AP Human Geography Unit 2: Population and Migration Vocabulary

Essential AP Human Geography vocabulary flashcards covering Unit 2: Population and Migration concepts for exam preparation.

Demography

The scientific study of population characteristics, including age, race, gender, income, and education level.

Arithmetic Density

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

Physiological Density

The number of people supported by a unit area of arable land.

Agricultural Density

The ratio of the number of farmers to the amount of arable land.

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.

Natural Increase Rate (NIR)

The percentage by which a population grows in a year, calculated as $\frac{\text{CBR} - \text{CDR}}{10}$.

Total Fertility Rate (TFR)

The average number of children a woman will have throughout her childbearing years (typically age $15$ to $49$).

Infant Mortality Rate (IMR)

The total number of deaths in a year among infants under one year of age for every $1,000$ live births.

Life Expectancy

The average number of years an individual can be expected to live, given current social, economic, and medical conditions.

Demographic Transition Model (DTM)

A process of change in a society's population from high crude birth and death rates and low natural increase to a condition of low crude birth and death rates, low natural increase, and higher total population.

Epidemiologic Transition Model

A model that focuses on distinctive causes of death in each stage of the demographic transition.

Malthusian Theory

The idea proposed by Thomas Malthus that human population grows exponentially while food supply grows arithmetically, leading to inevitable famine and crisis unless controlled.

Dependency Ratio

The number of people who are too young ($\text{under } 15$) or too old ($\text{over } 64$) to work, compared to the number of people in their productive working years.

Sex Ratio

The number of males per $100$ females in the population.

Population Pyramid

A bar graph representing the distribution of population by age groups and sex.

Carrying Capacity

The maximum population size of a species or group of people that an environment can sustain indefinitely without degradation.

Pro-natalist Policy

A government policy designed to increase the birth rate through incentives such as tax breaks or childcare subsidies.

Anti-natalist Policy

A government policy designed to decrease the birth rate through legal limits, access to contraception, or economic disincentives.

Push Factors

Negative conditions or circumstances that compel people to leave their current location.

Pull Factors

Positive conditions or attractions that induce people to move to a new location.

Refugee

A person who has been forced to cross international borders to flee war, violence, or persecution and cannot safely return home.

Internally Displaced Person (IDP)

Someone who has been forced to flee their home for similar reasons as a refugee but remains within their country's borders.

Asylum Seeker

A person who has migrated to another country in hopes of being legally recognized as a refugee.

Voluntary Migration

Permanent movement undertaken by choice, usually for economic opportunities or improved quality of life.

Forced Migration

Permanent movement compelled by cultural, political, or environmental factors beyond an individual's control.

Step Migration

Migration to a distant destination that occurs incrementally in a series of shorter, less extreme location changes.

Chain Migration

The migration of people to a specific location because family members or individuals of the same nationality previously settled there.

Transhumance

The seasonal periodic movement of pastoralists and their livestock between mountain pastures in summer and lowland valleys in winter.

Remittance

A sum of money sent back by a foreign worker to an individual or family in their home country.

Brain Drain

The large-scale emigration of highly trained, skilled, or educated professionals from a developing country to a more developed country.