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Where is it
Distributed
and Why?
 Ecumene: areas
of permanent human
settlement
• Temperate climate regions, land suitable for farming,
concentrated around water sources

Nonecumene – areas not permanently settled: deserts,
polar regions, tropical rainforests, high mountains.
Fig. 2-3: The ecumene, or the portion of the
earth with permanent human
settlement, has expanded to cover
most of the world’s land area.
 75%
live on just 5% of the Earth’s surface,
and almost humans all live on about 20%
of the Earth’s surface
 90%
of world population lives north of
the Equator
 66%
lives in mid-latitudes (30-60o)
 66%
of world population lives within 300
miles of a coast

75% live on just 5% of the Earth’s surface, and
almost humans all live on about 20% of the Earth’s
surface
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
China: 1.35 billion
India: 1.24 billion
United States: 312 million
Indonesia: 238 million
Brazil: 197 million
6) Pakistan:
177 million
7) *Nigeria: 162 million
8) Bangladesh: 154 million
9) Russia: 143 million
10) Japan: 128 million
*Nigeria moved up a
place from 8th into 7th
between 2008 & 2011.
India 1.69 billion
2) China 1.313 billion
3) Nigeria 433 million
4) US 423 million
5) Pakistan 314 million
6) Indonesia 309 million
7) Bangladesh 226 million
8) Brazil 223 million
9) Ethiopia 174 million
10) Philippines 150 million
1)

East Asia: Japan, China, Taiwan, South Korea
• 1/5 of world pop here, 2/3 of China in rural areas, ¾ of
Japan/Korea in cities

South Asia: India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka (2nd largest
concentration)
• 1/5 of world pop here–mostly rural, though highly concentrated
urban centers

Europe
• 1/9 of world pop here– less than 20% farmers, most food
imported despite excellent climate (3rd largest
concentration)

SE Asia(Islands in between Indian and Pacific Oceans) (4th
largest concentration)
• Comprised of mainly farmers in rural areas

NE US and Canada
• “Megalopolis” from Boston, MA to Baltimore, MD

West Africa- Especially along South facing Atlantic Coast
World Population Distribution by Region, 1800–2050
Source: United Nations Population Division, Briefing Packet, 1998 Revision of World Population
Prospects; and World Population Prospects, The 2006 Revision.
 East
Asia: 1,531,000,000
 South
Asia: 1,433,300,000
 Southeast
Asia: 548,000,000
 http://www.worldmapper.org/animations
/wm01to02.html
Fig. 2-1: This cartogram displays countries by the size of their population rather than
their land area. (Only countries with 50 million or more people are named.)
• Arithmetic Density: total # of objects in an area
• Physiological Density: # of persons per unit of
arable land
• Agricultural Density: # of farmers per unit of
farmland
Fig. 2-4: Arithmetic population density is the number of people per total land area.
The highest densities are found in parts of Asia and Europe.
Fig. 2-5: Physiological density is the number of people per arable land area. This
is a good measure of the relation between population and agricultural
resources in a society.