Population Geography I

a. Demography: The study of human populations

b. Cohort: A population group unified by a specified common characteristics

c. Census: A detailed counting of the population that occurs in the US every ten years per the US Constitution

POPULATION STATISTICS

a. Life expectancy: The average length of a person’s life

b. Crude birth rate (CBR): Number of live births per 1,000 people

c. Total fertility rate (TFR): The average number of children born to each woman over her lifetime d. Replacement fertility rate: When the TFR is ≥ 2.1

e. Crude death rate (CDR): Number of deaths per 1,000 people

f. Infant mortality rate: Percentage of children who die before their first birthday

g. Child mortality rate

h. Natural increase rate (NIR): CBR – CDR (annually) 1) In developed regions (North America, East Asia, Europe) NIR is negative 2) In developing regions (Africa, Asia, Latin America) NIR is positive

Rates of birth, death, and natural increase per 1,000 population Natural Increase Source: United Nations, World Population Prospects: The 2004 Revision, Birth and Death Rates, Worldwide

Factors that determine a population’s NIR: Economic development Cultural traditions Education Government policy Gender equality Healthcare

i. Population Density: The relationship between number of inhabitants and area they occupy 1) Arithmetic: Number of people ÷ total land area 2) Physiological: Number of people  total amount of arable land

j. Demographic Accounting Equation: Summarizes the amount of growth or decline in a population within a country during a particular time period taking into account both natural increase and net migration. Formula: P = (B - D) + (I - E) (P = population; B = births; D = deaths; I = immigration; E = emigration)

POPULATION CHANGE OVER TIME

a. Human population is increasing even though growth rate is decreasing.

Sources: UN Population Division and Population Reference Bureau.

A.D A.D A.D B.C B.C B.C B.C B.C B.C B.C. 1+ million years Old Stone Age New Stone Age Bronze Age Iron Age Middle Ages Modern Age Black Death—The Plague A.D A.D A.D Future Billions Source: Population Reference Bureau; and United Nations, World Population Projections to 2100 (1998). World Population Growth Through History

b. Doubling time: Time period required for a population to double Formula: DT = 70 ÷ NRI

c. J-Curve: The curve of world population due to exponential population growth (compounded growth)

d. S-Curve: The curve as humans hit consistently higher homeostatic plateaus as they increase the carrying capacity of the earth through technological advances

e. Population Explosion: The large worldwide population growth

Why ?? 1) Life expectancy and birth rates increasing because of industrialization, technology, and medical innovations (epidemic diseases used to be the #1 global killer; it is now non-communicable diseases, which are predicted to account for 50% of all global deaths by 2030) 2) Population growth is compounded (3% of next year’s pop will be > 3% of this year’s) 3) Population (Demographic) Momentum: Number of births increase even as TFR decreases because of the % of women reaching child-bearing ages

f. Population Implosion: The recent slowing down of the world’s population growth rate due to decreased birth rates in rich nations 1) Declining birthrates: TFR = 5 in 1950; TFR = 2.4 in 2012 (ranging from 1.1 in Latvia to 7.1 in Niger) 2) Longer life expectancies: Estimated that by 2050, one out of every six people will be > 60

Population Proportion 65+,

POPULATION DISTRIBUTION

a. Ecumene: Inhabitable area of the earth’s surface b. Nonecumene: Uninhabited or very sparsely populated area of the earth’s surface

c. Approximate world population: 7.1 billion 1)80% of the world’s population lives in less- developed countries; currently 97% of births are in Africa, Asia or Latin America 2)1/3 of the world’s population live in two countries: China and India 3)About 60% of the world’s population is Asian

d. East Asia 1) 1/5 of the world’s population 2) China is the most populous country (1.35 billion) 3) China’s population clustered on east coast (2/3 in rural areas); Japan and Korea’s are clustered in urban areas

e. South Asia 1) 1/5 of the world’s population 2) India is the 2 nd most populous country (1.22 billion) 3) India, Bangladesh (8 th ), and Pakistan (6 th ) populations clustered in Indus and Ganges river valleys 4) 75% live in poor rural areas

f. Southeast Asia 1) Population scattered across mainland and islands 2) Indonesia is the 4 th most populous country (251 million) and Vietnam is one of the fastest growing countries in the world 3) Most live in rural areas as either fishermen or rice farmers

g. Europe 1) 1/9 of the world’s population (EU = 504 million) 2) 75% live in urban areas clustered in England, Germany, and Belgium 3) Europe is the first region in history to experience a long-term population decline

Case Study: Russia –Population projected to drop from 140M => 104M by 2050 –Russia’s TFR = 1.5 (one of the lowest in the world) –Putin has called for the birthrate to grow by at least 25% by 2015

h. NE United States/SE Canada 1) Almost 50% of North America’s population located in this region 2) US is the 3 rd most populous country (317 million)

SUSTAINABILITY

a. Carrying capacity: The number of people a given area can support

b. Homeostatic plateau: Population = carrying capacity of an area

c. Overpopulation Not based on number of people, but on availability of resources in a given area

d. Underpopulation Population is less than what the resources of the area can support