Population

AP Human Geography Westlake High School

Key Issue #1
Where is the Worlds Population Distributed?

Demography -scientific study of population characteristics

Studying demographics is important because?

More

people are alive today than ever before (over 7 billion) The worlds population increased at a faster rate than ever before during the second half of the 20th Century Nearly all population growth is centered in PINGs

Out of every 100 persons added to the population in the coming decade 97 will live in developing countries Hania Slotnik, 2005

Population Concentrations

of the worlds population lives on 5% of Earths surface

East Asia South Asia Southeast Asia Western Europe Why??

Similarities
Near

an ocean or river Low-lying areas with fertile soil and temperate climate Northern Hemisphere between 10 and 55 degrees North Latitude (except SE Asia)

East Asia-China, Japan, Korean Peninsula, Taiwan

(1/5th of the Worlds Population Live Here)

China

5/6th of the concentration lives in China 2/3rd of the population lives in rural areas and are farmers Most live along Pacific Ocean or Huang & Yangtze Rivers

Japan & South Korea

More than 1/3rd live in 3 metro areas Tokyo, Osaka, Seoul More than of the people live in urban areas and work in industrial/service jobs

South Asia - India, Pakistan,

Bangladesh, Sri Lanka
India

contains more than of the concentration Indus and Ganges Rivers Most people are rural farmers Only 1/4th of people live in cities (is growing)

Southeast Asia-Series of islands between

the Indian & Pacific Oceans
Worlds

people Java, Sumatra, Borneo, Papua New Guinea, Philippines Indonesia is the worlds 4th most populous country (13,677 islands including Java) High percentages of people working as farmers in rural areas

4th largest concentration of

Europe - Western & Eastern Europe &

European Russia Worlds 3rd largest concentration (1/9th of the people) 3/4th people live in cities Less than 20% are farmers High concentrations of people live near the coalfields of England, Germany, Belgium Do not produce enough food for themselves have to import

Other Clusters
Northeastern U.S. & Southeastern Canada

West Africa

2% of Worlds population BosNyWash Most are Urban Dwellers less than 5% farmers

2% of Worlds people clustered in Nigeria Most are subsistence farmers

Dry lands

too dry for farming =20% of Earth Turn to other resources = Oil

Another View of Our Deserts

Wet Lands

Land receives too much water to inhabit

Cold Lands

Permafrost land in the Arctic Regions

High Lands

-relatively few people live in high elevations -people may choose high elevation if temperatures are too high at lower elevations (Mexico City- 7360 feet)

Population Density
Arithmetic

Density (aka Population Density) total number of people divided by total land area Manhattan (68,000 per square mile) v. Loving County,Texas (.08 per square mile)

Density Continued

Physiological Density number of people supported by unit of arable (farmable) land

Agricultural Density ratio of farmers to the amount of arable land

The higher the physiological density the more pressure that people place on the land to produce food
U.S. (1 farmer per kilometer) v. Egypt (826) PEDs have lower agricultural densities fewer farmers can feed many people