World Population Distribution PDF

The people of a country are its real wealth. It Unit-II is they, who are the actual resources and make Chapter-2 use of the country’s other resources and decide its polici...

The people of a country are its real wealth. It Unit-II is they, who are the actual resources and make Chapter-2 use of the country’s other resources and decide its policies. Ultimately a country is known by its people. It is important to know how many women and men a country has, how many children are born each year, how many people die and how? Whether they live in cities or villages, can they read or write and what work do they do? These are what you will study about in this unit. The world at the beginning of 21st century recorded the presence of over 6 billion population. We shall discuss the patterns of their distribution and density here. The World Population Why do people prefer to live in certain Distribution, Density and regions and not in others? The population of the world is unevenly Growth distributed. The remark of George B. Cressey about the population of Asia that “Asia has many places where people are few and few place where people are very many” is true about the pattern of population distribution of the world also. PATTERNS OF POPULATION DISTRIBUTION IN THE WORLD Patterns of population distribution and density help us to understand the demographic characteristics of any area. The term population distribution refers to the way people are spaced over the earth’s surface. Broadly, 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. Identify these six countries of Asia. Not gold but only (Wo)men can make a people great and strong. (Wo)men who for truth and honour’s sake, stand fast and suffer long (Wo)men who toil while others sleep – who dare while others flee – they build a nation’s pillars deep and lift it to the sky. Ralph Waldo Emerson Fig. 2.1: Most Populous Countries Reprint 2024-25 DENSITY OF POPULATION (iii) Climate: An extreme climate such as very Each unit of land has limited capacity to hot or cold deserts are uncomfortable for human habitation. Areas with a support people living on it. Hence, it is comfortable climate, where there is not necessary to understand the ratio between the much seasonal variation attract more numbers of people to the size of land. This ratio people. Areas with very heavy rainfall or is the density of population. It is usually extreme and harsh climates have low measured in persons per sq km population. Mediterranean regions were Population inhabited from early periods in history due Density of Population = Area to their pleasant climate. For example, area of Region X is 100 sq (iv) Soils: Fertile soils are important for km and the population is 1,50,000 persons. agricultural and allied activities. Therefore, The density of population is calculated as: areas which have fertile loamy soils have more people living on them as these can 1,50,000 support intensive agriculture. Can you Density = 100 name some areas in India which are thinly populated due to poor soils? = 1,500 person/sq km What does this tell you about Region X? II. Economic Factors FACTORS INFLUENCING THE (i) Minerals: Areas with mineral deposits DISTRIBUTION OF POPULATION attract industries. Mining and industrial I. Geographical Factors activities generate employment. So, skilled and semi–skilled workers move to these (i) Availability of water: Water is the most areas and make them densely populated. important factor for life. So, people prefer Katanga Zambia copper belt in Africa is to live in areas where fresh water is easily one such good example. available. Water is used for drinking, (ii) Urbanisation: Cities offer better bathing and cooking – and also for cattle, employment opportunities, educational crops, industries and navigation. It is and medical facilities, better means of because of this that river valleys are among transport and communication. Good civic the most densely populated areas of amenities and the attraction of city life draw the world. people to the cities. It leads to rural to (ii) Landforms: People prefer living on flat urban migration and cities grow in size. plains and gentle slopes. This is because Mega cities of the world continue to attract large number of migrants every year. such areas are favourable for the production of crops and to build roads and industries. The mountainous and Yet city life can be very taxing…. think of hilly areas hinder the development of some of the unpleasant aspects of city life. transport network and hence initially do not favour agricultural and industrial (iii) Industrialisation: Industrial belts provide development. So, these areas tend to be job opportunities and attract large less populated. The Ganga plains are numbers of people. These include not just among the most densely populated factory workers but also transport areas of the world while the mountains operators, shopkeepers, bank employees, zones in the Himalayas are scarcely doctors, teachers and other service populated. providers. The Kobe-Osaka region of 8 Fundamentals of Human Geography Reprint 2024-25  Japan is thickly populated because of the Positive Growth of Population: This presence of a number of industries. happens when the birth rate is more than the death rate between two points of time or when people from other countries migrate III. Social and Cultural Factors permanently to a region. Some places attract more people because they Negative Growth of Population: If the have religious or cultural significance. In the population decreases between two points same way – people tend to move away from of time it is known as negative growth of places where there is social and political population. It occurs when the birth rate falls unrest. Many a times governments offer below the death rate or people migrate to incentives to people to live in sparsely other countries. populated areas or move away from overcrowded places. Can you think of some examples from your region? Components of Population Change POPULATION GROWTH There are three components of population change – births, deaths and migration. The population growth or population change The crude birth rate (CBR) is expressed as refers to the change in number of inhabitants of number of live births in a year per thousand of a territory during a specific period of time. This population. It is calculated as: change may be positive as well as negative. It can be expressed either in terms of absolute B CBR   1000 numbers or in terms of percentage. Population P change in an area is an important indicator of Here, CBR = Crude Birth Rate; B = live economic development, social upliftment and births during the year; P= Estimated mid year historical and cultural background of the region. population of the area. Death rate plays an active role in population change. Population growth occurs Some Basic Concepts of not only by increasing births rate but also due Population Geography to decreasing death rate. Crude Death Rate (CDR) is a simple method of measuring Growth of Population : Change of mortality of any area. CDR is expressed in terms population in particular area between two points of time is known as growth of of number of deaths in a particular year per population. For example, if we deduct the thousand of population in a particular region. population of India 2001 (102.70 crore) from CDR is calculated as: population of 2011 (121.02 crore) then we shall get the growth of population (18.15 D CDR   1000 crores) in actual numbers. P Growth Rate of Population : This is the Here, CDR=Crude Death Rate; D= Number change of population expressed in of deaths; P=Estimated mid-year population of percentage. that year. Natural Growth of Population: This is the By and large mortality rates are affected population increased by difference between by the region’s demographic structure, social births and deaths in a particular region advancement and levels of its economic between two points of time. development. Natural Growth = Births – Deaths Migration Actual Growth of Population : This is Apart from birth and death there is another way Births – Deaths + In Migration – Out by which the population size changes. Migration The World Population: Distribution, Density and Growth 9 Reprint 2024-25  When people move from one place to DEMOGRAPHIC TRANSITION another, the place they move from is called the Demographic transition theory can be used to Place of Origin and the place they move to is describe and predict the future population of called the Place of Destination. The place of any area. The theory tells us that population of origin shows a decrease in population while the any region changes from high births and high population increases in the place of destination. deaths to low births and low deaths as society Migration may be interpreted as a spontaneous progresses from rural agrarian and illiterate to effort to achieve a better balance between urban industrial and literate society. These population and resources. changes occur in stages which are collectively Migration may be permanent, temporary known as the demographic cycle. or seasonal. It may take place from rural to rural areas, rural to urban areas, urban to Rural, Demographic Urban, urban areas and urban to rural areas. Agrarian Do you realise that the same person is both Transition Industrial an immigrant and an emigrant? Immigration: Migrants who move into a new Fig. 2.2 explains the three-staged model place are called Immigrants. of Demographic Transition Theory: Emigration: Migrants who move out of a The first stage has high fertility and place are called Emigrants. high mortality because people reproduce more to compensate for the deaths due to Can you think of reasons why people epidemics and variable food supply. The migrate? population growth is slow and most of the people are engaged in agriculture where People migrate for a better economic and large families are an asset. Life expectancy social life. There are two sets of factors that is low, people are mostly illiterate and have influence migration. low levels of technology. Two hundred years The Push factors make the place of origin ago all the countries of the world were in seem less attractive for reasons like this stage. unemployment, poor living conditions, political turmoil, unpleasant climate, natural disasters, epidemics and socio-economic High Fluctuating backwardness. Stage I Stage II Stage III The Pull factors make the place of Expanding BR destination seem more attractive than the place 35 of origin for reasons like better job opportunities CBR/CDR Natural and living conditions, peace and stability, Increase in Low Fluctuating Population security of life and property and pleasant climate. 15 DR Bangladesh Peru Sri Lanka Canada Present Rainforest Kenya Japan World tribes USA Human population increased more than ten times in examples Time the past 500 hundred years. In the twentieth century itself the population has increased four times. Fig. 2.2: Demographic Transition Theory 10 Fundamentals of Human Geography Reprint 2024-25  Fertility remains high in the beginning of POPULATION CONTROL MEASURES second stage but it declines with time. This is accompanied by reduced mortality rate. Family planning is the spacing or preventing the birth of children. Access to family planning Improvements in sanitation and health services is a significant factor in limiting conditions lead to decline in mortality. Because population growth and improving women’s of this gap the net addition to population health. Propaganda, free availability of is high. contraceptives and tax disincentives for large In the last stage, both fertility and families are some of the measures which can mortality decline considerably. The help population control. population is either stable or grows slowly. Thomas Malthus in his theory (1798) The population becomes urbanised, literate stated that the number of people would and has high technical know- how and increase faster than the food supply. Any deliberately controls the family size. further increase would result in a population This shows that human beings are crash caused by famine, disease and war. The extremely flexible and are able to adjust preventive checks are better than the physical their fertility. checks. For the sustainability of our resources, In the present day, different countries are the world will have to control the rapid at different stages of demographic transition. population increase. EXERCISES 1. Choose the right answer from the four alternatives given below. (i) Which one of the following continents has the highest growth of population? (a) Africa (c) Asia (b) South America (d) North America (ii) Which one of the following is not an area of sparse population? (a) The Atacama (c) Equatorial region (b) South-east Asia (d) Polar regions (iii) Which one of the following is not a push factor ? (a) Water shortage (c) Unemployment (b) Medical/educational facilities (d) Epidemics (iv) Which one of the following is not a fact ? (a) Human population increased more than ten times during the past 500 years. (b) Population growth is high in the first stage of demographic transition? 2. Answer the following questions in about 30 words. (i) Name three geographical factors that influence the distribution of population. The World Population: D istribution, Density and Growth 11 Reprint 2024-25  (ii) There are a number of areas with high population density in the world. Why does this happen? (iii) What are the three components of population change? 3. Distinguish between: (i) Birth rate and death rate. (ii) Push factors and pull factors of migration. 4. Answer the following questions in about 150 words. (i) Discuss the factors influencing the distribution and density of population in the world. (ii) Discuss the three stages of demographic transition. Map Skill On the outline map of the world, show and name the following. (i) Countries of Europe and Asia with negative growth rate of population. Project/Activity (i) Has someone in your family migrated? Write about her/his place of destination. What made her/him migrate? (ii) Write a brief report on the distribution and density of population in your state. 12 Fundamentals of Human Geography Reprint 2024-25