1. Population

2. The Global Population
According to the US Census Bureau, the World’s population is:

3. World Vital Events Per Time Unit: 2009 (Figures may not add to totals due to rounding)
Births
Deaths
Natural Increase
Year
134,434,533
56,622,740
77,811,793
Month
11,202,878
4,718,562
6,484,316
Day
368,314
155,131
213,183
Hour
15,346
6,464
8,883
Minute
256
108
148
Second
4.3
1.8
2.5

4. Why do we study population?
Reliable information on population is the most important information for a geographer to have
Population problems are the most serious and pressing issues facing the world today
No study of a nation, province,
or other region would be complete
without an understanding of the
characteristics of the human population
in that area

5. Demography
Gathering and analyzing information about human populations is known as demography
Demography originally considered numerous factors such as numbers of people, age and gender ratios, birth and death rates, and migration and literacy rates
Today, demography involves any study of human population that deals with a population’s size, composition, distribution, density, or growth

6. Demography
Demographers are people who study population looking to find answers to the following types of questions:
How many? Where can this information be found?
What are the characteristics and composition of this population?
How is population changing?
How is the population distributed?
How quickly is this population changing?
What implication do these factors have for the future?

7. How do they get the information?
Census – a collection of data about a population
Started in early Roman times
Doomsday Book – England 1066 – one of the best known modern tallies of population
Collected through enumerators that go door-to-door (LDCs), or deliver censuses that are to be mailed back to the government (Canada)

8. What kind of information is collected?
Population
Religion
Nationality
Language
Education
Household income
Gender
Age
Occupation
Home ownership
Marital status
Possessions

9. Inaccuracies with data collection
MDCs such as Canada and the USA usually undercount their populations by 2 to 3%; LDCs lack resources for accurate census taking
Homelessness
Fear of entering slums and crime-ridden areas
Isolation
Confusion
Privacy Issues
Reputation
Interpretation of questions and data

10. Problems that result from inaccuracies
Unfair political representation
Unfair levels of funding
Lack of funding for homeless people
Product Failure
Faulty economic policies
Difficulty in comparing nations

11. How often do we conduct a census?
Frequency of censuses varies depending on the nation and their resources. It is very expensive to conduct a census and it requires a lot of people to collect the data.
In Canada – every 5 years
The Canadian government employs 4000 (Stats Canada), 500 work in the census department.
Canada hires 50,000 people on short-term contracts in a census year to work as enumerators.

12. The Global Population
In the 75 minutes you will be in this class today:
19,200 people were born
8,100 people died
The global population increased an estimated 11,100 people!
The rate of increase will be higher in 2010

13. The Global Population
After completing this presentation, the World’s population is now: