AP HuG Unit 2 Population Distribution

Population Distribution

Where are people distributed?

More people are alive at this time than at any point in Earth's history, and most of the growth is concentrated in less developed countries (LDCs). Can Earth sustain nearly 8 billion people now, let alone the added billions in the future? Geographers have unique perspectives on the ability of people to live on Earth. India will soon be the world's most populous country, so its future population growth will have a major impact on the future population of the world as a whole.

Poll

Do you think that Earth can sustain nearly 8 billion people sufficiently? Do you think that Earth could sustain more than 12 billion people?

This is an opinion question-- there is no wrong answer.

• Yes, No

• No, Yes

• Yes, Yes

• No, No

Population Concentration

EQ: Explain reasons for the distribution of the world's peoples.

Human beings are not distributed uniformly across Earth's surface. World maps depict this distribution in several ways.

Population Portions

The world can be divided into seven portions, each containing approximately 1 billion people. The small size of the Asia portions shows the large number of the world's inhabitants living there.

Multiple Choice

How many populations portions can the world be divided into?

• 5

• 2

• 7

• 9

Population Cartogram

A cartogram depicts the size of countries according to population rather then land area, as is the case with most maps.

Population Clusters

Two-thirds of the worlds population live in four regions- East Asia, South Asia, South East Asia, and Europe. The four population concentrations occupy generally low-lying areas, with temperature climate and soil suitable for agriculture. Physical environments that are too dry, cold, wet, or mountainous have relatively few inhabitants.

The area of Earth that humans consider too harsh for occupancy have diminished over time, whereas the portion of the Earth's surface occupied by permanent human settlement- called ecumene- has increased.

Multiple Choice

Where do 2/3 of the world's population live?

• Europe, E. Asia, S.E. Asia, N. Asia

• Europe, E. Asia, S.E. Asia, S. Asia

• Europe, the Americas, Africa, S.E. Asia

• The cold lands, dry lands, high lands, and wet lands

Population Density

EQ: Define three types of density used in population geography.

Density was defined in chapter 1 as a frequency with which something exist within a given unit of area. Population density is the number of humans living within an area such as the Netherlands. Here are three examples of population density frequently used by geographers. 

Arithmetic Density

Arithmetic density, also known as real density, is very simply the total number of people divided by the total land area.

Physiological Density

The physiological density or real population density is the number of people per unit area of arable land. A higher physiological density suggests that the available agricultural land is being used by more and may reach its output limit sooner than a country that has a lower physiological density.

Agricultural Density

Agricultural density is the ratio of the number of farmers to the amount of arable land. Measuring agricultural density helps account for economic differences. Egypt has a much higher agricultural density than to Canada, the United States, and the Netherlands. Developed countries have lower agricultural densities because technology and finance allow a few people to farm extensive land areas and feed many people.

Multiple Choice

Is Egypt a developED or developING country?

• DevelopED

• DevelopING

The answers to the previous 3 slides:

• Physiological

• Agricultural

• Arithmetic