on the basis of gender perspective is established.
• The empowerment of women through education may generate awareness towards raising voice or claim for acquiring the property right.

Gender Advocacy in Nepal

Gender advocacy refers to the discussion in various aspect based on gender in society. The discussion is mainly focused on the issues of male and female. It includes the role of male and female, social change, socialization, discrimination from gender perspective etc as the major aspects of the discussion. The kind of discussion and interaction is conducted with the aim of increasing awareness, empowering with rights and increasing the participation in various activities. These kinds of activities ultimately help and promote in the formation of gender related programmes, policies and laws and implement them effectively.Gender advocacy should be launched focusing on social inequality, events, social obstacles related to gender.

Identification of problem

First of all, gender issues for gender advocacy should be identified. It can be identified with the discussion of stakeholders. The depth of subject matter and impact to the society should be made clear. The issue for advocacy should be selected for the social welfare rather than personal welfare.

Creation of source

Various sources such as human, financial, physical facilities of advocacy what is its scope, how much resources are too launched and information related gender issues are to be disseminated in the magazine, poster, photograph, radio and television. The gender advocacy becomes highly successful if all resources are collected and mobilized on time.

Programme conduction

Program conduction is basic for advocacy program. Program should have definite purposeless and practical value. Various concerned persons and community should be involved in the programmes. Involvement cooperates to make the advocacy program successful.

Monitoring and evaluation

The most important thing is the impact of advocacy in the society. Monitoring and evaluation is necessary in order to identify the impact of the program. A survey can also be conducted. After monitoring, evaluation can be done to assess the impact of advocacy program on the target women. Next program can be made on the basic of the achievement made by the advocacy. Cooperation of all concerned can make gender advocacy highly successful.