1. Population and Urbanization
Chapter 17
Population and Urbanization

2. Chapter Outline Using the Sociological Imagination
The Dynamics of Demography
Population Growth
Theories of City Growth
The Quality of Urban Life

3. Demography Encompasses all measures of population:
size, distribution, composition, age structure, and change.
Draws from biology, geography, mathematics, economics, sociology, and political science.

4. Demographic research Formal demography
Example: The dramatic increase in the Latino population of California and Texas.
Social demography
Example: Trends in the population shifts of aging baby boomers.

5. Study of Population Trends
Provides information about:
Population growth.
Characteristics of population.
Location of population.
Probable long- and short-run effects of demographic trends.

6. World Population Growth

7. Population Projections by World Regions
Population (projected) in millions
Region
2002
2025
2050
Doubling Time (yrs)
North America
316
382
450
139
Asia
3,720
4,714
5,262 50
Oceania 31 40 46 63

8. Population Projections by World Regions
Population (projected) in millions
Region
2002
2025
2050
Doubling Time (yrs)
Latin America
525
697
815 41
Africa
818
1,268
1,800 29
Europe
727
717
662
Not projected to occur

9. Malthusian Perspective
Population, if left unchecked, will tend to exceed the food supply.
Checks on population can be positive (famines, wars) or preventive (birth control).
For the poor, any improvement in income is lost to additional births.
The wealthy and better educated already exercise preventive checks.

10. Projected Population of the U.S.: 2 or 3 Child Average per Family

11. Demographic Transition Theory: Four Stages
Birth rate and the death rate are high.
Population growth is modest.

12. Demographic Transition Theory: Four Stages
Birth rate remains high.
Death rate begins to drop sharply because of sanitation, increased food production, medical advances.
Rate of population growth is very high.
Most sub-Saharan African countries are presently at this stage.

13. Demographic Transition Theory: Four Stages
The birth rate declines sharply.
Because the death rate continues to drop, population growth is still rapid.

14. Demographic Transition Theory: Four Stages
Birth rate and the death rate are low.
Population grows slowly if at all.
North America, Europe, and Japan are at this stage today.

15. Stages of the Demographic Transition

16. Possible World Population Growth Scenarios
Low scenario
Fertility will have fallen to 1.6 children per woman or less.
World population will peak at 7.7 billion in 2050 and drop to 3.6 billion by the middle of the twenty-first century.

17. World Population Growth Scenarios
Medium scenario
Depicts zero population growth—deaths are balanced by births so population does not grow.
Women average two children.
World population will rise to 9.4 billion by 2050 and continue to 11 billion in 2150 before leveling off.

18. Possible World Population Growth Scenarios
High Scenario
Women worldwide will average about 2.5 children.
World population will rise to 11.2 billion in 2050 and continue to grow indefinitely, exceeding 27 billion 100 years later.

19. Long-Range Projections of World Population

20. Population Growth in the U.S. and Other More Developed Countries

21. Population Growth in the United States
Population of the U.S. has grown from less than 4 million in the first census in 1790, to 288 million in 2002.
Population is expected to continue growing despite the average American family at replacement level of 2.1 children per family.
If the current predictions are accurate, the U.S. population will reach 420 million by 2050.

22. Urbanization
Only 5% of the American population lived in urban areas in 1790.
As recently as 1800, less than 3% of the world’s population lived in cities of 20,000 or more.
45% of the world’s population now lives in urban areas.
In North America, 80% of the population lives in cities.

23. World’s Ten Largest Urban Areas: 1000
Place
(Million)
Cordova
0.45
Cairo
0.14
Kaifeng
0.40
Baghdad
0.13
Constantinople
0.30
Nishapur
Angkor
0.20
Hasa
0.11
Kyoto
0.18
Anhilvada
0.10

24. World’s Ten Largest Urban Areas: 1800
Place
(Million)
Peking
1.10
Paris
0.55
London
0.86
Naples
0.43
Canton
0.80
Hangchow
0.39
Edo
0.69
Osaka
0.38
Constantinople
0.57
Kyoto

25. World’s Ten Largest Urban Areas: 1900
Place
(Million)
London
6.5
Vienna
1.7
New York
4.2
Tokyo
1.5
Paris
3.3
St. Petersburg
1.4
Berlin
2.7
Manchester
Chicago
Philadelphia

26. World’s Ten Largest Urban Areas: 2001
Place
(Million)
Tokyo
26.5
Los Angeles
13.3
São Paulo
18.3
Calcutta
Mexico City
Dhaka
13.2
New York
16.8
Delhi
13.0
Mumbai
16.5
Shanghai
12.8

27. Theories of City Growth

28. Theoretical Perspectives: Urban Society
Functionalism
Concept
Urbanization
Sample Research Topic
Relationship between population density and suicide rate.

29. Theoretical Perspectives: Urban Society
Conflict theory
Concept
Over-urbanization
Sample Research Topic
Relationship between distribution of scarce resources and social class.

30. Theoretical Perspectives: Urban Society
Symbolic Interactionism
Concept
Urbanism
Sample Research Topic
Effect of the degree of urbanization and the extent to which social interaction is based on shared meanings.