Unit 2: Population Density and Distribution

Demography

The study of human populations

Population density

The number of people per unit of area

• Remember, the method used to calculate density reveals different information about the pressure that the population experts on the land

Population distribution

The pattern of where people live

How to calculate arithmetic population density

Divide a region’s population by its total area

How to calculate physiological population density

Divide a region’s population by the amount of arable land (land that can be farmed)

How to calculate agricultural population density

Divide the number of farmers in a country by the amount of arable land (land that can be farmed)

Demographers

People who study the demographics of human populations

Demographics

Statistical data relating to the population and groups within it

• Reasons to study demographics:

  • Resource allocation

  • Economic planning

  • Political representation

  • Social policy/public health

  • Migration

  • Population change

Population pyrmaid

An age-sex composition graph that can provide information on birth rates, death rates, life expectancy, economic development, migration, and past events like natural disasters, wars, epidemics, etc.

• Used to assess population growth and decline and used to predict markets for goods and services

• Irregularities can reveal information about changes in population due to disasters and conflicts, migration patterns, and population control methods

Birth deficit

A slow down of births, often occurring during times of conflict, economic downturn, or cultural shifts

Baby boom

A spike of birth rates

Baby bust

The end of a baby boom, lasting until boomers reach childbearing age

Echo

A spike in birth rates once baby boomers have reached childbearing age

Crude birth rate (CBR)

The number of live births per year for every 1000 people

Crude death rate (CDR)

The number of deaths per year for every 1000 people

Natural increase rate (NIR)

The difference between the CBR and CDR; a statistic that estimates the population growth of a country, not including population loss or gain due to migration

• NIR = CBR - CDR

Doubling time

A measurement of how long a country will take to double its population, based on its NIR

• Doubling time = 70/NIR

Total fertility rate (TFR)

The average number of children born per woman

• Reflective of cultural norms (aged 15-49)

• Higher in the past than it is today

• A TFR of 2.1 is needed to maintain a country’s population

Infant mortality rate (IMR)

A measure of the number of babies who die before their first birthday for every 1000 births

• Happens due to a lack of access to healthcare, inadequate housing, poverty, unemployment, low to no maternal education

Life expectancy

The average number of years a person can be expected to live, given current social, economic, and medical conditions

Demographic transition model (DTM)

A model of the 5 typical stages of population change that countries pass through as they modernize

• Cannot move backwards

• Each stage lasts for an indeterminate period of time

Stage 1 of the DTM

• Birth rate: High due to agricultural labor

• Death rate: High due to diseases and poor sanitation

• Population change: Very low

• Population structure: Very young

Stage 2 of the DTM

• Birth rate: High but fluctuating due to the desire for big families

• Death rate: rapidly declining due to better nutrition, sanitation, and improved medical treatment

• Population change: Rapid growth since death rates are falling faster than birth rates

• Population structure: Very young

Stage 3 of the DTM

• Birth rate: Declining due to urbanization decreasing the need for child labor

• Death rate: Declining, not as fast as the previous stage though

• Population change: Still growing but slowing down as BR declines

• Population structure: Young with rising life expectancy

Stage 4 of the DTM

• Birth rate: Low, but enough for a stable population

• Death rate: Low and stable

• Population change: Very low growth since birth and death rates are low

• Population structure: Balanced but there are more people aging

Stage 5 of the DTM

• Birth rate: So low that it falls below the death rate

• Death rate: Low, but sometimes increases as the population ages

• Population change: Declining since birth rate falls below the death rate

• Population structure: Older

Epidemiological Transition Model (ETM)

Predictable stages in disease and life expectancy that countries experience as they develop

• Explains causes of changing death rate

• Corresponds to the Demographic Transition Model

Stage 1 of the ETM

Description:

• Parasitic infections

• Infectious diseases

• Accidents

• Animal attacks

• Human conflicts

Impact on population:

• High death rate

• Low life expectancy

Stage 2 of the ETM

Description:

• Decline of pandemics

• Result of improved sanitation, nutrition, and medicine

Impact on population:

• Decreasing death rate

• Increasing life expectancy

Stage 3 of the ETM

Description:

• Infections/parasitic diseases decline

• Aging diseases increase

Impact on population:

• Death rate stabilizes at a low level

• Life expectancy increases

Stage 4 of the ETM

Description:

• Extension of stage 3

• Age-related diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Dementia

Impact on population:

• Death rate reaches its lowest level

• Life expectancy reaches a peak

Stage 5 of the ETM

Description:

• Infectious diseases and parasitic diseases become resistant to antibiotics and vaccines

Impact on population:

• Life expectancy decreases

Malthusian Theory

Society is on the path to mass starvation. Food production will increase but so will population and faster! So, people should limit the number of children they have

• Thomas Malthus

• Criticisms:

  • Unrealistic - the supply of resources is not fixed

  • Population growth leads to new ideas and manpower

  • Doesn’t account for new areas/regions

  • Poverty and hunger - caused by institutions

Neo-Malthusians

People who have adopted Malthus’ ideas to modern conditions and believe overpopulation is a threat to the future and must be controlled

• Advocate for population planning

Dependency ratio

The percentage of people within a population who are either too young or too old to work and must be supported by working adults 78i

Pronatalist policies

Programs aimed to increase the fertility rate of a place

• Replace lost population

• To build up the military

• Replace retiring workers

• Occupy empty parts of the country

• Develop nation’s resources

• Support increasingly older populations

Examples of pronatalist policies

• Banning contraception

• Discouraging family planning

• Maternity leave

• Discouraging abortion

• Government-sponsored dating agencies

• Subsidized child care

France’s pronatalist policy

• 1939

• Gave pensions, tax breaks, etc. for mothers

• Cash incentives

• Generous maternity leave

• Banned sale of contraceptives

• Subsidized child care

Antinatalist policy

Programs aimed to decrease the fertility rate of a place

• Cannot afford to provide for more people

• Overpopulation

• Limited resources

• Women needed in workforce

• To repress a group of people

Examples of antinatalist policies

• Later marriage

• Education for women

• Access to free contraception

• Family planning

• Ad campaigns to promote smaller families

• Forced sterilization programs

China’s antinatalist policy

• 1979-2015

• Not forced, but could sign a contract to have only one child

• Free medical care

• Free daycare, school, and guarantee a job for the child

• Better housing

• Extra maternity leave

Migration

The permanent or semipermanent relocation of people from one place to another

Immigrate

To move to a country from somewhere else

Emigrate

To move away from a country to somewhere else

Internal migration

The permanent or semipermanent movement of individuals within a country

Transnational migration

The permanent or semipermanent movement of individuals between countries

Forced migration

A type of migration where people do not choose to relocate, but do so under threat of violence

• Due to war, exile, persecution, etc.

• Slavery

• Refugee

• Asylum seeker (wants to become a refugee)

• Internally displaced persons (doesn’t move across a border)

Voluntary migration

Migration done by choice

• People are compelled to move to seek out better opportunities or better quality of life

• Chain (follow migratory path of friends or family)

• Step (move to eventual destination through small steps)

• Guestworker (temporary permission to immigrate to work in another country)

• Trasnhumance (seasonal migration that pastoral herders make with their animals based on availability of food)

Push factor

Negative circumstances, events, or conditions present where someone lives that make them want to leave

• Extreme temperature

• Crime

• War

• Pollution

• Lack of rights

• Low wages

• High taxes

Pull factor

Positive conditions or circumstances that draw people to choose a destination

• Friends/family

• Climate

• Clean air/water

• Educational opportunities

• Safety

• Peace

Intervening obstacles

Barriers that make it difficult for migrants to reach their desired destination

• Physical barriers

• Discrimination

• Pirates

• Closed borders

• Tied down by dependents

• Cannot obtain passport

Intervening opportunities

Something that causes a migrant to choose a destination other than the one they originally intended

• Cheaper housing

• Job opportunity

• Relationships

Ravenstein’s Laws of Migration

A set of 11 laws proposed by Ernst Ravenstein in 1885 that describe why immigrants move, how they move, and their characteristics

1. Short distances - most migrants only travel short distances

2. Larger not smaller - most likely to come from large centers than small towns

3. Rural to urban - migrants tend to move from rural areas to urban areas

4. Families play it safe - families are less likely to migrate across international borders

5. Counter migration - every migration flow produces a counter migration in the opposite direction

6. Women stay close - females migrate within their home country; male migrants migrate internationally

7. Urban growth - Large cities/towns grow more through migration than natural births

8. Economic opportunity - migration creates more opportunities and innovation, leading to economic growth

9. All about the money - migration mainly occurs for economic reasons

10. Away from agriculture - migrants tend to move away from agricultural communities to areas where they have better pay

11. Breaking barriers - migration increases as technology and transportation improve

Net migration rate

The difference between the number of immigrants and the number of emigrants in a place in a year

• Net = number of immigrants - number of migrants

Migration flow

The immigrants entering or leaving a place during a given period of time

Internal migration

What motivates it?

• Claiming land of frontier, establishing settlements

• Better economic opportunities and wages

3 main patterns:

• Rural to urban

• Urban to suburban

• East to west

Transnational migration

What motivates it?

• Escaping violence and persecution

• Better employment

• Quality of life

Largest transnational migration flow:

• Asia to Europe

• Latin American to United States

• Poorer countries to wealthy, oil-producing countries

Transnational migration in the United States

17th and 18th - Colonial settlement

• 2 million Europeans

• 650,000 slaves

Late 19th and early 20th - Mass European immigration

• Ireland, Germany, Norway, Sweden, Italy

Late 20th and early 21st - Asian/Latin America

• Mexico, Central, China, Vietnam, India

Unauthorized immigrant

A person who enters a country without the proper documentation or permission

• Driven by desire for safety, better quality of life, more opportunities

• Main source countries:

  • Mexico

  • Guatemala

  • Nicaragua

  • Honduras

  • China

  • India

  • El Salvador

• Where do they settle:

  • Texas

  • California

Selective immigration

Process to control immigration that bars individuals of certain backgrounds and gives preference to others who have traits that are viewed favorably

Immigration quota

A law that limits the number of prospective immigrants who can be admitted into a country every year

• Affect society by:

  • Less workers

  • Less diversity

  • Discriminatory attitudes

US Immigration quotas

• 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act

  • 25,000 Chinese immigrants settled in California by 1850

  • 1st American immigration quota introduced, banning Chinese laborers

• 1921 Emergency Quota Act

  • Limited annual migration to 3% of the total number of people from that country that were already in the US

• 1924 National Origins Act

  • Limited annual migration to 2% of the total number of people from that country that were already in the US; excluded southern and eastern Europeans and Asians; Mexicans exempted since they were needed for work

• 1965 Immigration and Nationality Act

  • Ended policy of restricting immigration with quotas based on nationality; based on reuniting immigrant families and attracting skilled labor

Impacts of Immigration on Migrants

Economic:

• Positive: 

  • Better paying jobs

  • Better working opportunities

• Negative:

  • Lack of job opportunities

  • Low minimum wage

Social:

• Positive:

  • Less persecution

  • Better access to basic services

• Negative:

  • Discriminatory acts

  • Lack of affordable housing

Political:

• Positive:

  • Less violence

  • Government stability

• Negative:

  • Instability due to changing immigration laws

  • Laws not reflective of culture values

Environmental:

• Positive:

  • Favorable climate

  • Less pollution

  • Less natural disasters

• Negative:

  • Natural disasters

  • More pollution

  • Less favorable climate conditions

Remittances

Money sent from a foreign worker to friends and family in their country of origin

• Benefits:

  • Beneficial to recipients (50% - 80% of household income)

  • Benefits economy

• Drawbacks:

  • Widens gap of inequality within developing countries, and government becomes dependent

Brain Drain

Emigration of skilled workers to other countries

• Move from less to more developed

• Search for better work, educational opportunities, improved living conditions, etc.