1. Where Do People Live?
Chapter 3, Section 1

2. Reach Into Your Background
Would you like to live in a city or in the country?
List some interesting things you could do if you lived far from a city.
List the things you would enjoy most about a city.

3. What is Population Distribution?
The world’s population (total number of people) is spread unevenly over the Earth’s surface.
New York City vs. Sahara Desert
Population distribution  describes the way the population is spread out over the Earth
The reasons population is distributed as it is may seem unclear.
Demographers  study the populations of the world
Examine birth, marriage, death
Why do people choose to live in a certain area?

4. Uneven Population Distribution
Landforms  affect where people live
Few people can live in mountainous or hot deserts with dry land
Many factors make a location a good place for people to live.
Bodies of water  trade and travel; fresh water (drinking and farming)
Flat coastal areas
Flat, fertile soil  grow food and build easily
Plains and valleys

5. Uneven Population Distribution
Other factors
Climate  temperate; adequate rainfall
Abundant natural resources  build houses and make products
Maps on Pgs in textbook

6. Populous Continents
Because of these factors, 81% of the Earth’s people (4.9 billion people) live in Asia, Europe, and North America.
These 3 continents = 53% of world’s land
Fertile soil, plains, valleys, fresh water, rich in natural resources, good climates

7. Not Populous Continents
Other continents have smaller populations partly because it’s hard to live there.
Australia = 3 million square miles (size of the continental U.S.) but only 19 million people live there
About the same number of people live in the state of New York
Australia’s environment  mostly desert/dry grassland; few rivers/little rainfall
Most people live along the coasts.

8. Not Populous Continents
Africa  landforms and climate limit population
20% of the world’s land, but only 13% of world’s population.
2 of the world’s largest deserts (north and south)
Broad bands of land with little rain
Rainforest long the equator
Many people live along narrow coasts

9. Not Populous Continents
South Africa  population limited by landforms and climates
340 million people
Live along the Atlantic coast
Soaring mountains, vast dry plains, thick rain forests

10. World Population Distribution

11. Population Density
Population Density  the average number of people who live in a square mile
High density country = people crowded together
Japan has one of the highest population densities in the world.
Almost all of its 126 million people live on only 16% of the land.
Tokyo  more than 25,000 people per square mile

12. Japan’s Population Density (2011)

13. Population Density Canada = low population density
9 people per square mile
Canada is bigger than the United States, but only 31 million people live there.
(Japan has 95 million more people.)
Cool climate and short growing season affect population.

14. Canada’s Population Density (2002)

15. Studying Population Density
Demographers divide the number of people living in a place by the number of square miles of that place.
California
Population = 33,871,648 people
Land Area = 155,973 square miles
Average Population Density = people per square mile

16. California’s Population Density (2010)

17. Studying Population Density
On a world population density map, different colors show areas with heavy population.
Population Density Map vs. Physical Map worksheet
Compare the landforms to the population density.
Where do people tend to live?
Some people do live in areas most of us would find uncomfortable – frozen Arctic regions; herders
People have developed ways of life suited to their environment over many generations.