UNIT TWO: POPULATION

Population Intro

• Why important to study?– More people on earth than at any other time in

history (7+ billion)– World’s pop increased faster in second half of

20th Century than ever before– Almost all global pop growth is occurring in

LDCs…poorest countries growing fastest…in some cases leads to famine and human suffering

– People are living longer – past 50 yrs global life expectancy has increased by 20 yrs

STOP: Continents Discuss:

• Why are there more people!? • So why mostly in the LCD’s?

DEMOGRAPHY

• Demography: study of human population

• Most demographers agree world population growth is slowing – why?

• Project population will plateau at @ 12 billion some time in 21st C

• Historically population growth has been steady but certain events have checked it…..such as?

How Get Demographic Information? The Census

• The US Census is taken every 10 years to count the population of the country.

• Gender, Age, Race, Income, Disabilities, Education . . .

• The #’s are important as they determine government funding

• Many protest that not all of the population is counted – homeless

• UN collects data on world population, as well as, The World Bank and Population Reference Bureau

Key Issue #1: Population Concentrations

• Ecumene: portion of earth’s surface occupied by permanent human settlement– ¾ world pop live on 5% of earth’s surface….Why?

• Sparsely Populated Regions– Dry– Wet– Cold

– Highlands

Heavily Populated Regions

• 2/3 of world pop lives in 4 regions

1.) EAST ASIA (E. China, Japan, Taiwan, Koreas)• 1/5 of the world’s population• Clustered near the coast• China has 20 large urban areas, but 2/3 pop

is rural• China = world #1 in population• ¾ Japan and Korea = urban

Heavily Populated Regions

2.) SOUTH ASIA (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka)• 1/5 of the world’s population• Clustered near rivers• Confined by natural boundaries (Himalayas . .

.)• India = world #2 in population• ¾ rural/farmers

Heavily Populated Regions

3.) EUROPE ( E and W)• mostly urban• 1/9 of the world’s population

4.) SE Asia (islands of Java, Sumatra, Borneo, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand)• Indonesia = world #4 in population• Mostly rural• Mainly islands• Clustered near rivers and deltas

STOP: Continents Discuss

• What are at least 3 similarities between the most populous regions? Differences?

• Where are some other population clusters in the world?

Top 10 Populous Nations

• 1. China 6. Pakistan• 2. India 7. Russia• 3. U.S.A. 8. Bangladesh• 4. Indonesia 9. Nigeria• 5. Brazil 10. Japan

– China and India expected to flip flop– U.S. will stay #3 because of immigration– LDCs taking top spots from MDCs

Population Density

• Arithmetic Density: total # of people divided by total area of land (ratio)

-used to compare conditions in different countries

-enables geographers to compare # of people trying to live on a given piece of land in different regions of the world.

• Highest = Bangladesh, Japan, Netherlands• Remember high pop (China) not

necessarily high pop density

World Population Density

Problems with Arithmetic Density• Arithmetic Density does not

always accurately portray population distribution.

• Can be misleading b/c is an average

– Examples: Egypt had a population of 73.3 million in 2004, and an arithmetic density of 190 per square mile. However, 98% of the population lives on only 3% of the land making the density meaningless.

– US = 78/sq mile, but Manhattan is 67,000/sq mile and Loving, TX .1/sq mile

Pop Density cont’d

• Physiological Density: ratio of people to a given unit of cultivable/arable land (suited for agriculture)– i.e. can you feed your population?– Can be high because of high pop density

or poor land– Ex: US 404/sq mile of arable land Egypt 9,073/sq mile of arable land

Agricultural Density

Definition: ratio of farmers to the amount of arable land.

MDC’s have LOW Agricultural Density because of technology.

Putting Agriculture and Physiological densities together allows you to look at the relationship between population and resources.

Density Chart

Arithmetic Density

Physiological Density

Agricultural Density

Canada 3 65 1

US 32 175 2

Egypt 79 2296 251

Japan 338 2695 46

India 356 690 163

Netherlands 398 1748 23

Bangladesh 1127 1927 472