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Demography
The study of the characteristics of human population
Characteristics of places people want to live
Food and moderate climates
Population distribution
Patterns of human settlement
Population density
Measure of the average population per square kilometer or mile of an area
Hunter-gather societies
Looked for food, water, and shelter
Midlatitudes
Region between 30 and 60 degrees north and south of the equator, where most people live
Mid latitude characteristics
Moderate climate, better soil
Low-lying areas
Most people live in low-lying areas rather than high altitudes like mountains
Low-lying areas characteristics
Better soil, usually close to oceans (food source and trading)
Factors that influence population distribution
Water sources (lakes, rivers)
Less disease
Midlatitudes
Low-lying areas
Human factors on population density
Areas with other people (like friends and family)
Transportation networks and trade routes (linear settlement patterns)
Linear settlement patterns
Can occur around a train line, river, or road
Global scale…
People tend to locate in low elevations
Local/ city scale…
People prefer the highest points (protected from flood, provide cool temperatures, and have better views)
Regional scale…
Climate can impact where people locate within a state
Social stratification
The hierarchical division of people into groups based on economic status, power, or even ethnicity
Population density
Comparing the relationship between the number of people and the amount of space
3 types of population density
Arithmetic density
Physiological density
Agricultural density
Arithmetic density
Total number of people divided by the total land area (provides an average)
Tells us nothing about grouping or the land in a country
Physiological density
Number of people dependent on each unit of cultivated/ arable land
Excludes agriculturally non-productive land
Reflects the carrying capacity
Burden of dependency/ carrying capacity
Number of people a region can support without damaging the environment
Agricultural density
Number of farmers per unit of arable land
Time and population density
Density varies by time of day (night vs work hours) or year and at different scales of analysis
Economic implications of population distribution
Business locate near populations who will purchase their products
Manufacturing will need to be near a larger job market
People move to cities to take advantage of a larger job market
Political implications
As a population grows, they still need to be politically represented
This can be done by taking a census to adjust how many representatives each state gets
Redistributing (if a state grows/ shrinks, they may either add/ subtract districts)
Social implications
Services are usually provided where they can reach the most people
Larger populations can also lead to higher social tensions (causes racism, disease, poverty, and homelessness)
Infrastructure
Facilities and structures that allow people to carry on with life
Urban services
Density housing is popular in urban areas and increases the demand for infrastructure, which is expensive to provide
Overpopulation
Having more people than an area can support, aka exceeding the carrying capacity
Environmental implications
Strain on the local environment
Carrying capacity could change
Reasons carrying capacities change
Technological advancements
Climate change
Carrying capacity and cities
It makes the most sense for cities to be built on land with less carrying capacity (less arable and agricultural land), but the opposite has happened because the agricultural surplus led to urbanization
Population Composition
Age- shapes public policy and an area’s needs
Gender- could be due to a war or government child policies
A population pyramid is also called an
Age-sex composition graph
Population pyramids
Show birth rates, death rates, life expectancy, economic development, and age and gender data
Impacts of war
Impacts typically men from 18-40
Also impacts future populations
During war, women and men are physically separated or don’t want kids
This slowing of birth rates is called a birth deficit
Baby boom
Once a conflict ends, birth rates usually spike (also occur during good economic times)
Baby bust
When the book ends, and the birth rates are lower for a number of years (this continues until the boomers reach childbearing years)
Baby echoes
When the initial boom has children
Pyramid bar is longer for ages 18-25
Colleges could be there
Bars longer for people ages 25-50
Economic crisis, government policy, or an epidemic that impacts children
Bars longer for people over 65
A community in a warmer climate that attracts retired people
A lack of jobs that causes younger people to move in search of work
Bars that are longer for females than males
Women live longer than men
A female prison/correction facility
Bars that are longer for males than females
A boom in jobs typically done by men (also attracts migrant workers)
A region with a military base
An area with a prison/corrections facility
Dependency (workforces)
The potential workforce is considered to be ages 15-64
Everyone else is considered to be the dependent population
Dependent population
Those too young or too old to work
It assumes they rely on those within the workforce
Dependency ratio
The comparison of the potential workforce and the dependent population is called the dependency ratio
Note
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