The Basics of Geography

Part 8

Population Geography

In 2012, the world’s population reached 7 billion.

To reach that number…

*The Utah Jazz would have to play

a home game in front of a sold-out crowd,

every night for over 950

years!

*When you are between the ages of 31 and 32, you have lived for a billion

seconds. To reach 7 billion, you would have to be 220 years old!

*If you stacked 7 billion sheets of copy paper, the stack would be 504 miles

high!

After the world industrialized, better food, improved sanitation, and new medicines caused

the world population to soar.

Some Key Population Terms

BIRTH RATE – the number of live births per thousand population.

Currently, several nations in Africa have the highest birthrates in the world, while European nations tend to have the lowest. The world average birthrate is 22 live births per 1000 population.

The More Red a Country is, the Lower the Birth Rate

• FERTILITY RATE –shows the average number of children a woman of childbearing years would have in her lifetime, if she had children at the current rate for her country. A fertility rate of 2.1 is necessary just to replace the current population. Today the worldwide average fertility rate is about 3.0. The United States is at 2.1, with Utah having the highest fertility rate and Vermont the lowest.

REMEMBER: Just to maintain its current population, a country must have a 2.1 rate.

MORTALITY RATE – is the number of deaths per thousand people.

INFANT MORTALITY RATE – shows the number of deaths among infants under age one per thousand live births. In the 1800s, the worldwide infant rate was 200-300. It is now much lower, but some countries still approach and even go over 100.

LIFE EXPECTANCY - average years a person born in a country would live if mortality at each age remains constant in the future. The world average is currently 67.2 years (65.0 for males and 69.5 for females).

POPULATION PYRAMIDS show sex and age distribution of a population.

Top 10 Most Populated Countries

• 1. China – 1.33 Billion• 2. India – 1.15 Billion• 3. United States – 310 Million• 4. Indonesia – 238 Million• 5. Brazil – 197 Million• 6. Pakistan – 173 Million• 7. Bangladesh 154 Million• 8. Nigeria – 147 Million• 9. Russia – 141 Million• 10. Japan – 127 Million

• By 2025, the U. S. will still be third in the rankings, but India should surpass China.

• Both Russia and Japan will drop off the list due to stagnant population growth.

Population Distribution

The billions of people who live on the Earth are not evenly distributed across the planet. In fact, large chunks of the planet are really

not that suitable for living. About 90% of people actually live in the Northern

Hemisphere and one out of every two lives either in eastern or southern Asia. Other

areas may be too cold, too mountainous, or too dry.

Asia is home to more than half the world.

To understand how heavily populated an area is, geographers use a figure called population density.

POPULATION DENSITY – is the average number of people who live in a measurable area. It is reached by dividing the total number of people by the land they occupy. A common measurement is per square mile.

Population Density Map of the WorldThe average size of the world's 100 largest cities

grew from around 0.2 million in 1800to 0.7 million in 1900 to 6.2 million in 2000!

10 Crowded/Least Crowded StatesPeople Per Square Mile

• 1. New Jersey 1,171• 2. Rhode Island 1,006• 3. Massachusetts 829• 4. Connecticut 723• 5. Maryland 576• 6. Delaware 447• 7. New York 413• 8. Florida 340• 9. Ohio 281• 10. Pennsylvania 278

• 1. Alaska 1.2• 2. Wyoming 5.5• 3. Montana 6.7• 4. North Dakota 9.3• 5. South Dakota 10.6• 6. New Mexico 16.35• 7. Idaho 18.42• 8. Nebraska 23.20• 9. Nevada 23.68• 10. Utah 33.31

Carrying Capacity• The number of organisms a piece of land can

support is referred to as its CARRYING CAPACITY.

• A piece of land with fertile soil, that is irrigated, or that has access to modern farming techniques such fertilization or modern farm equipment, will generally increase the capacity of the land.

• In some places where few people farm, if enough wealth is brought in from shipping and trade, people can import their food.