Population and Demography Key Terms

Vocabulary flashcards generated from the population geography key terms and case studies transcript.

Agricultural density

The ratio of the number of farmers to the total amount of arable land (land suitable for agriculture).

Arithmetic density

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

Census

A complete enumeration of a population.

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 over age $64$ 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.

Elderly support ratio

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

Epidemiologic transition

The process of change in the distinctive causes of death in each stage of the demographic transition.

Epidemiology

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

Industrial Revolution

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

Infant mortality rate (IMR)

The total number of deaths in a year among infants under $1$ year of age 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.

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

Medical technology invented in Europe and North America that has diffused to the poorer countries in Latin America, Asia, and Africa, eliminating many traditional causes of death.

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

Disease that occurs over a wide geographic area and affects a very high proportion of the population.

Physiological density

The number of people per unit area of arable land, which is land suitable for agriculture.

Population pyramid

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

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 (ZPG)

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

Mahāmīd, Egypt

A town of $45,000$ near the banks of the Nile River used to explore agricultural land density vs. desert surroundings.

White Horse Village Urbanization

The construction of new cities in rural China aimed at providing better jobs and living conditions to millions of farmers while altering an ancient way of life.