Population

Key Issue 1

POPULATION & MIGRATION MOVEMENT AND DIFFUSION

Deep Thought

• Million vs Billion• Your rich uncle has just died and has left you

one billion dollars. If you accept the money you must count it for eight hours a day at the rate of one dollar per second. When you are finished counting, the billion dollars will be yours and only then may you begin to spend it. Should you accept it?

Deep Thought

• No way--95 years!• What if it were a million dollars with the same

parameters?

• Sure--34 days

Why study population?

• Changes in generations--How many siblings in your family? Parents? Grandparents?

• Geographers want to know where and why population is– Food supply– Pollution– Economic growth

Why study population?

• More people alive that ever before• Population increased at a faster rate second

half of the 20th century than ever before• Virtually all population growth is in LDCs

– What’s the problem?

Demography

• Study of statistically how people are distributed spatially, and by age, gender, occupation and fertility.

• Remember, geographers are always interested in where and why

• Where growing, when growing, why growing

Major Population Centers

• 2/3 of population:– East Asia– South Asia– South East Asia– Western Europe

World Population Distribution

Koppen’s Climate Zones

What do these places have in common?

• Near oceans or rivers• Not in the interior of continent• Low lying• Fertile soil• Temperate climate (b/w 10*N and 55*N--

except SE Asia)• 2/3 of world population within 300 miles of

ocean--increases to 4/5 at 500 miles

East Asia

• China, Japan, North and South Korea, Taiwan• 1/5 of world pop. (5/6 in China)• China- more agrarian (2/3 of pop)• Japan and Korea- more urban (3/4 of pop)

East Asia Population Density

South Asia

• India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Nepal

• 1/5 of the world’s pop (3/4 in India)• 3/4 agrarian

South Asia Population Density

South East Asia

• Java, Sumatra, Borneo, Sulawesi, Phillipines• Indonesia-World’s 4th largest country• High percentage of people in rural areas

South East Asia Population Density

Europe

• 4 dozen countries• 1/9 of world pop• From Monaco to Russia• Live in cities, less than 20% farmers• Europeans do not produce enough food for

themselves• Trade and colonization

Europe Population Density

Ecumene

• The portion of Earth’s surface permanently occupied by humans

• Changes over time—how???• Approximately 3/4s of the world’s population

live on only 5% of Earth’s surface– Remember the apple?– Where can humans not live?

Changes to Ecumene--5000 B.C.

Ecumene-- A.D.1

Ecumene--A.D. 1500

Ecumene--A.D. 1900

POPULATION

• 6.9 billion people

• 85% of population live in LDC’s

• Just over 50 % of population live in urban areas

DENSITY

• Density – number of people per square mile (also Arithmetic)--answers “where”

• Agricultural - # of farmers per unit of arable land--answers “why”

• Physiological - # of people per unit of arable land--answers “why”

Arithmetic Population Density

Fig. 2-4: Arithmetic population density is the number of people per total land area. The highest densities are found in parts of Asia and Europe.

Physiological Density

Fig. 2-5: Physiological density is the number of people per arable land area. This is a good measure of the relation between population and agricultural resources in a society.

How about Egypt as an example –

• A.P.D. – 190 / mile• P.P.D. – 6,319 / mile (in 2004)• Egypt is said to be the most densely populated

country in the world in terms of “useable land”

Population growth has placed stress on environment

• Farms and erodes soils• Fishes and depletes oceans• Mines and consumes minerals/fuels• Builds and cuts/destroys forests• All of this made more problematic by 4-fold

pop. increases in 20th century• And for context…only 30% of earth is land.

Only fraction (1/3) of that is habitable/arable

How 7 Billion Occurs

• http://www.npr.org/2011/10/31/141816460/visualizing-how-a-population-grows-to-7-billion

STATUS OF WOMEN

• Pop. reduction responsibilities have fallen largely on women

• WHY? – Because low status = fewer rights• Female infanticide/abandonment• Education of women• FACT – there is an inverse proportion of

education level of women and population pop. growth