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.
Carrying Capacity
The largest number of people that the environment of a particular area can support
Census
A complete enumeration of a population.
Crude Birth Rate (CBR)
The total number of live births in a year for every 1000 people alive in the society.
Crude Death Rate (CDR)
The total number of deaths in a year for every 1000 people alive in the society.
Demographic Transition
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 a higher total population.
Demographic Transition Cycle, Stage 1
This stage of the DTC is characterized by a high CDR and a high CBR
Demographic Transition Cycle, Stage 2
This stage of the DTC has a high CBR, but CDR starts to fall off dramatically thanks to either the Medical Revolution or the Industrial Revolution
Demographic Transition Cycle, Stage 3
This stage of the DTC has a declining CBR, as well as a CDR that continues to fall
Demographic Transition Cycle, Stage 4
This stage of the DTC is characterized by a low CDR, and a CBR that continues to decline, heading towards zero population growth
Demographic Transition Cycle, Stage 5
This stage of the DTC is characterized by a low CDR, but an even lower CBR, meaning that the overall population of the country is actually shrinking
Demography
The scientific study of population characteristics
Dependency Ratio
The number of people under the age of 15 and over the age 64, compared to the number of people active in the labor force.
Doubling Time
The number of years needed to double a population, assuming a constant rate of natural increase.
Ecumene
The portion of Earth's surface occupied by permanent human settlement.
Elderly support ratio
The number of working age people divided by the number of people 65 and older
Epidemiologic Transition
Distinctive causes of death in each stage of the demographic transition.
Epidemiologic Transition, Stage 1
This stage of the Epidemiologic Transition is characterized by lots of death thanks to infectious and parasitic diseases (like the Black Plague)
Epidemiologic Transition, Stage 2
This stage of the Epidemiologic Transition is characterized by a slowing of the spread of pandemic diseases, thanks in large part to improvements in sanitation
Epidemiologic Transition, Stage 3
This stage of the Epidemiologic Transition is characterized by most people dying from chronic diseases associated with aging (like cancer and heart disease)
Epidemiologic Transition, Stage 4
This stage of the Epidemiologic Transition is characterized by many people dying from chronic diseases, but thanks to medicine, the age that people die from those diseases is delayed
Epidemiologic Transition, Stage 5
This stage of the Epidemiologic Transition is characterized by the reemergence of deaths from infectious diseases thanks in large part to the evolution of those infectious diseaeses
Infant Mortality Rate (IMR)
The total number of deaths in a year among infants under one year old for every 1000 live births in a society.
Malthus, Thomas
Believed that the world's rate of population was outpacing the growth of food production, which would eventually lead to major world crises
Medical Revolution
Medical technology invented in Europe and North America that is diffused to the poorer countries of Latin America, Asia, and Africa. Improved medical practices have eliminated many of the traditional causes of death in poorer countries and enabled more people to live longer and healthier lives.
Natural Increase Rate (NIR)
The percentage growth of a population in a year, computed as the crude birth rate minus the crude death rate.
Natality
A different term to express the birth rate of a population
Neo-Maltusian
Believe that world population is growing faster than many resources, not just food. Scarcity of resources will soon result in more violence.
Overpopulation
The number of people in an area exceeds the capacity of the environment to support life at a decent standard of living.
Pandemic
Disease that occurs over a wide geographic area and affects a very high proportion of the population
Physiological Density
The number of people per unit of area of arable land, which is land suitable for agriculture.
Population Pyramid
A bar graph representing the distribution of population by age and sex.
Sex Ratio
The number of males per 100 females in a population
Total Fertility Rate (TFR)
The aver number of children a woman will have throughout her childbearing years.
Zero Population Growth (ZPG)
A decline in the total fertility rate to the point where the natural increase rate equals zero
Contagious diffusion
The spread of a disease, innovation, or cultural traits through direct contact with another person or another place.
Environmental Determinism
an approach on how the physical environment caused social development, with an emphasis on how the physical environment LIMITED development in some cases
Formal region
An area within which everyone shares in common one or more distinctive characteristics
Functional region
An area organized around a node or focal point
Hierarchical diffusion
The spread of an idea from persons or nodes of authority or power to other persons or places
Possibilism
The theory that the physical environment may set limits on human actions, but people have the ability to adjust the physical environment and choose a course of action from many alternatives
Relocation diffusion
The spread of ideas, innovations, behaviors, and the like from one place to another through migration.
Stimulus diffusion
The spread of an idea, even if the part of the idea is not that popular
Vernacular region
A place that people believe exists as a part of their cultural identity
Asylum Seeker
Someone who has migrated to another country in the hope of being recognized as a refugee
Brain Drain
Large-scale immigration by talented people
Chain Migration
Migration of people to a specific location because relatives or members of the same nationality previously migrated there
Circular Migration
The temporary movement of a migrant worker between home and host countries to seek employment
Circulation
Short-term, repetitive or cyclical movements that recur on a regular basis
Core-Periphery Migration Patterns
Idea that when people migrate, they tend to move from LDCs to MDCs and from rural areas to urban areas.
Desertification
Degradation of land (especially in semi-arid places) because of human actions
Emigration
Migration FROM a location
Forced Migration
The term that describes someone that has been forced to leave his/her country to escape war, a natural disaster or persecution
Immigration
Migration TO a new location
Internal Migration
Permanent movement within one region of a country
Internally Displaced Person (IDP)
Someone who has been forced to migrate for reasons similar to a refugee, but has not crossed an international border
International migration
Permanent movement from one country to another
Interregional Migration
Permanent movement from one region of a country to another region
Intervening Obstacle
An environmental or cultural feature of the landscape that hinders migration
Intraregional Migration
Moving from one part of a region to another part of the same region (like moving from Chicago to the suburbs)
Migration Transition
A change in the migration pattern in a society has it moves through the DTC
Net Migration
Immigration - emigration (like a math equation)
Pull Factors
Encourage people to find a new home because of the good things offered in the new place
Push Factors
Encourage people to leave their current homes because things are bad at home
Quota
In reference to migration, a law that places maximum limits on the number of people who can immigrate to a country each year
Refugees
People who are forced to migrate from their home country and cannot return for fear of persecution because of their race, religion, nationality, membership in a social group or political opinion
Remittance
Transfer of money from workers in one country, back to the country from which they emigrated
Step Migration
Migration to a distance destination that occurs in stages
Unauthorized Immigrant
A person who enters a country without the proper documents to do so
Voluntary Migration
Permanent movement undertaken by choice
Conservation
The sustainable use and management of a natural resource through consuming it at a less rapid rate than it can be replaced
Distance decay
The diminishing in importance and eventual disappearance of a phenomenon with increasing distance from its origin
Latitude
The numbering system used to indicate the location of parallels drawn on a globe and measuring distance north and south of the equator
Longitude
The numbering system used to indicate the location of meridians drawn on a globe and measuring distance east and west of the prime meridian
Preservation
Maintenance of a resource in its present condition with as little human impact as possible.
Space-time compression
A term applied by geographers to describe the reduction in the time it takes for something to reach another place (over time)