World geography Vocab

Agricultural density

The ratio of the number of farmers to the total

amount of arable land.

Antinatalist policy

Government policy that supports lower birth rates. Arable land Land suited for agriculture.

Arithmetic density

The total number of people divided by the total land area.

carrying capacity

The maximum population size of a species that the environment can sustain indefinitely, given the available resources.

Crude birth rate (CBR)

The total number of live births in a year for every 1,000 people alive in the society.

Crude death rate (CDR)

The total number of deaths in a year for every 1,000 people alive in the society.

Demographic transition

The process of change in a society's population from a condition of high crude birth and death rates and low rate of natural increase to a condition of low crude birth and death rates, low rate of natural increase, and higher total population.

Demography

The scientific study of population characteristics.

Dependency ratio

The number of people under age 15 and age 65 and over compared to the number of people active in the labor force.

Doubling time

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

Ecumene

The portion of Earth's surface occupied by permanent human settlement.

Epidemic

A widespread occurrence of an infectious disease in a commu- nity at a particular time.

Epidemiologic transition

The process of change based on the distinctive causes of death in a population at each stage of the demographic transition.

Epidemiology

The branch of medical science concerned with the inci- dence, distribution, and control of diseases that are prevalent among a population at a specific time and are produced by some unique causes not generally present in the affected locality.

Industrial Revolution

A series of improvements in machine-driven tech- nology that transformed the process of manufacturing goods.

Infant Mortality Rate (IMR)

The total number of deaths in a year among infants under 1 year old for every 1,000 live births in a society.

Life expectancy

The average number of years an individual can be expected to live, given current social, economic, and medical conditions.

Life expectancy at birth

the average number of years a newborn infant can expect to live.

Maternal mortality rate

The annual number of female deaths per 100,000 live births from any cause related to or aggravated by pregnancy or its management (excluding accidental or incidental causes).

Medical revolution

Health diagnostic and disease treatment technology invented in Europe and North America that has diffused to the developing countries in Latin America, Asia, and Africa. Improved medical practices have eliminated many of the traditional causes of death in developing countries and enabled more people to live longer and healthier lives.

Natural increase rate (NIR)

The percentage growth of a population in a year, computed as the crude birth rate minus the crude death rate.

Overpopulation

A situation in which the number of people in an area exceeds the capacity of the environment to support life at a decent standard of living.

Pandemic

An epidemic that occurs over a wide geographic area and affects a very high proportion of the population at the same time.

Physiological density

The number of people per unit area of arable land

Population Pyramid

A bar graph representing the distribution of population by age and sex.

Potential support ratio (or elderly support ratio)

The number of working- age people (ages 15 to 64) divided by the number of persons 65 and older.

Pronatalist policy Government

policy that supports higher birth rates.

Sex ratio

The number of males per 100 females in the population.

Total fertility rate (TFR)

The average number of children a woman will have throughout her childbearing years.

zero population growth

A decline of the total fertility rate to the point where the natural increase rate equals zero.

Asylum seeker

Someone who has migrated to another country in the hope of being recognized as a refugee.

Brain drain

Large-scale emigration by talented people.

Circular migration

The temporary movement of a migrant worker between home and host countries to seek employment.

Circulation Short-term

repetitive, or cyclical movements that recur on a regular basis.

Counterurbanization

Net migration from urban to rural areas in developed countries.

Emigration

Permanent movement of people from a location.

Family-based migration

Migration of people to a specific location because relatives previously migrated there.

Floodplain

The area subject to flooding during a given number of years, according to historical trends.

Guest worker

A term once used for a worker in search of a higher-paying job who migrated to the developed countries of Northern and West- ern Europe, usually from Southern and Eastern Europe or from North Africa.

Immigration

Permanent movement of people to a new location. Internal migration Permanent movement of people within a particular country.

Internally displaced person (IDP)

Someone who has been forced to migrate for similar political reasons as a refugee but who has not migrated across an international border.

International migration

Permanent movement of people from one region of a country to another.

Interregional migration

Permanent movement of people from one region of a country to another.

intervening obstacle

An environmental or cultural feature of the landscape that hinders migration.

Intraregional migration

Permanent movement within one region of a country.

Migration

A form of relocation diffusion involving permanent relocation of people to a new location.

Migration transition

A change in the pattern of movement of people in a society that results from industrialization, population growth, and other social and economic changes that also produces the demographic transition.

Mobility

All types of movements of people between locations.

Net migratioN

The difference between the level of immigration and the level of emigration.

Pull Factor

A reason that induces people to move to a new location. Push factor A reason that induces people to leave old locations.

Quota

In reference to migration, a law that places maximum limits on the number of people who can immigrate to a country each year.

Refugee

Someone who is forced to migrate from their home country and who cannot return to that home country for fear of persecution because of race, religion, nationality, membership in a social group, or political opinion.

Remittance

Transfer of money by migrant workers from the country into which they immigrated to people in the country from which they emigrated.

Step migration

Movement of people that follows a path of a series of stages or steps toward a final destination.

Unauthorized immigrant

A person who enters a country without proper documents to do so

Voluntary Migration

Permanent movement undertaken by choice.

U.S.-Mexico Border

The border between the United States and Mexico encompasses many landscapes, including mountains, rivers, and drylands