Human Geography

Part 1Social Studies 11

What is Human Geography?

Human geography is the study of the interaction, activity and impact of human populations on the land and environment

Human geography is sometimes referred to as cultural geography because different cultures interact and impact the environment in different ways and to different degrees.

Why is it important?v Human geography provides us with information as

to how human population interacts with and impacts the natural environment

v Human geography enables us to assess the patterns and changes in human population and development

v We are able to assess the living standards and conditions that human populations experience throughout the world

v We are able to compare living conditions in Canada with other nations around the world and assess progress or decline

v We are able to appreciate the benefits we all enjoy as Canadian citizens living in a developed country with a high standard of living

Collecting Information• A census is a way of collecting information on a

given population by requiring citizen to complete a detailed questionaire

• In Canada, the federal government completes a major national census once every ten years to compile information on the population

• Once every five years, the government conducts a smaller census to gather information on the population

Chapter 11

DEMOGRAPHY

What is Demography?

• Demography is the study of population.• Demography examines a variety of factors

and aspects with regards to population, such as: density, distribution, dependency ratio, population pyramids, demographic transition models, and population projections.

World Population

The current population of the world is … 6,771,396,918 and counting!!

The population of the world is growing at an alarming rate

It is estimated that by 2050, the Earth’s human population will be 9.2 billion people!!!

World Population by Continent

World Population Projected Growth(1950-2050)

Human Population Growth

Top Five Populated Countries?

(based upon 2007 statistics)

1. China 1.32 billion people2. India 1.13 billion people3. United States 302 million people4. Indonesia 232 million people5. Brazil 189 million people

Canada’s Population Currently, Canada’s population is approximately

33,710,000 people According to Statistics Canada, Canada’s

population is growing by one more person every 1 minute and 27 seconds

Conversely, someone dies in Canada once every 2 minutes and 13 seconds

There is a net migration gain of an additional person every 2 minutes and 1 second.

World Population Distribution

Population distribution• Population distribution is the pattern and

concentration of human population throughout the world

• World population distribution is uneven. • Some places are sparsely populated and

contain few people. • Sparsely populated places tend to be difficult

places to live. These are usually places with hostile environments e.g. Antarctica.

• Places which are densely populated contain many people.

• Places which are densely populated are habitable environments e.g. Europe.

What is population density?• Population density is a measurement of the

number of people in a given area. • Population density is an average and is

calculated by dividing the number of people by the area.

• Population density is usually shown as the number of people per square kilometer.

• Population density = total area population divided by the land area in square miles (or square kilometers)

Population density (people per km2) by country

Dependency ratio• The dependency ratio is the ratio of the

combined child population aged 0 to 15 and population aged 65 and over to the population 16 to 64 years old.

• This ratio is presented as the number of dependents for every 100 people in the working age population.

• Canadians aged 65 and over and those under age 20 are more likely to be socially and/or economically dependent on working age Canadians, and they may also put certain additional demands on health services.

Birth and death rates§ According to the U.S. Census Bureau’s

International database, birth rate is defined as the average annual number of births during a year per 1,000 population at midyear.

§ This is also referred to as the crude birth rate. § The death rate is defined as the average annual

number of deaths during a year per 1,000 population at midyear. Also known as the crude death rate.

Natural Increase

v Rate of natural increase is the difference between the crude birth rate and the crude death rate, but usually expressed as a percent rather than per 1,000 population.

v This rate indicates the population growth for a given country in a given year

v This figure does not take into account the factors of immigration and emigration

Doubling Time § Number of years in which a population

reaches twice its size§ doubling time can be approximated

using growth rates§ doubling time = 69 : growth rate

§ rate: 1.4doubling time: 49§ rate: 2.0doubling time: 34.5§ rate: 0.5doubling time: 138§ rate: -0.5 doubling time: ????

Key Indicators of Human Development

Life Expectancy RatesØ Life expectancy is the average age a person

can expect to live to in a particular area. Ø Life expectancy can be used as an indicator of

the overall 'health' of a country and this figure can determine many features of a country e.g. standard of living.

Ø As a general rule the higher the life expectancy the more healthy (or developed) a country is.

World Life Expectancy Rates

Fertility Rates• The term total fertility rate is

used to describe the total number of children the average women in a population is likely to have based on current birth rates throughout her life.

• The number, which ranges from more than 7 children per woman in developing countries in Africa to around 1 child per woman in Eastern European and highly-developed Asian countries.

Literacy rates

• Literacy rate is the percentage of people in a given country that can read and write

• The literacy rate is one of the indicators that the United Nations uses to tabulate the Human Development Index (HDI)

World Literacy Rates

Quality of Lifew Quality of life is a term used to measure well-being.w Well-being describes how well people feel about their

environment, and collectively these feelings can be thought of as quality of life.

w To assess quality of life, indicators are used to represent the most important aspects of a person’s life (called domains), which include, for example, housing, education, employment and household finances.

w Indicators are used to measure complex phenomena (such as quality of life) and can only provide us with an indication of the actual quality of life.

w The individual indicators (and their domains) were categorized into three broad groups called the social environment, economic environment and physical environment.

Human Development Index

§ The Human Development Index (HDI) is an index promoted by the United Nations and used to rank countries by the level of "human development", which helps classify a given country as: a developed country, developing country, or underdeveloped country.

§ The purpose of the human development index is to provide a rough indication of the levels of economic and social development within a given country

§ The human development index is calculated using three basic indicators: life expectancy, adult literacy rate, and the gross domestic product (GDP)

Demographic Transition Model

• The Demographic Transition Model is a graph that attempts to show how population changes as a country develops.

• The model is divided into four or five stages. • These stages are as follows:

Ø Stage #1: Pre-ModernØ Stage #2: Urbanization/IndustrializationØ Stage #3: Mature/IndustrialØ Stage #4: Post IndustrialØ Stage #5: Deindustrialization

Demographic Transition Model

Stage #1: Pre-Modern

• The pre-modern stage indicates a balance between birth rates and death rates

• There is small population growth• Life expectancy is very low

Stage #2: Urbanization & Industrialization

• This stage sees the rise in population caused by the decline in the death rate while the birth rate remains high, or perhaps rises slightly

• There is a rapid increase in population numbers due to improved medical and scientific advances to sustain and improve life

Stage #3: Mature/Industrializing

• This stage is where the population moves towards stability through a decline in the birth rate

• There are improved living standards

Stage #4: Post Industrial

• The post industrial stage is characterized by stability

• In this stage, the population age structure has become older

• There are low birth rates and death rates

Stage #5: Deindustrialization

• Birth rates drop below death rates

• Economy is based on secondary and tertiary activities.

Responses to Population Growth

Some responses to population growth include:

– Advances in technology– Family Planning and

controlling population growth rate

– Increased resource base– Improved literacy rates– Opportunities for women

Technology• Improvement in technology refers to

advances in science and technology• This would include using items such as

computers, cellular phones, and televisions

• Countries with higher levels of technology

Standard of Living

• The standard of living is a measure of economic welfare.

• It generally refers to the availability of scarce goods and services, usually measured by per capita income or per capita consumption, calculated in constant dollars, to satisfy wants rather than needs.

• Because the well-being that living standards are supposed to measure is an individual matter, per capita availability of goods and services in a country is a measure of general welfare only if the goods and services are distributed fairly evenly among people.

Gross Domestic Product• GDP per capita is a commonly used measure of the

standard of living but not necessarily an accurate one because…

• it does not distinguish between consumer and capital goods

• it does not take income distribution into account• it does not take account of differences in the

economic goods and services that are not measured in GDP at all

• it is subject to the vagaries of translating income measures into a common currency

Canada’s Standard of Living

First Nations Standard of Living- A Reality Check

First Nations living conditions or quality of life ranks 63rd, or amongst Third World conditions, according to an Indian and Northern Affairs Canada study that applied First Nations-specific statistics to the Human Development Index created by the United Nations.

Canada dropped from first to eighth as the best country in the world to live primarily due to housing and health conditions in First Nations communities.

The First Nations’ infant mortality rate is 1.5 times higher than the Canadian infant mortality rate

Global Poverty

Causes of Global Poverty• Armed conflicts and wars disrupt attempts at providing

countries in need with aid• Natural disasters destroy communities and usually followed

by the spread of disease in their aftermath. Eg: Indonesian Tidal wave in 2004

• Natural disasters limit resources and disrupt the construction of adequate housing, infastructure, and mechanisms

• Lack of education leads to unemployment and support of family units

• Lack of employment leads to income inequalities and too few jobs for low income groups

Causes of Global Poverty continued…

• High birth rates put pressure on scarce resources and lead to starvation and disease

• Low levels of literacy mean that people cannot find jobs that will earn enough to support family

• High debt burden produces lower living standards with reduced wages and the undercutting of their resources in order to compete economically

• Infectious diseases ravage communities and bring death to significant portions of the population with limited access to decent medical support.

• Disease puts stress on already overburdened resources and services and eventually leads to reliance upon foreign aid

International Aid• International aid is a means of attempting to address

some of the human rights and poverty issues that occur in under-developed and developing countries

• Non-government organizations (NGO’s) are groups that are not directly connected to government and are non-profit agencies that provide aid and services to under-developed countries

• Non-government organizations also lobby governments for human rights violations

• Some NGO’s receive financial support from government as well as rely upon public donations to fund their activities

• Some examples of NGO’s are organizations such as Oxfam, Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), Save the Children, and World Vision

Forms of International Aid International aid comes in several forms Multilateral aid comes from a combined effort of several

countries to provide relief and aid to a given country An example of this type of aid would be the relief efforts

after the Indonesian Tsunami in 2004 Bilateral aid is development assistance that is provided by a

donor country in response to a developing country’s request for assistance

Bilateral aid usually comes in the form of government loans or grants

The most common form of bilateral aid is tied aid where the donor country provides aid on the condition or requirement that the recipient use the funds to purchase goods or services from the donor country

Canada’s Foreign Aid• Canada’s foreign aid policy gives aid to poor foreign countries• Foreign assistance is used as a means of encouraging

development and progress• Canada’s Official Development Assistance (ODA) program

gives financial aid to under-developed countries in Africa, the Middle East, the Americas, Asia and some countries in central and eastern Europe

• Assistance is provided through various channels: directly from government to government (bilateral), by supporting non-government organizations (NGO’s), by supporting private sector initiatives or multilateral organizations (UN, WHO, UNICEF) efforts

Canadian International Development Agency

• The Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) supports foreign aid projects in over 100 of the poorest countries in the world

• Promotes sustainability in developing countries

• Focus upon 6 priorities: basic human needs, human rights, gender equality, democracy/good government, infastructure, and environmental protection and education

World Health Organization (WHO)

• Created in 1948 to help curb the spread of infectious diseases

• The organization includes 192 member countries who work on vaccination campaigns,technical assistance, surveillance programs, research, and development into methods of control and vaccines for a variety of diseases such as leprosy, measles,hepatitis, AIDS/HIV, Ebola Virus, and H1N1 flu

Controlling population

• Birth Control• Family Planning• Education• Sterilization• Abortion• One-Child policy

China’s One Child Policy

• China's one child policy was established by Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping in 1979 to limit communist China's population growth.

• Although designated a "temporary measure," it continues a quarter-century after its establishment.

• The policy limits couples to one child. Fines, pressures to abort a pregnancy, and even forced sterilization accompanied second or subsequent pregnancies.