Where Is the World's Population Distributed?
Global population is concentrated in a few places. Human beings tend to avoid parts of Earth's surface that they consider to be too wet, too dry, too cold, or too mountainous.
Describe regions where population is clustered and where it is sparse.
Two-thirds of the world's people live in four clusters�East Asia, South Asia, Europe, and Southeast Asia.
Define three types of density used in population geography.
Arithmetic density is used to describe where people live in the world. Physiological density compares population to resources. Agricultural density measures economic efficiency of food production.
Why Is Global Population Increasing?
Virtually all the world's natural increase is concentrated in the developing countries of Africa, Asia, and Latin America.
Understand how to measure population growth through the natural increase rate.
The natural increase rate is the percentage by which a population grows in a year.
Understand how to measure births and deaths through CBR and CDR.
The CBR is the total number of live births in a year for every 1,000 people alive. The CDR is the total number of deaths per 1,000 people.
Understand how to read a population pyramid.
A population pyramid displays the percentage of population by age and gender. A pyramid with a broad base means a country has a relatively high percentage of young children.
Why Does Population Growth Vary among Regions?
The demographic transition is a change in a country's population.
Describe the four stages of the demographic transition.
Stage 1 has high CBR and CDR and low NIR. In stage 2 the NIR rises because the CDR declines. In stage 3 the NIR moderates because the CBR starts to decline. Stage 4 has low CBR, CDR, and NIR.
Summarize two approaches to reducing birth rates.
The CBR can be lowered either through education and health care or through diffusion of contraception.
Summarize Malthus's argument about the relationship between population and resources.
Malthus argued in 1798 that population would grow more rapidly than resources. Recent experience shows that population has not grown as rapidly as Malthus forecast.
Summarize the possible stage 5 of the demographic transition.
Japan and some European countries may be in a possiblestage 5, characterized by a decline in population, because CDR exceeds CBR.
Why Do Regions Face Health Threats?
The epidemiologic transition is a change in a society's distinctive types of diseases. Health care is better in developed countries, but even they are threatened by infectious diseases diffused through modern means of transportation.
Summarize the four stages of the epidemiologic transition.
Stage 1 was characterized by pestilence and famine, stage 2 by pandemics, and stages 3 and 4 by degenerative diseases.
Summarize the reasons for a stage 4 and possible stage 5 of the epidemiologic transition.
Evolution, poverty, and increased connections may influence the resurgence of infectious diseases.
Understand reasons for variations in health care between developed and developing countries.
Health care varies widely around the world because developing countries generally lack resources to provide the same level of health care as developed countries.
Agricultural density
The ratio of the number of farmers to the total amount of land suitable for agriculture.
Arithmetic density
The total number of people divided by the total land area.
Census
A complete enumeration of a population.
Crude birth rate (CBR)
(p. 50) The total number of live births in a year for every 1,000 people alive in the society.
Crude death rate (CDR)
(p. 50) The total number of deaths in a year for every 1,000 people alive in the society.
Demographic transition
(p. 56) The process of change in a society's population from a condition of high crude birth and death rates and low rate of natural increase to a condition of low crude birth and death rates, low rate of natural increase, and higher total population.
Demography
(p. 44) The scientific study of population characteristics.
Dependency ratio
(p. 54) The number of people under age 15 and over age 64 compared to the number of people active in the labor force.
Doubling time
(p. 50) The number of years needed to double a population, assuming a constant rate of natural increase.
Ecumene
(p. 47) The portion of Earth's surface occupied by permanent human settlement.
Epidemiologic transition
(p. 64) Distinctive causes of death in each stage of the demographic transition.
Epidemiology
(p. 64) The branch of medical science concerned with the incidence, distribution, and control of diseases that are prevalent among a population at a special time and are produced by some special causes not generally present in the affected locality.
Industrial Revolution
(p. 56) A series of improvements in industrial technology that transformed the process of manufacturing goods.
Infant mortality rate (IMR)
(p. 70) The total number of deaths in a year among infants under one year of age for every 1,000 live births in a society.
Life expectancy
(p. 65) The average number of years an individual can be expected to live, given current social, economic, and medical conditions. Life expectancy at birth is the average number of years a newborn infant can expect to live.
Medical revolution
(p. 56) Medical technology invented in Europe and North America that has diffused to the poorer countries in Latin America, Asia, and Africa. Improved medical practices have eliminated many of the traditional causes of death in poorer countries and enable
Natural increase rate (NIR)
(p. 50) The percentage growth of a population in a year, computed as the crude birth rate minus the crude death rate.
Overpopulation
(p. 44) A situation in which the number of people in an area exceeds the capacity of the environment to support life at a decent standard of living.
Pandemic
(p. 64) Disease that occurs over a wide geographic area and affects a very high proportion of the population.
Physiological density
(p. 48) The number of people per unit of area of arable land, which is land suitable for agriculture.
Population pyramid
(p. 54) A bar graph that represents thedistribution of population by age and sex.
Sex ratio
(p. 54) The number of males per 100 females in the population.
Total fertility rate (TFR)
(p. 52) The average number of children a woman will have throughout her childbearing years.
Zero population growth (ZPG)
(p. 57) A decline of the total fertility rate to the point where the natural increase rate equals zero.