AP Human Geography - Unit 2

Age distribution

Population growth based on the age of the population. When drawn as a population pyramid, it can provide clues to the patterns of growth.

Demographic equation

A formula for measuring population change. Birth minus deaths plus net migration

Demographic momentum

The ability for a population to continue expanding despite reproductive rates being reduced

Demographic regions

Areas of the world grouped and divided based on population data

Dependency ratio

A measure showing the number of dependents as compared to the total population

Diffusion of fertility control

The spread of contraceptive methods due to social influence and social learning

Ecumene

The part of the Earth’s surface that is occupied by permanent human settlement

Epidemiological transition

The change over time in the causes of mortality affecting certain populations

Gendered space

The ways in which certain spaces are seen to be occupied exclusively or predominantly by either males or females

J curve

The line showing population growth over time, where time is the x-axis, and total population is the y-axis

Maladaptation

An adaptation that is, or is becoming, less helpful over time

Malthusian Theory

States that population grows at a geometric rate and food supply grows at an arithmetic rate

Natality

Birth; birth rate

Neo-Malthusian

The belief in the idea that a permanent improvement of the standard of living is impossible without decreasing competition by limiting the number of births

Population density

The measurement of the number of people per given unit of land

Rate of natural increase

The difference between the crude birth rate and the crude death rate

S curve

A graph of population growth that produces a characteristic curve because the population increases rapidly until it reaches the carrying capacity where it beings to decelerate and stabilize

Chain migration

The movement of people to a specific location due to previous movement of relatives or members of the same nationality to that location

Cyclical movement

Nomadic migration with a closed route repeated annually or seasonally

Distance decay

The various degenerative effects of distance on human spatial structures and interactions. The diminishing in importance and eventual disappearance of a phenomenon with increasing distance from its origin

Forced migration

The coerced movement of people away from their home

Gravity model

A model that holds that the particular use of a service at a particular location is directly related to the number of people in the location and inversely related to the distance people must travel to reach the service.

Internal migration

Permanent movement within a country

Intervening opportunity

The presence of a nearer opportunity that greatly diminishes the attractiveness of a site further away

Migration patterns

The permanent movement characteristics of people from one place to another

Migratory movement

Human relocation from a source to a destination without a return journey

Periodic movement

A form of migration that involves intermittent but recurrent movement, such as temporary relocation for college, or service in the armed forces

Place utility

The level of satisfaction that a person or group considers to be attainable at a given location

Push-pull factors

Reasons influencing a person to move to or leave a location

Refugees

People forced to migrate from their homes and cannot return for fear of persecution due to race, religion, nationality, political stance, of affiliation with a social group

Space-time prism

The set of all points that can be reached by an individual given a maximum possible speed from a starting point in space-time and an ending point in space-time

Step migration

Movement to a distant destination that occurs in stages

Transhumance

The seasonal migration of pastoralists and their livestock between highland and lowland pastures

Transmigration

The departure from one’s native land to settle in another

Voluntary migration

Permanent movement undertaken by choice