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5 Deblij - Human7e - ch04 Population
5 Deblij - Human7e - ch04 Population
5 Deblij - Human7e - ch04 Population
POPULATION PATTERNS
AND PROCESSES
A
The world’s growing human population has passed the 6-billion
t Issue
Part Outline
4 Fundamentals of Population: Location, 6 Where and Why People Move
Distribution, and Density
7 Policy Responses to Demographic Changes
5 Processes and Cycles of Population Change
Chapter
4
Fundamentals of
Population: Location,
Distribution, and Density
I N D O N E S I A
Java Sea
Jakarta
Java
INDIAN
OCEAN 110°E
53
KEY POINTS
◆ The world’s population is currently grow- ◆ Population data often are unreliable be-
ing by about 80 million per year; the bulk of cause of the high cost and organizational
this growth is occurring in the world’s challenges of census taking.
poorer countries.
◆ The world’s three largest population con-
◆ The distribution of population describes centrations all lie on the Eurasian land-
the locations on the Earth’s surface where mass, and the smallest of the three is the
individuals or groups live. By contrast, most highly developed and urbanized.
population density is a measure of the num-
◆ By itself, population density tells us little
ber of people per unit area.
about the capacity of individual countries to
◆ At a global scale, there continues to be a support their inhabitants. This is because
remarkably strong correlation between density does not take into account global
areas of high population density and areas economic position or access to technology.
with significant expanses of arable land.
54
CHAPTER 4 Fundamentals of Population: Location, Distribution, and Density 55
Today, however, the populations of certain countries possibility that world population growth will again over-
are again declining, not for reasons of health or food, take total production; health and well-being, about as
but through other causes. Some scholars suggest that unevenly distributed across the globe as any social con-
population shrinkage, which has its own set of associ- dition; and the status of women, often hidden by statis-
ated problems, will become a major issue during the tics that report averages for entire populations without
present century. They argue that population change, revealing sharp contrasts between males and females in
not only population growth, will challenge the world of terms of education, income, nourishment, infant and
the twenty-first century. child mortality, freedom of movement, and many other
Another issue we address is migration. Waves of indices.
human migration have changed—and continue to mod-
ify—the demographic map of the world. The movement ◆ ELEMENTS OF POPULATION
of millions of people across international borders, mostly
in search of jobs and a better life but sometimes to es- GEOGRAPHY
cape war or natural disaster, continues. Indeed, immigra-
How can a geographic approach to issues such as those
tion into certain countries adds more to the total popula-
just described improve our understanding of them? To
tion than natural population increase in those countries;
begin with, we should consider some of the spatial as-
governments try to stem the tide of migrants by closing
pects of the human world. Not only does less than 30
borders or refusing domicile to those who do manage to
percent of the Earth’s surface consist of solid ground, but
enter. Related to the process of migration is the disloca-
of that living space, only a fraction (at most, around one-
tion of millions of people who become refugees, a topic
third) is arable—that is, able to produce crops and live-
we examine in some detail.
stock. Vast stretches of land are desert, frigid, mountain-
Virtually all governments have population policies
ous, or otherwise agriculturally unproductive, or of such
that promote national objectives, ranging from control
low productivity that only very small human populations
over immigration to internal relocation. These policy re-
can subsist there.
sponses to demographic changes often have ethnic as
well as spatial overtones, favoring a particular (usually
dominant) sector of the national population or promot- Population and Space
ing a country’s heartland, its core area, and its inhabi- From the very beginning, humanity has been unevenly
tants over outlying areas. Other policies target growth distributed over the land, and the contrasts between
rates and involve mass sterilization or support for family crowded countrysides and bustling cities on the one
planning. As we will see, such policies sometimes have hand and empty reaches on the other have only intensi-
unintended consequences. fied—especially during the twentieth century. Even
Later in this book we examine other issues relating countries with huge populations, such as China and
to population geography, including food supply and the India, have large areas where people are absent or
60°
40° 40°
ATLANTIC
OCEAN
Tropic of Cancer
PACIFIC
0° Equator
OCEAN
WORLD POPULATION
DISTRIBUTION
One dot represents SOUTHERN OCEAN
100,000 people 60° 160° 140° 120° 60° 60° 60°
80° 60° 40°
Antarctic Circle
sparsely distributed. The peoples of China and India still below that of, say, the United States or Western Europe.
depend quite heavily on the food their farmers can pro- (For comparisons among these and other countries, con-
duce, so the clustering of the population in those coun- sult Resource B, page R-10, where demographic data for
tries continues to reflect the availability and fertility all the world’s principal countries are provided.)
of farmland. China’s interior deserts, cold, windswept
plateaus, and snowcapped mountains remain as empty
as they have always been, except for small settlements in Population Distribution and Density
areas where minerals or fuels are mined. To represent contrasts of the kind just discussed on
In countries with more technologically advanced maps, population geographers use measures of popula-
economies, people tend to leave the land and to cluster tion distribution and density.
in cities and towns. Mushrooming urbanization, in which The distribution of population describes the loca-
rural, farm-based societies are transformed into urban, tions on the Earth’s surface where individuals or groups
trade-based ones, is a dominant theme of contemporary (depending on the scale) live. It is represented most effi-
human geography. To be sure, cities are also growing in ciently by a so-called dot map. At the largest scale—for
such countries as India and China, but the percentage of example, part of a rural county in the United States—
those countries’ population that is urbanized remains far such a map can actually show the location of every indi-
CHAPTER 4 Fundamentals of Population: Location, Distribution, and Density 57
Arctic Circle
R U S S I A
60° 60°
E U R O P E
ATLANTIC D
OCEAN
JAPAN
40° 40°
C H I N A
A
PAKISTAN
Nile
Valley C B Tropic of Cancer
I N D I A
20° 20°
BANGLADESH
PACIFIC
NIGERIA OCEAN
INDIAN
Equator
0° 0° 0°
OCEAN
ATLANTIC
Jawa
OCEAN
Tropic of Capricorn
SOUTHERN OCEAN
60° 60° 60° 60°
0° 20° 40° 60° 100° 120° 140° 160°
Antarctic Circle
vidual, with each dot representing one person. At a square kilometer or square mile. The data in Resource B
medium scale—say an entire country such as France— (page R-10) provide the area, total population, and den-
one dot would represent a cluster of perhaps 5000 peo- sity per square mile for every country (but see the box,
ple, and the map would reveal where the population is “Reliability of Population Data”).
concentrated and where the number of people in an Note, however, that no country has an evenly dis-
area would not add up to 5000. At the smallest scale, a tributed population, so that the average derived by di-
world map of population density would use a single viding the national area by the total number of people
dot to represent as many as 100,000 people. may not have much practical meaning. The United
Maps of population distribution have many uses. States, for example, with a territory of 3,717,425 square
Famine-relief campaigns, for example, use them in their miles or 9,629,167 square kilometers (including the
efforts to deliver supplies to remote areas more effi- surfaces of lakes and ponds and coastal waters up to
ciently. Closer to home, electoral redistricting maps can- three nautical miles from shore) had a population of
not be drawn without data on where voters live. For 285.4 million in 2002. This yields an average popula-
such purposes, too, distribution maps are needed. tion density for the United States of just under 77 per
Population density is another matter. Here the mea- square mile (29.6 per square kilometer). This figure is
sure is of the number of people per unit area, such as a the country’s arithmetic population density, and in
58 Part Two Population Patterns and Processes
a very general way it emphasizes the contrasts between as well. When the entire population is divided in Egypt’s
the United States and such nations as Bangladesh (2644 confined arable (farmable) land, the resulting physio-
per square mile), the Netherlands (1224), and Japan logic density figure for the year 2002 is 9245 per square
(875). mile. This number is far more reflective of Egypt’s popu-
But no country has an evenly distributed popula- lation pressure, and it continues to rise rapidly despite
tion, and arithmetic population figures do not reflect the Egypt’s efforts to expand its irrigated farmlands.
emptiness of most of Alaska and the sparseness of popu- The case of Japan is also instructive. Not only does
lation in much of the West. In other cases it is actually Japan have a high arithmetic population density (more
quite misleading. Take the example of Egypt which, with than 11 times as high as that of the United States), but
a population of 71.1 million in 2002, has a seemingly Japan is a mountainous, high-relief country with limited
moderate arithmetic population density of 185 per arable land. Japan’s physiologic population density is
square mile. Egypt’s territory of 284,300 square miles, 7950, which is almost 20 times as high as the United
however, is mostly desert, and the vast majority of the States. Neither Egypt nor Japan could manage without
population is crowded into the valley and delta of the food imports.
Nile River. It is estimated that 98 percent of all Egyptians Table 4-1 provides complete data on both arith-
live on just 3 percent of the country’s land, so the arith- metic and physiologic population densities, and some
metic population density figure is pretty well meaning- of the data stand out markedly. Mountainous Switzer-
less here. land’s high physiologic density should be expected: it is
10 times as high as its arithmetic density. But note
Ukraine, with its vast farmlands: its physiologic density
Physiologic Population Density is only 1.7 times as high as its arithmetic density. Also
A superior index of population density relates the total compare the high physiologic densities in Middle Amer-
population of a country or region to the area of culti- ica (see Puerto Rico!) to the moderate data for South
vated land it contains. This is called the physiologic America, where Argentina has one of the lowest indices
population density, defined as the number of people in the world. Furthermore, note that India’s physiologic
per unit area of agriculturally productive land. Take density is the lowest in South Asia despite its huge pop-
again the case of Egypt. Although millions of people live ulation (and is less than twice as high as its arithmetic
in its great cities (Cairo and Alexandria) and smaller density), whereas China’s physiologic density in 2002
urban centers, the irrigated farmland is densely peopled was almost 10 times higher.
2001
Population Area Arithmetic Density Physiologic Density
Country in millions thousands sq mi/km sq mi/km sq mi/km % Arable Land
Sources: Calculated from World Population Datasheet, 2001, published by the Population Reference Bureau, Inc., and from the World Fact-
book, 2001, published by the United States’ Central Intelligence Agency.
Note that the population data in this table may not correspond precisely to statistics from other sources. (See box, “Reliability of Population
Data.”)
CHAPTER 4 Fundamentals of Population: Location, Distribution, and Density 59
60°
CANADA
AT L A N T I C
OCEAN
Tropic of Cancer
20° 20° 20°
PA C I F I C
0° Equator
50-99 125-249
40° 40° 40° 40°
25-49 60-124
10-24 25-59
Arctic Circle
D
EUROPE
40° 40°
A JAPAN
AT L A N T I C CHINA
OCEAN B PA C I F I C
Nile
S a h a r a Valley C Tropic of Cancer
INDIA 20°
OCEAN
NIGERIA
INDIAN
Equator 0°
OCEAN
Java
AT L A N T I C
OCEAN
SOUTHERN OCEAN
0° 20° 40° 60° 100° 120° 140° 160°
60° 60° 60° 60°
Antarctic Circle
where about 30 percent of the people reside in cities and considered so far. Subsaharan Africa’s nearly 650 million
towns. inhabitants cluster in above-average densities in West
The three major population concentrations we have Africa (where Nigeria has a population of some 130 mil-
discussed—East Asia, South Asia, and Europe—account lion) and in a zone in the east extending from Ethiopia to
for over 4 billion of the total world population of ap- South Africa. Only in North Africa is there an agglomera-
proximately 6 billion people. Nowhere else on the globe tion comparable to those found on the crowded riverine
is there a population cluster even half as great as any of plains of Asia. This cluster is in the Nile Valley and delta,
these. Look at the dimensions of the landmasses in Fig- which has over 66 million residents. Note that the pattern
ure 7-1 and note that the populations of South America, of the Nile agglomeration—not the dimensions—
Africa, and Australia combined barely exceed the popu- resembles the pattern seen in Asia. As in East and South
lation of India alone. Asia, the Nile Valley and delta teem with farmers who
cultivate every foot of the rich and fertile soil. However,
North America the lowlands of the Ganges, Chang Jiang (Yangtzi), and
Huang He (Yellow) rivers contain far more inhabitants.
The population cluster comprising the east-central
The large light-shaded spaces in South America and
United States and southeastern Canada is only about
Australia, and the peripheral distribution of the modest
one-quarter the size of the smallest of the Eurasian con-
populations of these continents, suggest that there is
centrations. As Figure 4-2 shows, the North American re-
some space here for the world’s huge population. In-
gion does not have large, contiguous high-density zones
deed, South America could probably sustain more than
like those of Europe or East and South Asia.
its present 360 million people if reforms were made in
The North American population cluster outdoes Eu-
patterns of land ownership and use in the region. At pre-
rope in some respects. As in the European region, much
sent, while the people of South America as a whole are
of the population is concentrated in major cities while
well fed, poverty and malnutrition occur in some areas,
rural areas are relatively sparsely populated. The major
such as northeast Brazil.
focus of the North America cluster lies in the urban com-
This raises an issue that is central to any study of
plex along the eastern seaboard from Boston to Wash-
population density and the capacity of a country to sup-
ington, which includes New York, Philadelphia, and Bal-
port its people: level of technology. You will note that
timore. Urban geographers use the term megalopolis to
Japan, a small island country, has a population of over
refer to such huge urban agglomerations, and predict
127 million. Its population density is at least as great as
that it is only a matter of time before these agglomera-
that of parts of China and India, but its farmlands are
tions coalesce into an enormous megacity. Other major
quite limited, not only by its small size but, as we noted,
focal points of the North American population cluster are
also by its mountainous character. What makes such a
Chicago, Detroit, and Cleveland, and with some inter-
large population in Japan possible is Japan’s technologi-
ruptions, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and San Diego. If
cal prowess, industrial capacity, and money-producing
you study Figure 7-1 carefully, you will note other
exports. Japan imports raw materials from all over the
prominent North American cities standing out as small
world, converts them into finished products, and exports
areas of high-density population; they include Pitts-
those products to most parts of the globe. With the in-
burgh, St. Louis, Minneapolis-St. Paul, and Seattle.
come brought in by these exports, Japan can buy the
food that it cannot produce at home. Thus it is not
Other Regions enough to say that a country cannot support more than a
Further examination of Figures 4-1 and 4-2 reveals sub- specific number of people. We should qualify this state-
stantial population clusters in Southeast Asia. These are ment by observing that under present economic, politi-
actually discrete clusters rather than a contiguous popu- cal, and technological conditions it can or cannot sup-
lation concentration. The largest of them is the Indone- port a given population, depending on its status in the
sian island of Jawa (Java), with more than 120 million in- world market. So, while Australia could not find a place
habitants. Elsewhere in the region populations cluster in for tens of millions of Chinese farmers, if tens of millions
the lowlands of major rivers, such as the Mekong. Nei- of Japanese came to Australia with their skills, technolo-
ther these river valleys nor the rural surroundings of the gies, factories, and international connections, Australia
cities have population concentrations comparable to would be quite capable of accommodating them—and
those of either China or India, and under normal circum- many more.
stances Southeast Asia is able to export rice to its hun- Having examined the distribution and general den-
grier neighbors. Over many decades of strife, however, sity of global and regional populations, we now come to
the region has been disrupted to such a degree that its the crucial issue: population growth—its history, dimen-
productive potential has not been attained. sions, and spatial expression. The next chapter links the
South America, Africa, and Australia do not have maps of distribution and density with the dynamics of
population concentrations comparable to those we have demographic change.
CHAPTER 4 Fundamentals of Population: Location, Distribution, and Density 63
◆ KEY TERMS ◆
arithmetic population density distribution population data
census megalopolis population density
demography physiologic population density population geography
density population concentration