POPULATION DENSITY Flashcards
What is meant by population density?
The number of people per square kilometre.
What is meant by sparse population density?
An area with few people living per square kilometre. For example, the Japanese Alps on the island of Honshu has a density of below 100 people per square km.
What is meant by high population density?
An area with many people living per square kilometre. For example, Osaka Bay on Honshu Island has over 2000 people per square km.
List the seven main physical factors that affect population density.
They are relief, climate, vegetation, soil, natural resources, water supply and natural routeways.
List the five main economic factors that affect population density.
They are ports, good communications, industrial areas, tourism, and money to invest in new developments.
Explain why desert areas have low population density.
The high temperatures and very low levels of precipitation make it difficult for soils to development. Therefore, little food can be grown to support a high population density.
Explain why mountainous areas have low population densities.
The extreme climate caused by the high altitude of between 2000 and 3000 meters produces average temperatures of less than 10C in the winter / a maximum of 100C in the summer and more than 2000mm of rainfall annually. These low temperatures and soils which are thin, very acidic and interfile mean that few crops can be grown. Therefore, only a small population density could be supported.
Apart from climate can you suggest any other reasons why mountianous areas have a low population density.
Many of the areas in mountainous regions are isolated / remote / covered in forests and divided by steep sided valleys with fast flowing rivers making communication by road or railway very difficult and expensive. Therefore, few industries locate in the Japanese Alps and those that do such as forestry and logging only employ a few people.
Explain how poor communication can lead to low population density.
The valleys (such as the Hakuba valley) that intersect the mountains only have very narrow valley floors Therefore, there is not enough flat land to grow crops on or to build large settlements, (large settlements require flat land so that buildings can be built cheaply and easily).
Name two examples of deserts that have low population densities.
Examples could be the Sahara, Arabian, Atacama, or the Namibian.
Explain why tropical rainforest areas have low popualtion densities.
The hot and humid climate makes an ideal breading ground for mosquitoes and other inscets which carry diseases harmful to people. The dense forest also makes building settlements and building a good communications netweok difficult.
Name two examples of tropical rainforest areas.
Examples could be the Amazon, Congo or the Islands of South East Asia.
Name the case study we have studied that can be used to explain why a country might have areas of high and low popualtion density.
The example is Japan.
Describe the location of Osaka Bay in Japan which an area of high population density.
Osaka bay is a bay situated on the south – western coastline of Japan with a population density of over 2000 people per square km.
Osaka bay is on the south - western coastline of Japan. Explain how this fact contributes to it having a high population density.
Osaka bay is situated on the south - western coastline of Japan. This makes it easy and cheaper to import by sea raw material such as oil and iron ore, and export manufactured goods such as cars and electrical goods to industrialised markets such as North America and Europe.
