HUMAN PROCESSES THAT

SHAPE WORLD REGIONS

Chapter 3
3.2 The Geography of Development

 Large disparity between wealthy and poor people

 Evident both within and between countries
 “Haves” vs. “Have-Nots”
 More Developed Countries (MDCs)
 Less Developed Countries (LDCs)
 Newly Industrializing Countries (NICs)
Wealth and Poverty By Country

Note the concentration of wealth in the

middle latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere
3.2.1 Measuring Development

 There is no universally accepted standard for

measuring wealth and poverty on the global scale
 However, these are some common indices:
 Gross Domestic Product (GDP)
 Total output of goods and services that a country produces for
home use in a year
 Gross National Product (GNP)
 Also includes foreign output by domestically owned producers
 Gross National Income (GNI)
 Includes GDP plus income from abroad from sources such as
rents, profits, and labors
 Purchasing Power Parity (PPP)
 Considers differences in relative prices of goods and services
 Measured in current “international dollars”
 Human Development Index (HDI)
 Scale that considers attributes of quality of life
3.2.2 Why Are Some Countries Rich &
Others Poor?

 Dependency Theory
 Argues that the worldwide economic pattern
established by both the Industrial Revolution and
colonialism persists today
 Advantageous & Disadvantageous Location
 Location can influence a country’s economic fortunes
 Resource Wealth or Poverty
 Cultural and Historical Factors
3.3 The Geography of Population

 The study of population is known as demography

 Population may be the most critical issue in
geography; Welfare of humanity and Earth’s other
species and natural habitats is tied to:
 The number of people
 The rate at which people consume resources
 Human Population Explosion since 1800
 Will it lead to a crisis?
 Migration
 Spread of cultures, ideas, and opportunities
 Can spark tension and violence
3.3.1 How Many People Have Lived on Earth?

 Homo Sapiens ancestors came out of Africa around

100,000 years ago to populate Eurasia
 Population Explosion
 1 Billion in 1800
 2 Billion in 1930
 4 Billion in 1975
 6 Billion in 1999
 7 Billion in 2011
Global Human Population
 3.3.2 How Can We Measure Population Changes?

 Birth Rate
 Annual number of live births
per 1,000 people in a population

 Death Rate
 Annual number of deaths
per 1,000 people in a population

 Population Change Rate

 Birth Rate minus the Death Rate
 May represent either a growth or a loss
 3.3.3 What Determines Family Size?

 Better-educated and wealthier

people, understand the
economic cost of raising and
educating a child, tend to
have fewer children

 Less educated and poorer

people generally have more
children, sometimes to have
additional workers to bring in
more family income
 3.3.3 What Determines Family Size?

 People in cities tend

to have fewer
children than those
in rural areas
 Those who marry
earlier tend to have
more children
 Couples with access
to and
understanding of
contraception
generally have fewer
children
 Value systems and
cultural norms play
critical roles
3.3.4 What Determines Death Rates?

 Death rates correlate mainly with health factors

 Death rates can be reduced by:
 Better sanitation
 Better hygiene
 Cleaner drinking water
 Availability of antibiotics and immunizations
 Availability of insecticides
 Improvements in medical and public health technologies
 Death rates rise with epidemics
 HIV/AIDS, Black Death, etc.
 Life Expectancy
 Number of years a person may expect to live in an
environment
 United States Life Expectancy in 2011
 80 years for Women
 75 years for Men
 Life Expectancy at Birth

Life expectancy is closely tied to economic well-being.

People live longer where they can afford the medicines
and other amenities and technologies that prolong life.
3.3.5 What Determines the Population Change Rate?

 Rate of population change has been affected throughout

history by natural disasters, diseases, and wars
 With birth rates higher than death rates,
the trend has been one of growth
 Doubling Time
 Number of years required for human population to double

 Computed by dividing 70 by the growth rate

 As of 2011, the global population change rate of 1.2%

means a doubling time of 58 years

Natural Rate of Population Change

Population change rates are highest in the countries

of Africa and other regions of the developing world
and lowest in the more affluent countries.
3.3.6 Why Has the Human Population “Exploded”?

 If the birth rate is high and the death rate is low,

the population surges
 This scenario has been occurring since around 1800
 This result has not been caused by a rise in birth
rates, but because the death rate has fallen
 Improvements in agricultural and medical technologies
 Demographic Transition Model
 Stage 1: Preindustrial
 Stage 2: Transitional
 Stage 3: Industrial
 Stage 4: Postindustrial
 Demographic Transition Model

Note how the population surged in the wake of the Industrial Revolution
as death rates fell while birth rates remained high but then leveled out
and began to decline as economic development advanced.
3.3.7 The Age Structure Diagram

 Population Pyramid
 Classifies a population by gender and by 5-year age
increments
 Diagram Shapes
 LDCs are more bottom-heavy and pyramid-shaped
 MDCs are more chimney-shaped
 Population Under Age 15
 29% of population of the poorer countries
 16% of population of the wealthier countries
Age Structure Diagrams

Ap
 World Population Cartogram

China and India stand out

in the world population cartogram. The United States and Indonesia,
the world’s third and fourth most populous countries, are prominent too.
Population Density
3.3.9 Geography of Migration

 Migration refers to the movement of people

 Within a community, within a country or between countries
 Emigrant One who moves FROM a place
 Immigrant One who moves TO a place
 Migration is driven by Push and Pull Factors
 Examples of Push Factors
 When hunger or lack of land “pushes” people from rural
areas into cities, or when warfare or natural disasters push
people from one place to another
 Examples of Pull Factors
 Moving to a new area to take advantage of a job
or educational opportunity
 Global Migration Trends

The global picture of people on the move. The major trends

are of migrants in search of work in more affluent countries
and of refugees driven by warfare or environmental adversity.