Download POPULATION

POPULATION
• Study of population
important because
more people live now
than ever before-6.5
billion
• Population increasing
faster rate 2nd ½ of
20th century than ever
before in history
• All global pop growth
concentrated in LDC
• Demography is
scientific study of pop
characteristics;
demographers study
this data
• Population problems
ask “where” and
“why”
• Overpopulation
problem looks at the
relationship between
# of people and
availability of
resources
Where is the World’s
Population Distributed?
• Population
Concentrations-2/3
live in East Asia,
South Asia, SE Asia, &
western Europe
• Clustering is shown on
cartograms; see figure
2-1
• 4 regions have
similarities:
• people live near ocean
or river
• generally low-lying
area with fertile soil &
temperate climate
• all located in Northern
Hemisphere (10-55
degrees north
latitude) except for SE
Asia
East Asia
• 1/5 world’s people live in
East Asia
• 5/6 of people in this
concentration live in
People’s Republic of China
• world’s most populous
country; 3rd largest land
area-near Pacific coast &
fertile river valleys-Huang
& Yangtze
• 26 urban areas with more
than 2 million people, but
2/3 of people live in rural
areas-farmers
• Japan & South Korea pop
not distributed evenly
• 1/3 people live in 3
metropolitan areas-Tokyo,
Osaka, Seoul
• ¾ Japanese and Koreans
live urban areas-industrial
or service jobs rather than
farmers unlike China
South Asia
Southeast Asia
• 1/5 world’s people live in
South Asia-India, Pakistan,
Bangladesh, Sri Lanka
(island)
• most people in India live
along plains of Indus and
Ganges rivers; also
concentrated near 2
coastlines-Arabian Seawest & Bay of Bengal-east
• most people live rural
areas; farmers
• 4th largest pop cluster; ½
billion people live on series
of islands between Indian
& Pacific Oceans (includes
Java, Sumatra, Borneo,
Papua New Guinea, &
Philippines
• Java-100 million people
• Indonesia (which includes
Java) 4th most populous
country
• most people-rural areasfarmers
Europe Other Pop Clusters
• 1/9 of world’s people
from Europe
(including European
portion of Russia)
• ¾ inhabitants live in
cities; less than 20%
farmers
• Dense network of road
and rail links people
• Region has temperate
climate
• Have to import food &
resources
• largest concentration
in Western
Hemisphere in
northeastern U.S.
• urban areas-less than
5% farmers
• 2% of world’s
population in West
Africa; Nigeria most
populous country
• people work in
agriculture
Sparsely Populated Regions
• Ecumene refers to the portion of
Earth’s surface occupied by
permanent human settlement
• ¾ of world’s population live on only
5% of Earth’s surface
Dry Lands
• 20% of Earth’s land
surface is too dry for
farming
• Northern HemisphereSahara, Arabian, Thar,
Takla Makan, Gobi
• Southern Hemispheremost of Australia
• lack sufficient water to
feed a population
• people are able to live
and raise animals in
desert (nomads)
• Some desert areas
contain natural
resources i.e. oil
reserves which leads
to settlement in these
areas
Wet Lands
• Land that receives
too much rainfall
makes human
occupation difficult
(areas around
equator)
• Combination of
rain & heat rapidly
depletes nutrients
from soil (leaching)
• Certain areas that
do receive extra
rainfall i.e.
Southeast Asia are
able to produce
enough food to
support their
population (rice)
Cold Lands
• land near North
and South Poles is
constantly covered
with ice or ground
is permanently
frozen
(permafrost)
• area unsuitable for
planting crops
High Lands
• few people can live
at high elevationssparsely populated
• Exceptions are
higher elevations
in Latin America
and Africa where
people have settled
• Mexico City-7,360’
Population Density
• Arithmetic Densitytotal # people divided
by total land area (aka
population density)
• U.S.-78 per sq. mile,
Bangladesh-2,640 per
square mile, Canada-7
per square mile,
India-840 per square
mile
• Physiological Densitynumber of people
supported by unit area
of arable (farmable)
land
• Large difference in
physiological density
demonstrates how
much more some
countries arable land
must yield to support
their population
Agricultural Density
• Term refers to the
• Egypt on the other
ratio of the number
hand has a higher
of farmers to the
agricultural density
amount of arable
at 1,401 farmers
land
per square km
• For example, U.S.
• Typically MDC have
has a low
lower agricultural
agricultural density
density because of
at 4 farmers per
technology and
square km of
finances
arable land
Where Has the World’s
Population Increased?
• Geographers measure population change
in a country of the world thru 3 measures:
• Crude Birth Rate (CBR)-total # of live
births in a year for every 1,000 people
• Crude Death Rate (CDR)-total # of deaths
in a year for every 1,000 people alive in
that society
• Natural Increase Rate (NIR)-% by which a
population grows in a year. Subtract CBR
from CDR (see page 53)
Natural Increase