Theme 1: Population and Settlement Flashcards
What is meant by Population Distribution?
Population distribution is a description of the spread of the human population across Earth.
The distribution is very uneven – most of the world’s population lives in only one third of the available land area.
What is population density?
Population density is the number of people per unit of area usually per
square kilometre. This may be calculated for a county, a city, a country, or
the entire world. It is found by dividing the total population of a country
or region by its land area (in square kms).
What is the birth rate?
Birth rate is the average number of live births for every 1000 people in a
country.
What is the death rate?
Death rate (Mortality rate) is the average number of deaths for every
1000 people in a country.
What is the natural population increase/decrease?
The difference between the birth and death rates is either the natural
increase or natural decrease.
What is the optimum population for a region or country? How is it linked to over and under population?
The optimum population for a region or country is a level of population
which is ecologically sustainable. It is linked to the carrying capacity of the region or country.
If there are too many people the resources will be used up and problems will appear – in food supply and water for example. At this point, the carrying capacity will have been exceeded and living standards for many people will start to decline. At that point, a region or country is said to be over populated.
Below this point a country can be said to be under populated.
Therefore, the term overpopulation is used where the number of people exceeds the
carrying capacity of an area, while the term under population is where the number of people is below the carrying capacity of an area.
What are the factors affecting population distribution and population density?
The Earth’s land surface is about 30 per cent of the total Earth’s surface – the rest being water. However, only about 11 per cent of the land area is comfortably habitable by people. The factors can be divided into two
groups – Physical (Natural) and Human.
* The physical (natural) factors are factors involving the natural environment and include climate, water supply, natural resources, relief, natural vegetation and soils.
* The human factors are factors that are a result of human activities and these may be economic, social (including cultural) or political. The economic factors include transport and money (sometimes called capital) to invest in industry. The social factors include housing, health care and education. The political factors include government investment in the infrastructure of an area such as in roads, railways, airports and sea ports, and land reclamation
Explain how climate affects population distribution?
There are 3 major climate zones covering the Earth – Polar, Temperate and
Tropical.
People tend to avoid living in polar areas because of:
* the long periods of freezing temperatures in winter
* the very short growing seasons for plants.
These areas, therefore, have very low population densities and contain
people who are traditional hunters and gatherers such as the Inuit of
northern Canada, Alaska and Greenland. These people survive by hunting
seals, fish and whales at sea and caribou (reindeer) on land.
Such cold climates can also be found in mountainous areas of the world,
such as the Himalayas, Andes and Rockies. Again, these areas have very low
population densities as well.
Other areas of low population density are the tropical deserts – the Sahara,
Arabian central Australia, Atacama, Kalahari/Namib and South West USA –
where the very high temperatures for much of the year and lack of rainfall
combine to produce a very harsh living environment.
Areas of high population density tend to be in, firstly, the temperate areas
where there are no extremes of temperature and there is adequate rainfall
to provide a reliable source of water for both people and farming. For
example Western Europe, North Eastern USA, North East China and Japan.
Certain tropical areas have high population density, such as Bangladesh,
where there is year round high temperatures, reliable rainfall and fertile
soils produce highly productive areas for farming, but not all – some are at
present very inaccessible, such as the rainforests of Central Amazonia and
Borneo.
Explain how water supply affects population distribution.
Most people in the world get their water for drinking and for farming
from two sources – rivers and lakes and from underground storages called
aquifers. Both sources need to be supplied with enough precipitation which
provides both rainfall and meltwater from snow and ice.
Water can flow long distances, both overland and underground, from the
original source of the water and this can extend the area where people
can live. For example, the Nile flowing across the desert in Egypt and the
Colorado in South West USA. Where there is a lack of reliable water supply
population densities are normally low
Explain how the type of soil affects population distribution
The fertility of the soil is very important in determining how productive
an area will be for crops. The most fertile soils are mineral rich and well
drained. These tend to be found in river floodplains and deltas and in
areas of volcanic rocks – which tend to weather down into very fertile soils.
Where water is available, either naturally or by irrigation, areas of fertile
soil can support high population densities – such as the island of Java in
Indonesia.
Conversely, upland areas with thin, rocky, infertile soils may have low
population densities as they may only be used for the extensive farming of
sheep, for example in North Wales in the UK and the High Atlas mountains
in Morocco
Explain how topography affects population distribution
The terms relief and topography are used to describe the height and shape
of the land. Population densities tend to be lowest where land is high and
steep and highest where land is low and gently sloping or flat. The high
land found in the world’s major mountain ranges tends to have lower
temperatures, more frosts and higher rainfall, which often falls as snow.
High land also tends to have steeper slopes which are more difficult to
farm (though this can be overcome by terracing – as in the rice terraces of
Indonesia and southern China). As a result, most of the world’s population
tends to be found in the lower areas of the world – around the coastlines
and on river floodplains and deltas.
Explain how natural resources affect population distribution
The term natural resource, in its broadest sense, applies to any natural
resource from water and soil to wind and minerals. However, in Population
Geography terms, it usually refers to minerals such as coal, oil and metallic
minerals such as iron ore, bauxite (the natural ore from which aluminium is
obtained), gold, silver, tin, copper, etc.
The Industrial Revolution in the nineteenth century saw a massive
movement (migration) of people to the major coalfields of Western
Europe, especially the UK and Germany, and the US. The coal provided
fuel for major industries, like the iron and steel industries, which provided
thousands of new jobs and had a huge impact on population densities in
places like South Wales in the UK and the Ruhr in Germany
Explain how economic factors affect population distribution
In today’s world, economic factors are now extremely important in the
location of industry which, in turn, provides jobs which affects where
people live – i.e. population distribution.
The term cumulative causation is often used to describe this set of links –
the fact that certain things will result (be caused) when a group of factors
combine (accumulate) together.
One of the most important economic factors is transport. Where fast,
efficient, reliable and cheap transport is available many industries will have
an advantage as it will reduce their production costs and increase the area
in which they can sell their products. A large modern port provides such a
location, for example, Europort in the Netherlands, Singapore in South East
Asia, Shanghai in China and New York in the US.
Motorways have a similar effect and attract industry. For example, the M4
corridor along the M4 motorway linking London and South Wales in the
UK. These locations are often natural route centres on which other forms
of transport, such as road, rail and air, converge. London and Paris are both
good examples, as they are both at the centre of their country’s road, rail
and air networks.
Explain how political factors affect population distribution
Political factors include government investment in the infrastructure of an
area such as in roads, railways, airports and sea ports, and land reclamation.
National and regional governments, as well as the major Trading Blocs,
such as the European Union, have very important role in deciding where
industry, jobs, roads, railways, air and sea ports, housing, hospitals and
schools are located and therefore, on the distribution of population. For
example, the siting of the new olympic facilities in old run down industrial
areas in London in 2012 and Sydney in 2004.
Explain how social factors affect population distribution
Social factors include housing, health care, education and cultural opportunities.
Areas of the world where many of these factors combine together can either be densely populated or sparsely populated. For example, the Sahara desert, which stretches across several countries of North Africa, is very sparsely populated because its climate is too hot and dry for people and
animals to survive comfortably. Its soils are too dry, sandy or rocky. It has a poor water supply. Lastly, the
countries it runs through are all poor LEDC’s whose governments do not
have the money to invest in improving their infrastructure in transport,
housing, education and health care or industrial development.
At the other extreme, the world’s most densely populated country,
Bangladesh, has rich, fertile soil. It has a hot wet climate with easy access to
water supplies. All of this means that it is ideal for growing crops and can
support a very large population on a relatively small area of land.
Sometimes large urban areas may grow up in areas which are otherwise
sparsely populated. For example:
* Around an oasis in a desert
* Near rivers where they flow through arid desert areas
* Mining settlements on coal or iron ore fields, or the production of oil as
in Kuwait
* Growth of tourist destinations and resorts such as Dubai in the UAE and
Sharm El Sheikh in Egypt
* Market towns where the products of a large rural area can be brought to
sell
* Route centres and the junctions of major highways often in openings or
gaps in mountain and hill ranges – gap towns
* Towns of strategic importance controlling access to a region
* New towns created by government policies
* Dry areas in otherwise waterlogged marshy land
* A sheltered, fertile valley in a highland area.
