AP Human Geography Vocab Unit 2

Carrying Capacity

the population size that a government can sustain indefinitely

Overpopulation

the population exceeds the carrying capacity

Demography

the scientific study of populations

Census

a complete count of a population

Ecumene

the portion of Earth’s surface occupied by permanent human settlements

Arithmetic Density

number of people per a unit of land

Physiological Density

the number of people supported by a unit of arable land

Agricultural Land

number of people per unit of farmable land

National Increase Rate (NIR)

the percentage by which a population grows a year

Doubling Time

the number of years it will take to double a population

Crude Birth Rate (CBR)

the total number of live births

Total Fertility Rate (TFR)

the number of births every year

Infant Mortality Rate (IMR)

the number of infant deaths compared to number of live births

Crude Death Rates (CDR)

the number of deaths in a year for every 1,000 living people

Demographic Transition

a process of change in a society’s population from high CBR and CDR and low CRB and CDR

Stage 1

very high CBR and CDR and a low NIR

Stage 2

very high CBR and NIR and low CDR

Industrial Revolution

a series of improvements in industrial technology that transformed the process of manufacturing goods

Medical Revolution

medical technology invented in Europe and North America to help poorer countries

Stage 3

rapidly declining CBR, declining CDR, neutral NIR

Sage 4

very low CBR, low CDR, neutral or negative NIR

Zero Population Growth

a decline of TFR to a point where NIR is Zero

Sex Ratio

the number of males per 100 females

Potential/Elderly Support Ratio

the number of working age people to the number of elderly people

Population Pyramid

a bar graph that displays the percentage of a place’s population for each age and gender

Dependency Ratio

the number of people who are too young or too old to work compared to the number of people in their productive years

Epidemiology

the branch of medical science that is concerned with the incidence, distribution, and control of diseases that are prevalent among a population at a particular time and are produced by some special causes not generally present in the affected place

Epidemiological Transition

the process of change in the distinctive cause of death in each stage of the demographic transition

Epidemic

a widespread occurrence of an infectious disease in a community at a particular time

Pandemic

an epidemic that occurs over a wide geographic area and affects a very large portion of the population at the same time

Pronatalist Policies

a government policy that supports higher birth rates

Antinatalist Policies

a government policy that attempts to achieve a lower birth rate