Chapter 2: Population

The Cultural Landscape:

An Introduction to Human Geography

© 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.

 Critical Issues in Population Geography
• More people are alive today than at any
other time in human history
• The world’s population increased at a
faster rate during the second half of the
twentieth century than every before.
• Virtually all population growth today
occurs in less developed countries
(LDCs)

© 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.

 Key Issue #1
Where Is the World’s Population
Distributed?
• Population concentrations
– Two-thirds of the world’s population are in
four regions:
• East Asia
– ¼ of world population here
• South Asia
– bound by the Himalayas and a desert in Pakistan
• Europe
– population is concentrated in cities
• Southeast Asia
– Megalopolis

© 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.

East Asia
¼ of the worlds
population lives
there.
Includes
China
-world’s most
populous country
-more than ½
live as farmers
Japan-3/4 live in
urban areas
Korea-3/4 live in
urban areas
Taiwan

© 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.

South Asia
Nearly ¼ of the
The world population
lives there.
Includes
-India-2nd most
populated
country in the
world
-Pakistan
-Bangladesh
-Sri Lanka
Most are farmers
living in rural areas.

© 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.

Southeast Asia
Mostly a series of
Islands that lie
between the the Indian
and Pacific Ocean.

Includes:
Indonesia
Java (Island in
Indonesia)-Largest
population-1oo million
Sumatra
Borneo
Papua
New Guinea
The Philippines
© 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.
Europe,
Including the
European portion
of Russia
-3rd largest
population cluster
-4 dozen countries
-urban dwellers
-highest population
near England,
Germany, and
Belgium.
-not enough food
and resources, so
they import them

© 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.

 Other populated regions

Western Hemisphere
-Largest population
cluster is in the
northeastern U.S. and
southeastern Canada.
(2% of the world
people)
-Most American are
urban dwellers.
Africa-2% of the
world’s people live in
West Africa.

© 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.

Population Distribution

Figure 2-2
© 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.
Population Distribution –
Descriptions of locations on the Earth’s surface where
individuals or groups (depending on the scale) live.

Dot Map of World Population –

On this map, one dot represents 100,000 people
© 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.
 Where Is the World’s Population
Distributed?
• Sparsely populated regions
– The ecumene-The portion of the earth’s
surface occupied by permanent human
settlement.
– People generally avoid:
• Dry lands
– Deserts, cover 20% of the earth’s surface
• Wet lands
• Cold lands
• High lands

© 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.

 Ecumene

Figure 2-4
© 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.
 Where Is the World’s Population
Distributed?
• Population
density
–Arithmetic
density
–Physiological
density
–Agricultural
density
© 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.
Arithmetic Density-measure of
total population relative to land
size.
© 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.
Physiologic Population Density –
number of people per unit area of
agriculturally productive land (takes
this map into account).
© 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.
 Physiologic Population
Luxor, Egypt
Density
Egypt - 2,296 persons per
square kilometer of arable
land
U.S.-175 persons per
kilometer of arable land

More pressure on Egypt’s

land to produce enough
food than the U.S.

Egypt’s arable lands

are along the Nile River
Valley.

Moving away from the river a

few blocks, the land becomes
sandy and wind-sculpted. © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.
Agricultural Density- The ratio of the
number of famers to the total
amount of land suitable for agriculture.

© 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.

Measures of Density

Table 2-1

© 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.

 Key Issue #2
Where Has the World’s Population Increased?
• Natural increase rate
– The percentage by which a population grows in a
year
• Crude birth rate (CBR)
– The number of births per 1,000 population
• Crude death rate (CDR)
– The number of deaths per 1,000 population
• Doubling time
– The number of years needed to double a
population

© 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.

World Population Growth

Figure 2-8

© 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.

More than 95% of the Natural Increase
is clustered in LDC’s.

These are the countries least able

to maintain them.

© 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.

Where Has the World’s Population Increased?
• Fertility
– Total fertility rate (TFR)
• Measures the number of birth in a society.
• Average of number children a women will have during
their child bearing years (15-49)
• Currently it is 2.6
• Mortality
– Infant mortality rate (IMR)
• Annual number of deaths of infants under one
compared with the total number of births
– Life expectancy
– At birth measures the average number of years a newborn
infant is expected to live.
© 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.
 Key Issue #3
Why Is Population Increasing at Different Rates?
• Demographic transition
– Process with several stages
– Each country is in one of the stages
– The stages have a beginning, middle, and end
– The Aids epidemic may be reversing it in African
countries
– Four stages

© 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.

Demographic Transition

Figure 2-15

© 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.

Stage 1: Low growth
-Beginning of man
- Earth’s population didn’t grow until the
Agricultural Revolution
-When people switched from hunting and
gathering to domesticating plants and animals
Around 8000b.c. caused a burst of population
growth.

© 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.

Stage 2: High growth
- CDR plummets
- CBR remains the same
- this makes the NIR high and population grows rapidly.
-1750 population grew 10 times faster due to the
Industrial Revolution
- this pushed Europe, and North America into stage 2.
-Medical Revolution-pushed LCD’s into stage 2

© 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.

 Stage 3: Moderate Growth

- Moves fro stage 2 to stage 3 when the CBR drops sharply

- CDR falls at a much slower rate.
- Population grows because CBR is greater than the CDR
- NIR is more modest in stage 3 countries
- Europe and North American Countries moved to stage three
in the first half of the 20th century.
- Most Asian and Latin America countries have move in
recent years to stage 3.

© 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.

Stage 4: Low Growth
-CBR declines to the point where it is equal to the CDR
-The NIR approaches zero
-This is called zero population growth (ZPG)-The TFR that
results in lack of change in the total population over a
long term.
-America’s TFR has hovered around ZPG since 2000.

Negative NIR-Number of deaths exceeds the number of

births
-Example: Eastern Europe-50 years of communism rule
resulted in this.

*Look at figure 2-17 in the text

© 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.

© 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.
 Why Is Population Increasing at Different Rates?
• Population pyramids
Stage 2: Large bottom pyramid
Stage 4: More like a rectangle
– A bar graph showing a place’s age and sex composition
– Shape of the pyramid is determined mainly by the CBR

© 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.

Age Distribution
-Dependency ratio-number of people too old or too young compared to the
number of people in the productive years.
-Three age groups
(1)0-14 (2)-65+ (3)15-64
- Stage 2: 0-14 & 65+ is ½ of the population (burden by young)
1:1 10:1 young to old
- Stage 4: 0-14 & 65+ is 1/3 of the population (burden by old)
1:2 1:1 young to old

© 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.

Sex distribution
-Sex ratio-Number of males per 100 females
-1m:100f
-More male are born but have a high death rate
-Average-93:100
-North America and Europe-97:100
- LDC- 102:100

© 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.

 Population Pyramids

Figure 2-19
© 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.
© 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.
Why Is Population Increasing at Different Rates?

• Countries are in different stages of the

demographic transition
– Three examples:
• Cape Verde = High growth
– Stage 2 since the 1950s
• Chile = Moderate growth
– Stage 3 since the 1960s
• Denmark = Low growth
– Stage 4 since the 1970s

© 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.

Cape Verde
-Stage 2 High Growth
-Islands off the coast of West Africa
-1950 went for 1 to 2
-long term of pattern of demographic uncertainty in 1950 which led them
finally going to stage 2.
-ex. famine

© 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.

Chili: Stage 3
-Change from rural to urban
-have large families, growth from European migration
-1903 Stage 2
-CDR Lowered, because of medical technology
-1960 Stage 3
-CDR declined, CBR dropped, because of family planning, NIR is lowered,
yet not going to stage 4 any time soon -due to goverment policy and being
Roman Catholics

© 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.

Denmark: Stage 4 (Low Growth)
-1970’s CBR=CDR (closely)
-reached ZPG
-increase due to immigration

© 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.

Why Is Population Increasing at Different Rates?

• Demographic transition & world population

growth
– Most countries = stage 2 or stage 3 of the
Demographic Transition
• Stages 2 and 3 are characterized by significant
population growth
– No country is in stage 1 of the demographic
transition
– It is easier to cause a drop in the CDR than in
the CBR

© 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.

 Key Issue # 4
Why Might Overpopulation be a Concern?
• Malthus on overpopulation
– An Essay on the Principle of Population
(1798): Population grows geometrically
while food supply grows arithmetically
-He argues that the rate of population
increase would outrun food supplies.
– Criticism of Malthus includes the following:
• Pessimistic viewpoint
• Failure to consider technological innovation
• Marxist critique
© 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.
Contemporary Neo-Malthusians
-geographers who today agree with Malthus
-they argue two points
1. Growth in poor counties is more than he
predicted
2. population growth strips a wide variety of
resources, not just food.

© 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.

Malthus: Theory & Reality

Figure 2-25
© 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.
Why Might Overpopulation be a Concern?
• Declining birth rates
– Reasons for declining birth rates
• Reliance on economic development
• Distribution of contraceptives
– Reducing birth rates with contraception

• Sub-Saharan Africa-CDR is
increasing.

© 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.

 Family Planning

Figure 2-30
© 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.
Why Might Overpopulation be a Concern?
• World health threats
– The epidemiologic transition
• Stage 1: Pestilence and famine
– The Black Plague
-Pandemics-disease that occurs over a wide
geographic area and affects a very high proportion of
the population.

© 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.

Why Might Overpopulation be a Concern?
• World health
threats
– The epidemiologic
transition
• Stage 2: Receding
pandemics
– Cholera and
Dr. John Snow

Figure 2-31
© 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.
Why Might Overpopulation be a Concern?
• World health threats
– The epidemiologic transition
• Stage 3: Degenerative diseases
– Most significant: Heart disease and cancer
• Stage 4: Delayed degenerative diseases
– Medical advances prolong life

© 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.

Why Might Overpopulation be a Concern?
• World health threats
– The epidemiologic transition
• A possible stage 5: Reemergence of infectious
diseases?
– Three reasons why it might be happening:
» Evolution
» Poverty
» Improved travel

© 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.

The Most Lethal Infectious Disease: AIDS

Figure 2-33
© 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.
The End.

Figure 3-1

Up next: Migration
© 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.