Fiducia TogetherPopulation and migration
How populations grow, age and move, and what follows.
Please note: This page explains a word or a process in education. It is general information about the system, the law and the guidance in England — not advice about your child, your school or your exam. If a decision is going against you, get advice from one of the free services we link to before you agree to anything or miss a deadline. If you are revising, check your own exam board's specification: boards word things differently and yours is the one that marks you.
What it is
Population change is births minus deaths plus net migration. Structure is shown by a population pyramid; the demographic transition model links structure to development stage.
Where it applies
GCSE geography human topics.
How it works
An ageing population and a youthful one create opposite pressures — pensions and healthcare against schools and jobs.
Migration is analysed by push and pull factors, and by type: economic, forced, internal and international. Impacts fall on both origin and destination.
How to use it in your work
Read population pyramids properly: wide base means high birth rate, narrow top means low life expectancy or a smaller elderly cohort.
For migration questions, give impacts on BOTH origin and destination, positive and negative.
Use correct terms: a refugee, an asylum seeker and an economic migrant are different in law and questions distinguish them.
Where to get help
Your teacher and your board's specification. Bitesize for worked examples, and the subject song for the topic list.
Revise this with a song
These are ours. We write revision songs because a lot of people remember a tune when they cannot remember a page, and because revising out loud in the kitchen beats staring at a highlighter.
- The Geography Song The GCSE geography topics, set to music.
Where to read more
Last reviewed 2026-08-28 by Fiducia Together · Next review due 2027-08-28
Please note: This page explains a word or a process in education. It is general information about the system, the law and the guidance in England — not advice about your child, your school or your exam. If a decision is going against you, get advice from one of the free services we link to before you agree to anything or miss a deadline. If you are revising, check your own exam board's specification: boards word things differently and yours is the one that marks you.