Cambridge International as and a level Economics Ebook

2
What type of economic growth had Spain been 
experiencing in the recent past?
3
Why does a high national debt become more of a 
problem with a smaller population?
4
Explain two reasons why a country’s fertility rate 
may be high.
5
Explain one advantage and one disadvantage of a 
high fertility rate.
6
Discuss whether rapid urbanisation is an advantage 
or a disadvantage.
*The fertility rate is the number of children a woman, on average, can expect to have in her lifetime.
Average annual 
growth rate 
2007–2012
% share of 
global output
2007
% share of 
global output
2012
% share of global 
exports of goods 
and services
2007
% share of global 
exports of goods 
and services
2012
BRIC countries
Brazil
4.3
2.4
3.4
0.9
1.2
Russia
3.3
2.4
2.4
2.1
2.3
India
8.2
2.2
2.8
1.2
1.7
China
10.9
5.9
9.4
9.0
9.0
Developed economies
Germany
1.2
6.1
5.3
8.8
8.4
Japan
0.2
8.0
7.8
4.7
4.6
UK
0.5
5.1
3.6
6.1
4.3
USA
0.8
25.2
23.1
11.5
11.3
Table 9.7 
Selected economic data on BRIC and developed economies
239
Chapter 9: The macroeconomy 

---

contribute to the production of goods and services. As 
well as those actually in employment, it also includes 
those who are unemployed and who are seeking 
employment. Th
e size of a country’s labour force depends 
upon a wide range of demographic, economic social and 
cultural factors, such as:
■ 
the total size of the population of working age
■ 
the number of people who remain in full-time education 
above the school leaving age
■ 
the retirement age
■ 
the proportion of women who join the labour force.
A country with a higher number of people of working 
age is likely to have a larger labour force than one 
with a smaller number of people in the age group. 
Th
is, however, is not always the case. Th
is is because 
the size of the labour force is also infl uenced by the 
labour force participation rate. Th
is refers to the 
percentage of the total population of working age 
who are actually classifi ed as being part of the labour 
force. For most economies the rate is usually between 
50% and 70%. Th
ere are two main reasons why the 
labour force participation rate may be relatively low in 
a developed economy. Th
ese are a higher participation 
rate in higher education and a relatively large proportion 
opting for early retirement. In some developing 
economies, the diff erence is due to the contribution of 
women in the labour force being constrained by social 
and cultural factors.
Table 9.8 
shows the total population size, the size of 
the working population age and the labour force of ten 
economies.