Agricultural Density
The ratio of the number of farmers to the total amount of land suitable for agriculture
Agricultural Revolution
The time when human beings first domesticated plants and animals and no longer relied entirely on hunting and gathering
Arithmetic Density
The total number of people divided by the total land area.
Baby Boom
A cohort of individuals born in the United States between 1946 and 1964, which was just after World War II in a time of relative peace and prosperity. These conditions allowed for better education and job opportunities, encouraging high rates of both marr
Baby Bust
Period of time during the 1960s and 1970s when fertility rates in the United States dropped as large numbers of women from the baby boom generation sought higher levels of education and more competitive jobs, causing them to marry later in life. As such,
Carrying Capacity
Largest number of individuals of a population that a environment can support
Census
A complete enumeration of a population.
Crude Birth Rate (CBR)
total number of live births per every 1000 people
Crude Death Rate (CDR)
total number of deaths per every 1000 people
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 crude death and low rate of natural increase and a higher total pop.
Demography
The scientific study of population characteristics.
Dependency Ratio
The number of people under the age of 15 and over 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.
Epidemiology
Branch of medical science concerned with the incidence, distribution, and control of diseases that affect large numbers of people.
Exponential Growth
Growth that occurs when a fixed percentage of new people is added to a population each year. Exponential growth is compound because the fixed growth rate applies to an ever-increasing population.
Industrial Revolution
A series of improvements in industrial technology that transformed the process of manufacturing goods.
Infant Mortality Rate (IMR)
The percentage of children who die before their first birthday within a particular area or country.
Life Expectancy
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
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 pe
Natural Increase Rate (NIR)
The percentage growth of a population in a year, computed as the crude birth rate minus the crude death rate.
Neo-Malthusian
Advocacy of population control programs to ensure enough resources for current and future populations.
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 Density
A measurement of the number of persons per unit land area.
Population Pyramid
A model used in population geography to show the age and sex distribution of a particular population.
Sex Ratio
The number of males per 100 females in the population.
Total Fertility Rate (TFR)
The average number of children a woman will have throughout her childbearing years.
Zero Population Growth
A decline of the total fertility rate to the point where the natural increase rate equals zero.
J-curve
a growth curve that depicts exponential growth
Thomas Malthus
Eighteenth-century English intellectual who warned that population growth threatened future generations because, in his view, population growth would always outstrip increases in agricultural production.
Contraceptives
a device or drug serving to prevent pregnancy
Green Revolution
Rapid diffusion of new agricultural technology, especially new high-yield seeds and fertilizers.
One Child Policy
A program established by the Chinese government in 1979 to slow population growth in China.
pronatalist policies
government policies that encourage child birth such as tax breaks and flexible work hours
antinatalist policies
seek to reduce birth rates and strongly encourage or require that women limit their fertility
Demographic Momentum
this is the tendency for growing population to continue growing after a fertility decline because of their young age distribution. This is important because once this happens a country moves to a different stage in the demographic transition model.
Ester Boserup
The Danish economist (1910-1999) who argued that rising populations will stimulate human societies to produce more food through innovation and technology.
Brain Drain
Large-scale emigration by talented people.
Chain Migration
migration of people to a specific location because relatives or members of the same nationality previously migrated there
Cyclical Migration
Short-term, repetitive, or cyclical movements that recur on a regular basis.
Counterurbanization
Net migration from urban to rural areas in more developed countries.
Emigration
Migration from a location
Forced Migration
Permanent movement compelled usually by cultural factors.
Guest Workers
Workers who migrate to the more developed countries of Northern and Western Europe, usually from Southern of Eastern Europe or from North Africa, in search of higher-paying jobs.
Immigration
Migration to a new location
Internal Migration
The permanent or semipermanent movement of individuals within a particular country.
International Migration
Permanent movement from one country to another.
Interregional Migration
Permanent movement from one region of a country to another.
Intervening Obstacle
An environmental or cultural feature of the landscape that hinders migration.
Intraregional Migration
Permanent movement within one region of a country.
Migration
Form of relocation diffusion involving permanent move to a new location.
Mobility
All types of movement from one location to another.
Net Migration
difference between the level of immigration and the level of emigration
Pull Factor
Factor that induces people to move to a new location.
Push Factor
Factors that induce people to leave old residences.
Quotas
In reference to migration, laws that place 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.
Unauthorized Immigration
People who enter a country without proper documents.
Voluntary Migration
Permanent movement undertaken by choice.
Seasonal Migration
The process of moving for a period of time in response to labor or climate conditions
Climate Refugee
People displaced by environmental changes brought about by climate change, such as rising sea levels, drought, and increased exposure to hurricanes and floods
Remittances
Money migrants send back to family and friends in their home countries, often in cash, forming an important part of the economy in many poorer countries
Gravity Model
A mathematical formula that describes the level of interaction between two places, based on the size of their populations and their distance from each other.
Rural-urban migration
the movement of people from the countryside to the city
step migration
Migration to a distant destination that occurs in stages, for example, from farm to nearby village and later to a town and city
transnational migration
regular movement of a person between two or more countries resulting in a new cultural identity
Transhumance
The seasonal migration of livestock between mountains and lowland pastures.
Ravenstien's Laws of Migration
Set of "laws" that can be organized into 3 groups: the reasons why migrants move, the distance they typically travel, and their characteristics
asylum seeker
Someone who has migrated to another country in the hope of being recognized as a refugee
Internally Displaced Person (IDP)
Someone who has been forced to migrate for similar political reasons as a refugee but has not migrated across an international border
Friction of Distance
A measure of how much absolute distance affects the interaction between two places.