Slide 1

Unit 3: Population and Migration

Lesson 13

“When most people think of human geography, they usually think about POPULATION. With a world population of over 6.5 billion people, and rising, population and the burden of overpopulation are certainly issues that many areas will be forced to deal with.” (KAPLAN, 70)

Slide 2

The scientific study of population characteristics.

DEMOGRAPHY

“The study of population characteristics is called DEMOGRAPHY. Demography is the scientific analysis of population trends and it predicts future occurrences based on present statistics. A country’s population growth and demographics are important in setting political policy and allocating scarce resources.” (KAPLAN, 70) “Demography is the study of human populations. Currently nearly 6.5 billion (2008) people live on the earth. Geographers use demographic analysis to study the spatial distribution of humans and their movements. Demographers are experts in demography. The size, composition, and growth of a country’s population affect its well-being. Rapid increases in population areas like the Middle East (Southwest Asia) and sub-Saharan Africa strain their infrastructures, or support systems, including housing, food supplies, education, and health care.” (REA, pg. 55-56) “The study of population characteristics is called DEMOGRAPHY. Demography is the scientific analysis of population trends and it predicts future occurrences based on present statistics. A country’s population growth and demographics are important in setting political policy and allocating scarce resources.” (KAPLAN, 70)

Slide 3

POPULATION DISTRIBUTION

WHERE DO PEOPLE LIVE IN THE WORLD?

“There are five main areas of population density in the world. Sometimes these areas are called the POPULATION DISTRIBUTIONS of the world.” (KAPLAN, 70) “DISTRIBUTION of population is the pattern of people across the earth’s surface – where they live. Throughout human history, people have been UNEVENLY concentrated, clustering around sustaining resources, such as bodies of water, and in regions where people can farm. Where people live is heavily influenced by physical conditions. Fewer people live in deserts and tundra, for example. Approximately three-fourths of the people in the world live on only 5 percent of the earth’s surface. The part of the earth on which people can live is termed the ECUMENE. About 50 percent of people on the earth live in cities, while the other half lives in rural areas.” (REA, 67) “OVERPOPULATION is defined as the lack of necessary resources to meet the needs of the population of a defined area. These resources include food, water, and shelter. In a desert, the carrying capacity of the environment is far less that that of an agriculturally productive area. CARRYING CAPACITY is reached, the problems of overpopulation become apparent. People begin to starve, and many deaths occur due to a lack of resources. Certain factors can alter an environment's carrying capacity, such as technological innovations that can increase food productivity. . . The more than 6 billion people on Earth live on a planet where resources are depleting rapidly. A large majority of them live within 100 miles of an ocean. Most of the Earth is covered in water – about 70%of the surface of the earth.” (KAPLAN, 70-71)

Slide 4

Approximately 81% percent of the earth’s population

lives in poorer, less-developed countries in Latin America, Africa, and Asia.

The only two countries to have more than 1 billion people are India (1.1 billion) and China (1.3 billion).

Nearly 3 of every 5 people in the world live in Asia and Europe.

1 of 3 of the earth’s people lives in either India or China. Combined with the rest of Asia, nearly 1 in 2 of the earth’s people live is Asian.

POPULATION STATISTICS

Source: REA, pg. 58-59

Slide 5

EAST ASIA

Over 1.5 billion people. China alone has over 1.3 billion people. Favorable climate. Most people live along the coastline.

“The East Asia region contains the countries of China, South and North Korea, and Japan. This region of the world possess over 1.5 billion people. China alone has over 1.3 billion people, most of whom live within the eastern third of the country along the Pacific Ocean. This area has a favorable climatic conditions for food growth and transportation routes. A high plateau region, known as the Tibetan plateau, dominates the western section of China. The other sections are mountainous, and even today, developing adequate transportation systems within these regions is difficult.” (KAPAN, pg. 71) “One-fifth of the world’s people live in East Asia… Five-sixths of the people in this concentration live in the People’s Republic of China, the world’s most populous country.” Most of the people in China are clustered near the Pacific Coast – much of China’s interior is sparsely inhabited mountains and deserts. 2/3rd of the people in China are farmers, but in Japan and South Korea, more than 3/4th of all Japanese and Koreans living in urban areas and work at industrial or service jobs. (RUBENSTEIN, 49)

Slide 6

SOUTH ASIA

Within the next 50 years, India will surpass China as the world’s most populated country.

“Another one-fifth of the world’s population live in South Asia – India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and the island of Sri Lanka. India, the world’s second most populous country, contains more than 3/4th of the South Asia population concentration.” Most of the people live along the Indus and Ganges River valleys. Most people in South Asia are farmers – only ¼ of the total population lives in a urban area.” (RUBENSTEIN, 49) “In this region. . . Population growth is still outpacing policies to reduce growth. Within the next 50 years, India will surpass China as the world’s most populated country. Pakistan and Bangladesh are also within the top ten countries in the world in terms of population.” (KAPLAN, 71)

Slide 7

SOUTHEAST ASIA

Vietnam is quickly becoming one of the fastest-growing countries in the world.

“A third important Asian population cluster, and the world’s fourth largest (after Europe, described next), is in Southeast Asia. A half billion people live in Southeast Asia, mostly on a series of islands that lie between the Indian and Pacific oceans – Java, Sumatra, Borneo, Papua New Guinea, and the Philippines. The largest concentration is on the island of Java, inhabited by more than 100 million people. Indonesia, which consists of 13, 677 islands, including Java, is the world’s fourth most populous country.. .The three Asia population concentrations together comprise more than half of the world’s total population, but together they live on less than 10 percent of the Earth’s land area.” (RUBENSTEIN, 49)

Slide 8

EUROPE

Large cities, such as London, Moscow, and Paris, dominate this section of the world.

“Combining the populations of Western Europe, Eastern Europe, and the European portion of Russia forms the world’s third-largest population cluster, one-ninth of the world’s people. The region includes four dozen countries . . .” Most of the people live in cities, and less than 20% are farmers. A dense network of road and rail lines links settlements. Although the climate permits the cultivation of food, Europeans do not produce enough food for themselves – they import food and other resources from elsewhere in the world. This is one of the reasons the Europeans explored and colonized other parts of the world. (RUBENSTEIN, 49)

Slide 9

U.S. and CANADA

The fifth major area of population density is located in the northeast section of the U.S. and southeast Canada.

“The largest population concentration in the Western Hemisphere is in the northeastern United States and southeastern Canada. This cluster extends along the Atlantic coast from Boston to Newport News, Virginia, and westward along the Great Lakes to Chicago. About 2 percent of the world’s people live in the area.” Most Americans are urban dwellers; less than 5% are farmers.” (RUBENSTEIN, 49) “Each of these five areas has a high population density that is conducive for economic growth, and climate and access to agriculture are the major factors. If adequate climate conditions no longer existed or food could not be produced fast enough to support the populations, they would eventually die out.” (KAPLAN, 72)

Slide 10

SPARSELY POPULATED REGIONS

Human beings avoid clustering in certain physical environments. Relatively few people

live in regions that a TOO DRY, TOO WET, TOO COLD, or TOO (HIGH)

MOUNTAINOUS.

“It is important to note that people cannot live in five distinct areas: where it is TOO HOT, TOO COLD, TOO HILLY, TOO WET, and TOO DRY. Thus, humans area able to thrive on just a small percentage of the planet. . . The term for habitable land is ECUMENE. An ecumene is an area where humans can live. An ecumene includes land with adequate water sources, relatively flat terrain, and available human food sources.” (KAPLAN, 70)

Slide 11

DOUBLING TIME

The number of years needed to double a population, assuming a constant rate of

natural increase.

Examples: Afghanistan has a current growth rate of 4.8%, representing a doubling time of approximately 14.5 years (70/4.8=14.5). “Population has been increasing for as long as humans have been on this planet. For the majority of this time, population increase has been slow, but during the past 100 years, population has exploded. Most population growth is taking place in areas, particularly in less developed countries that are ill-prepared to handle growing numbers of people, leading to a population crisis for the world. This crises is sometimes called a population explosion. When looking at population, it is important to note that not all areas of the world are overpopulated. Some areas are actually under populated due to climatic conditions or other factors.” (KAPLAN, 70)

Slide 12

An exponential model that assumes that the US population was 22 million in 1850 and grew at a fixed rate of 2.8% (doubling time = 25 years) predicts a US population equal to 1.4 billion in 2000 (after 6 doublings). This model doesn’t work because current US population in 2000 was about 275 million. Source: http://www.trinity.edu/floxsom/earthschanging/climate_Pop/Population_models.html

Slide 13

Population Size # Years To Add A Billion Year

1st billion From Beginning To 1800 1800

2nd billion 130 years 1930

3rd billion 30 years 1960

4th billion 15 years 1975

5th billion 12 years 1987

6th billion 11 years 1998

7th billion 11 years 2009

http://waynesword.palomar.edu/lmexer9.htm

Slide 14

http://www.ecofuture.org/pop/facts/exponential70.html The Lily Pond Parable If a pond lily doubles everyday and it takes 30 days to completely cover a pond, on what day will the pond be 1/4 covered? Answer: Day 28. Growth will be barely visible until the final few days. (On the 25th day, the lilys cover 1/32nd of the pond; on the 21st day, the lilys cover 1/512th of the pond). 1/2 covered? Answer: Day 29. Does the size of the pond make a difference? Answer: No. The doubling time is still the same. Even if you could magically double the size of the pond on day 30, it would still hold only one day's worth of growth! What kind of environmental consequences can be expected as the 30th day approaches? Answer: The pond will become visibly more crowded each day, and this crowding will begin to exhaust the resources of the pond.

What will begin to happen at one minute past the 30th day? Answer: The pond will be completely covered. Even though the lilys will be reproducing, there will be no more room for additional lilys, and the excess population will die off. In fact, since the resources of the pond have been exhausted, a significant proportion of the original population may die off as well. At what point (what day) would preventative action become necessary to prevent unpleasant events? Answer: It depends on how long it takes to implement the action and how full you want the lily pond to be. If it takes two days to complete a project to reduce lily reproductive rates, that action must be started on day 28, when the pond is only 25% full -- and that will still produce a completely full pond. Of course, if the action is started earlier, the results will be much more dramatic. With respect to human population, what corresponding day are we at in the world? The United States? "Anyone who believes exponential growth can go on forever in a finite world is either a madman or an economist" --Kenneth Boulding Copyright 1995-2003 Fred Elbel. This material may be freely used and distributed only for non-commercial purposes, with credit. Trademarks and copyrighted items remain the property of the owner.