World Population Distribution, Density & Growth PDF

THE WORLD POPULATION - DISTRIBUTION, DENSITY AND GROWTH PATTERNS OF POPULATION DISTRIBUTION IN THE WORLD  The term population distribution refers to the way people are spaced over the earth’s surface.  90 per cent of the world population lives in about...

THE WORLD POPULATION - DISTRIBUTION, DENSITY AND GROWTH PATTERNS OF POPULATION DISTRIBUTION IN THE WORLD  The term population distribution refers to the way people are spaced over the earth’s surface.  90 per cent of the world population lives in about 10 per cent of its land area.  The 10 most populous countries of the world contribute about 60 per cent of the world’s population.  Of these 10 countries, 6 are located in Asia. DENSITY OF POPULATION  The ratio between the number of people to the size of land is the density of population. It is usually measured in persons per sq km. Density of Population=PopulationArea FACTORS INFLUENCING THE DISTRIBUTION OF POPULATION Geographical Factors  Availability of water: It is the most important factor for life. So, people prefer to live in areas where fresh water is easily available.  Landforms: People prefer living on flat plains and gentle slopes. This is because such areas are favourable for the production of crops and to build roads and industries.  Climate: An extreme climate such as very hot or cold deserts are uncomfortable for human habitation. Areas with a comfortable climate, where there is not much seasonal variation attract more people. Areas with very heavy rainfall or extreme and harsh climates have low population. Mediterranean regions were inhabited from early periods in history due to their pleasant climate.  Soils: Fertile soils are important for agricultural and allied activities. Therefore, areas which have fertile loamy soils have more people living on them as these can support intensive agriculture. Economic Factors  Minerals: Areas with mineral deposits attract industries. Mining and industrial activities generate employment. So, skilled and semi–skilled workers move to these areas and make them densely populated. Katanga Zambia copper belt in Africa is one such good example.   Urbanisation: Cities offer better employment opportunities, educational and medical facilities, better means of transport and communication. Good civic amenities and the attraction of city life draw people to the cities. It leads to rural to urban migration and cities grow in size. Mega cities of the world continue to attract large number of migrants every year.  Industrialisation: Industrial belts provide job opportunities and attract large numbers of people. The Kobe-Osaka region of Japan is thickly populated because of the presence of a number of industries. Social and Cultural Factors  Some places attract more people because they have religious or cultural significance.  In the same way – people tend to move away from places where there is social and political unrest.  Many a times governments offer incentives to people to live in sparsely populated areas or move away from overcrowded places. POPULATION GROWTH  The population growth or population change refers to the change in number of inhabitants of a territory during a specific period of time.  This change may be positive as well as negative.  It can be expressed either in terms of absolute numbers or in terms of percentage.  Population change in an area is an important indicator of economic development, social upliftment and historical and cultural background of the region. Some Basic Concepts of Population Geography  Growth of Population: Change of population in particular area between two points of time is known as growth of population. For example, if we deduct the population of India 2001 (102.70 crore) from population of 2011 (121.02 crore) then we shall get the growth of population (18.15 crores) in actual numbers.  Growth Rate of Population: This is the change of population expressed in percentage.  Natural Growth of Population: This is the population increased by difference between births and deaths in a particular region between two points of time. Natural Growth = Births – Deaths Actual Growth of Population = Births – Deaths + In Migration – Out Migration  Positive Growth of Population: This happens when the birth rate is more than the death rate between two points of time or when people from other countries migrate permanently to a region.   Negative Growth of Population: If the population decreases between two points of time it is known as negative growth of population. It occurs when the birth rate falls below the death rate or people migrate to other countries. Components of Population Change  There are three components of population change – births, deaths and migration.  The crude birth rate (CBR) is expressed as number of live births in a year per thousand of population. It is calculated as: CBR=BiPX1000  Here, CBR = Crude Birth Rate; Bi = live births during the year; P = Mid-year population of the area.  Death rate plays an active role in population change.  Crude Death Rate (CDR) is a simple method of measuring mortality of any area.  CDR is expressed in terms of number of deaths in a particular year per thousand of population in a particular region.  CDR is calculated as: CDR=DPX1000  Here, CDR=Crude Death Rate; D= Number of deaths; P=Estimated mid-year population of that year. Migration  When people move from one place to another, the place they move from is called the Place of Origin and the place they move to is called the Place of Destination.  Migration may be interpreted as a spontaneous effort to achieve a better balance between population and resources.  Migration may be permanent, temporary or seasonal.  It may take place from rural to rural areas, rural to urban areas, urban to urban areas and urban to rural areas.  Immigration: Migrants who move into a new place are called Immigrants.  Emigration: Migrants who move out of a place are called Emigrants.  People migrate for a better economic and social life.  There are two sets of factors that influence migration.  The Push factors make the place of origin seem less attractive for reasons like unemployment, poor living conditions, political turmoil, unpleasant climate, natural disasters, epidemics and socio-economic backwardness.  The Pull factors make the place of destination seem more attractive than the place of origin for reasons like better job opportunities and living conditions, peace and stability, security of life and property and pleasant climate. Trends in Population Growth  After the evolution and introduction of agriculture about 12,000 to 8,000 years ago, the size of population was small – roughly 8 million.   The expanding world trade during the sixteenth and seventeenth century, set the stage for rapid population growth.  World population exploded in the eighteenth century after the Industrial Revolution.  Human population increased more than ten times in the past 500 hundred years.  In the twentieth century itself the population has increased four times.  Technological advancement achieved so far helped in the reduction of death rate and provided a stage for accelerated population growth. Doubling Time of World Population  It took more than a million years for the human population to attain the one billion mark. But it took only 12 years for it to rise from 5 billion to 6 billion.  Developed countries are taking more time to double their population as compared to developing countries.  Most of the population growth is taking place in the developing world, where population is exploding. Spatial Pattern of Population Change   There is negative correlation between economic development and population growth.  Although the annual rate of population change (1.4 per cent) seems to be low it is actually not so. This is because:  When a small annual rate is applied to a very large population, it will lead to a large population change.  Even if the growth rate continues to decline, the total population grows each year. The infant mortality rate may have increased as has the death rate during childbirth. IMPACT OF POPULATION CHANGE  A small increase in population is desirable in a growing economy.  Population growth beyond a certain level leads to problems. Of these the depletion of resources is the most serious.  Population decline is also a matter of concern. It indicates that resources that had supported a population earlier are now insufficient to maintain the population.  The deadly HIV/AIDS epidemics in Africa and some parts of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and Asia have pushed up death rates and reduced average life expectancy. This has slowed down population growth. DEMOGRAPHIC TRANSITION  Demographic transition theory can be used to describe and predict the future population of any area.  The theory tells us that population of any region changes from high births and high deaths to low births and low deaths as society progresses from rural agrarian and illiterate to urban industrial and literate society.  These changes occur in stages which are collectively known as the demographic cycle. DEMOGRAPHIC TRANSITION THEORY First Stage  The first stage has high fertility and high mortality because people reproduce more to compensate for the deaths due to epidemics and variable food supply.  The population growth is slow and most of the people are engaged in agriculture where large families are an asset.  Life expectancy is low, people are mostly illiterate and have low levels of technology. Two hundred years ago all the countries of the world were in this stage. Second Stage  Fertility remains high in the beginning of but it declines with time.  This is accompanied by reduced mortality rate.  Improvements in sanitation and health conditions lead to decline in mortality.  Because of this gap the net addition to population is high. Last Stage  Both fertility and mortality decline considerably.  The population is either stable or grows slowly.  The population becomes urbanised, literate and has high technical know-how and deliberately controls the family size. POPULATION CONTROL MEASURES  Family planning is the spacing or preventing the birth of children.  Access to family planning services is a significant factor in limiting population growth and improving women’s health.  Propaganda, free availability of contraceptives and tax disincentives for large families are some of the measures which can help population control.   Thomas Malthus in his theory (1793) stated that the number of people would increase faster than the food supply.  Any further increase would result in a population crash caused by famine, disease and war.  The preventive checks are better than the physical checks.  For the sustainability of our resources, the world will have to control the rapid population increase. POPULATION COMPOSITION SEX COMPOSITION  The ratio between the number of women and men in the population is called the Sex Ratio.  In some countries it is calculated by using the formula: Male Population/Female Population X 1000 or the number of males per thousand females.  In India, the sex ratio is worked out using the formula: Female Population/Male Population X 1000 or the number of females per thousand males.  The sex ratio is an important information about the status of women in a country.  In regions where gender discrimination is rampant, the sex ratio is bound to be unfavourable to women.  Such areas are those where the practice of female foeticide, female infanticide and domestic violence against women are prevalent.  One of the reasons could be lower socio-economic status of women in these areas.  You must remember that more women in the population does not mean they have a better status. It could be that the men might have migrated to other areas for employment.  The world population reflects a sex ratio of 102 males per 100 females.  The highest sex ratio in the world has been recorded in Latvia where there are 85 males per 100 females. In contrast, in Qatar there are 311 males per 100 females.  The sex ratio is favourable for females in 139 countries of the world and unfavourable for them in the remaining 72 countries listed by the United Nations.  In general, Asia has a low sex ratio. Countries like China, India, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Afghanistan have a lower sex ratio.  On the other extreme is greater part of Europe (including Russia) where males are in minority.  A deficit of males in the populations of many European countries is attributed to better status of women, and an excessively male-dominated out-migration to different parts of the world in the past. AGE STRUCTURE   Age structure represents the number of people of different age groups.  This is an important indicator of population composition, since a large size of population in the age group of 15-59 indicates a large working population.  A greater proportion of population above 60 years represents an ageing population which requires more expenditure on health care facilities.  Similarly, high proportion of young population would mean that the region has a high birth rate and the population is youthful. AGE-SEX PYRAMID  The age-sex structure of a population refers to the number of females and males in different age groups.  A population pyramid is used to show the age-sex structure of the population.  The shape of the population pyramid reflects the characteristics of the population.  The left side shows the percentage of males while the right side shows the percentage of women in each age group. Expanding Populations  The age-sex pyramid of Nigeria is a triangular shaped pyramid with a wide base and is typical of less developed countries.  These have larger populations in lower age groups due to high birth rates  If you construct the pyramids for Bangladesh and Mexico, it would look the same. Constant Population  Australia’s age-sex pyramid is bell shaped and tapered towards the top.  This shows birth and death rates are almost equal leading to a near constant population. Declining Populations  The Japan pyramid has a narrow base and a tapered top showing low birth and death rates.  The population growth in developed countries is usually zero or negative. RURAL URBAN COMPOSITION  In general terms rural areas are those where people are engaged in primary activities and urban areas are those when majority of the  working population is engaged in non-primary activities.  The rural and urban differences in sex ratio in Canada and West European countries like Finland are just the opposite of those in African and Asian countries like Zimbabwe and Nepal respectively.  In Western countries, males outnumber females in rural areas and females outnumber the males in urban areas.  In countries like Nepal, Pakistan and India the case is reverse.  The excess of females in urban areas of U.S.A., Canada and Europe is the result of influx of females from rural areas to avail of the vast job opportunities.  In countries like India, female participation in farming activity in rural area is fairly high.  Shortage of housing, high cost of living, paucity of job opportunities and lack of security in cities, discourage women to migrate from rural to urban areas. LITERACY  Proportion of literate population of a country in an indicator of its socio-economic development as it reveals the standard of living, social status of females, availability of educational facilities and policies of government.  Level of economic development is both a cause and consequence of literacy.  In India – literacy rate denotes the percentage of population above 7 years of age, who is able to read, write and have the ability to do arithmetic calculations with understanding. OCCUPATIONAL STRUCTURE  Agriculture, forestry, fishing and mining are classified as primary activities.  Manufacturing is classified as secondary activity.  Trade, transport, communication and other services as tertiary activities.  Jobs related to research, information technology and developing ideas fall under quaternary activities.   The proportion of working population engaged in these four sectors is a good indicator of the levels of economic development of a nation.  This is because only a developed economy with industries and infrastructure can accommodate more workers in the secondary, tertiary and quaternary sector.  If the economy is still in the primitive stages, then the proportion of people engaged in primary activities world be high as it involves extraction of natural resources. HUMAN DEVELOPMENT GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT  Both growth and development refer to changes over a period of time.  The difference is that growth is quantitative and value neutral. It may have a positive or a negative sign.  Development means a qualitative change which is always value positive.  Development occurs when there is a positive change in quality.  Positive growth does not always lead to development.  For example, if the population of a city grows from one lakh to two lakhs over a period of time, we say the city has grown. However, if facilities like housing, provision of basic services and other characteristics remain the same, then this growth has not been accompanied by development.  For many decades, a country’s level of development was measured only in terms of its economic growth.  The idea that the quality of life people enjoy in a country, the opportunities they have and freedoms they enjoy, are important aspects of development.  These ideas were clearly spelt out for the first time in the late eighties and early nineties.  The works of two South Asian economists, Mahbub-ul-Haq and Amartya Sen are important in this regard.  The concept of human development was introduced by Dr Mahbub-ul-Haq.  He described human development as development that enlarges people’s choices and improves their lives.  The basic goal of development is to create conditions where people can live meaningful lives.  A meaningful life is not just a long one. It must be a life with some purpose. This means that people must be healthy, be able to develop their talents, participate in society and be free to achieve their goals.  Access to resources, health and education are the key areas in human development. THE FOUR PILLARS OF HUMAN DEVELOPMENT The idea of human development is supported by the concepts of equity, sustainability, productivity and empowerment. Equity   It refers to making equal access to opportunities available to everybody.  The opportunities available to people must be equal irrespective of their gender, race, income and in the Indian case, caste. Sustainability  It means continuity in the availability of opportunities.  To have sustainable human development, each generation must have the same opportunities.  All environmental, financial and human resources must be used keeping in mind the future. Productivity  It means human labour productivity or productivity in terms of human work.  Such productivity must be constantly enriched by building capabilities in people.  Ultimately, it is people who are the real wealth of nations.  Therefore, efforts to increase their knowledge, or provide better health facilities ultimately leads to better work efficiency. Empowerment  It means to have the power to make choices.  Such power comes from increasing freedom and capability.  Good governance and people-oriented policies are required to empower people.  The empowerment of socially and economically disadvantaged groups is of special importance. APPROACHES TO HUMAN DEVELOPMENT This is one of the oldest approaches to human development. Human (a) Income development is seen as being linked to income. The idea is that the Approach level of income reflects the level of freedom an individual enjoys. Higher the level of income, the higher is the level of human development. This approach looks at human beings as beneficiaries or targets of all development activities. The approach argues for higher government (b) Welfare expenditure on education, health, social secondary and amenities. Approach People are not participants in development but only passive recipients. The government is responsible for increasing levels of human development by maximising expenditure on welfare. This approach was initially proposed by the International Labour (c) Basic Organisation (ILO). Six basic needs i.e.: health, education, food, water Needs Approach supply, sanitation, and housing were identified. The question of human choices is ignored and the emphasis is on the provision of basic needs of defined sections.  (d) This approach is associated with Prof. Amartya Sen. Building human Capabilit capabilities in the areas of health, education and access to resources y Approach is the key to increasing human development. MEASURING HUMAN DEVELOPMENT  The human development index (HDI) ranks the countries based on their performance in the key areas of health, education and access to resources.  Each of these dimensions is given a weightage of 1/3.  These rankings are based on a score between 0 to 1. The closer a score is to one, the greater is the level of human development and viva-versa.  The human development index measures attainments in human development.  Health indicator - life expectancy at birth. A higher life expectancy means that people have a greater chance of living longer and healthier lives.  Education indicator - The adult literacy rate and the gross enrolment ratio represent access to knowledge. The number of adults who are able to read and write and the number of children enrolled in schools show how easy or difficult it is to access knowledge in a particular country.  Access to resources is measured in terms of purchasing power.  The human poverty index is related to the human development index. This index measures the shortfall in human development.  It is a non-income measure.  The probability of not surviving till the age of 40, the adult illiteracy rate, the number of people who do not have access to clean water, and the number of small children who are underweight are all taken into account to show the shortfall in human development in any region.  Often the human poverty index is more revealing than the human development index.  Looking at both these measures of human development together gives an accurate picture of the human development situation in a country. INTERNATIONAL COMPARISONS  Size of the territory and per capita income are not directly related to human development.  Often smaller countries have done better than larger ones in human development.  Similarly, relatively poorer nations have been ranked higher than richer neighbours in terms of human development.  Sri Lanka, Trinidad and Tobago have a higher rank than India in the human development index despite having smaller economies.  Within India, Kerala performs much better than Punjab and Gujarat in human development despite having lower per capita income.  Countries can be classified into four groups on the basis of the human development scores earned by them.  Countries with very high human development index are those which have a score of over 0.800.  Countries with higher human development are those where a lot of investment in the social sector has taken place.  Countries with medium levels of human development form the largest group. Some countries from this group were former colonies while many others have emerged after the break up of the erstwhile Soviet Union in 1990.  A large proportion of these are small countries fall under low human development index as they have been going through political turmoil and social instability in the form of civil war, famine or a high incidence of diseases. There is an urgent need to address the human development requirements of this group through well thought out policies.  India was 126th in Human Development Index as per Human Development Report, 2006. According to HDI, 2019, India’s rank has further gone down to 129 with a score which falls in the medium human development category.