Population and Health: Distribution, Clusters, and Density

Vocabulary flashcards covering human distribution, major population clusters, sparsely settled environments, and measures of population density.

Overpopulation

A condition that occurs when the number of people exceeds the capacity of the environment to support life at a decent standard of living.

Census

The single most important data source for population geography, which in the United States takes place once a decade in years ending in zero to record population and housing.

Nonparticipation

A census controversy where individuals such as homeless people, ethnic minorities, and unauthorized immigrants do not complete forms out of fear of government agencies like the FBI or the Department of Homeland Security.

Sampling

A controversial statistical technique utilized to achieve a more accurate count and identify detailed population characteristics, which the U.S. Supreme Court ruled cannot be used to redraw Congressional district boundaries.

Cartogram

A specialized map that displays the sizes of countries according to their population rather than their geographic land area.

East Asia Population Cluster

A major population concentration bordering the Pacific Ocean that includes eastern China, Japan, the Korean peninsula, and Taiwan, where nearly half of the Chinese population works as rural farmers, while $93\%$ of Japanese and $80\%$ of South Koreans work at industrial or service jobs in urban areas.

South Asia Population Cluster

A major population concentration including India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka, heavily clustered along a $1{,}500\text{ km}$ ($900\text{ miles}$) corridor from Lahore through the Indus and Ganges valleys to the Bay of Bengal, where most residents are rural farmers.

Europe Population Cluster

A major population cluster comprising four dozen countries ranging from Monaco to Russia, in which three-fourths of inhabitants live in cities, fewer than $5\%$ are farmers, and the highest concentrations are situated near rivers, coalfields of Germany and Belgium, and major capital cities.

Southeast Asia Population Cluster

A population concentration of around $600\text{ million}$ people living mostly on islands between the Indian and Pacific oceans—such as Java in Indonesia—and along river valleys and deltas in Indochina, characterized by a high percentage of rural farmers.

Ecumene

The portion of Earth's surface occupied by permanent human settlement.

Dry Lands

Arid regions covering approximately $20\%$ of Earth's land surface that generally lack sufficient water to grow crops for large populations, though they contain valuable resources such as petroleum reserves.

Wet Lands

Inhospitable regions located primarily near the equator that receive very high precipitation, where the combination of rain and heat rapidly depletes nutrients from the soil and hinders farming.

Cold Lands

Polar regions near the North and South poles that are perpetually covered with ice or underlain by permafrost, rendering them unsuitable for planting crops or sustaining human settlements.

Permafrost

Permanently frozen ground characteristic of cold polar lands.

High Lands

Steep, snow-covered mountain areas that are generally sparsely settled, with the exception of low-latitude plateaus and mountain regions near the equator where agriculture is viable at high elevations.

Arithmetic Density

The total number of people divided by total land area, which enables geographers to compare the number of people trying to live on a given piece of land in different regions.

Arable Land

Land suited for agriculture.

Physiological Density

The number of people supported by a unit area of arable land, which helps geographers assess the capacity of the land to yield enough food for the needs of the population.

Agricultural Density

The ratio of the number of farmers to the amount of arable land, which reflects economic and technological differences between developed and developing nations.