HUMAN POPULATION

Population distribution: the pattern of where people live on Earth. It is described with
words.
Population density: the average number of people living in a square km. It’s a math
calculation (amount of people / amount of square km)
Carrying capacity: the amount of people that the environment can support in decent quality
of life regarding its resources

Distribution factors:
Physical factors:
● Climate: direct (mild temperatures and evenly distributed rainfalls) and indirect (effect
on soil and vegetation)
● Relief: flat landscapes for farming, building cities and settlements, and for transport.
Also, places with deeper more fertile soil
● Natural resources: minerals, forests and water supplies
● Accessibility: areas that are easily reached (coasts, river valleys)
● Hazard risks

Human factors:
● Politics: democracy, no wars nor conflicts
● Economy: high-income countries with job opportunities
● Communications: transport networks and trading links
● Social: policies to encourage/restrict immigration
● Services: good education and healthcare

Populations growth curve

● It is an ecological theory that attempts to describe and explain how and why the
number of living things in a given area changes over time
● It is based on the assumption that limited resources will always control the growth
and continued existence of living things
● Five stages:
○ Lag phase: slow growth
○ Log phase: fast population growth
○ S-phase: slow population growth (limited resources)
○ Stable state: carrying capacity reached and the population becomes stable
○ Decline state: overpopulation, environment can no longer support the
population so it starts decreasing

Human population growth

World population is increasing as the birth rate is higher than the death rate → natural
increase

Factors affecting birth rate:

● Infant (number of deaths of babies under 1 per year over 1000) and child (“” under 5)
mortality: quality of childbirth and post-natal healthcare. Higher chances of surviving
childhood
● Urbanization and reduction of child labour
● Life expectancy: women would marry and have kids earlier/later
● Age and sex ratio to have kids
● Family planning and contraception (ability to choose)
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 ● Education (especially in women), religion, culture and government policies
● Economic influences: costs of bringing up a child
Factors affecting death rate:
● Healthcare, vaccines and nutrition
● Accessibility to clean water, hygiene and sewage disposal
● Diseases spread
● Wars and conflicts
● Age ratio: if a country has an aging population, they will have more deaths bc of
natural causes despite having a good healthcare
● Sex ratio: men that go to war or do physical-related jobs have more chances of dying
● Living and working conditions

Migration: immigration and emigration also have a great impact on the changes in the
population

Population structure
Dependency ratio:
● Young dependents (0-14 yo)
● Old dependents (65+)
● Economically active (15-64 yo): they are the ones that have to pay taxes and support
the dependents (retirement pensions, education, etc)
● The dependency ratio is how many dependents you have for every 100 workers

Population pyramids
● LEDC’s: wide base (high birth rates) and lots of young dependents, less EAP and
very narrow and short top (high death rates)
● MEDC’s: narrow base (low birth rates bc of contraception and education), wide
middle part (many EAP), and tall and quite wide top (high life expectancy)

Managing population size

● Population momentum: governments project future population characteristics based
on current and future previsional trends and policies
● Anti-natalist policies:
○ One-child policy (China)
○ Incentives for Sterilization: Some countries have provided financial incentives
or benefits to individuals who choose to undergo sterilization procedures
○ School programs in which they emphasize the benefits of having a small
family
○ Improving healthcare so that families don’t have to have lots of children in
case they die
○ Providing free family planning supplies, information and services
○ Improving general status of women in society
● Pro-natalist policies:
○ Free pre and post-natal care for mothers and babies
○ General tax allowances for parents with children under 18
○ Improved pensions for parents
○ Full pay maternity leave for 40 weeks
○ Priority to families when trying to buy a house and use mortgages