AP Human Geography Unit 2 Modules 7 and 8 Vocab Study Set

Anthropocene

The period in which human activities have had the dominant influence on the enviornment.

Demography

The statistical study of population and its change

Population distribution.

The pattern in which humans are spread out on Earth's surface

Eurasia.

A massive piece of land on Earth that consists of Europe, with just under 10 percent of the human population, and Asia, which accounts for almost 60 percent of humanity

Ecumene.

The portion of Earth's surface with permanent human settlement

Population clusters.

Heavily populated areas that illustrate the unevenness in global population distribution; geographers have identified four population clusters on Earth: South Asia, East Asia, Southeast Asia, and Europe

Metacity.

A city with more than 20 million residents

Megacity.

A city with more than 10 million residents

MDC (more developed country)

A country with an advanced economy and a high standard of living

LDC (Less Developed Country)

A country that is of relatively low income or economically poorer than developed countries

Snow belt.

States located in the northern and midwestern parts of the country

Sunbelt.

States in coastal areas and the South and Southwest

mean center of population.

The balancing point given the distribution of population

arithmetic (crude) density.

The average number of people per unit of land area (usually per square mile or kilometer)

population density.

The average number of people per unit of land area

physiological density.

The average number of people per unit area (a square mile or kilometer) of arable land

arable land.

Land suitable for cultivation

agricultural density.

The number of farmers per unit of arable land

carrying capacity.

The number of people a particular environment or Earth as a whole can support on a sustainable basis

human well-being.

The state of being comfortable, healthy, or happy

population composition.

The makeup of the population by age and sex as well as by ethnic, racial, income, and educational background

age structure.

Refers to the breakdown of a population into different age groups or cohorts

dependency ratio.

The number of dependents in a population that each 100 working-age people (ages 15 to 64 years) must support

youth dependency ratio.

The number of young dependents in a population (usually people younger than 15 years of age) that every 100 working-age people must support

elderly dependency ratio.

The number of elderly dependents in a population (usually people older than 64 years of age) that every 100 working-age people must support

generations.

Groups of people who were born around the same time and share some common traits due to the cultural and societal influences they shared as they grew up

Baby Boomers.

People born from 1946 to 1964 during the post-World War II uptick in birth rate

Generation X.

People born between 1965 and 1980 and who are now in their prime working years

Generation Y.

People who were born between 1981 and 2000; often referred to as millennials

Generation Z.

People born after the turn of the twenty-first century

sex ratio.

The ratio of the number of men to number of women in a population

androcentrism.

A phenomenon in which a culture demonstrates a marked preference for males

infanticide.

The practice of killing infants

population pyramid.

A very useful graphic device for comparing age and sex structure