Population and Migration Geography Terms

A comprehensive vocabulary review of key human geography terms covering population dynamics, demographic models, and migration patterns.

Dependency Ratio

The number of people too young or too old to work compared to those in productive years.

Space-time Prism

Set of all points that can be reached by an individual given a maximum possible speed from a starting point.

Demographic Transition Theory

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 rates, low rate of natural increase, and a higher total population.

Demography

The scientific study of population characteristics.

Ecumene

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

Distance Decay

The diminishing in importance and eventual disappearance of a phenomenon with increasing distance from its origin.

Emigration

Migration from a location (exiting a country)

Brain Drain

Large scale emigration by talented people.

Cohort

Group of individuals having a statistical factor in common in a demographic study.

Guest Workers

Workers who migrate to the more developed countries of northern and western europe, usually from Southern and Eastern Europe or from North Africa in search of higher paying jobs

Gendered Space

Areas in which a particular gender and types of gender expression are considered welcome or appropriate and other types are unwelcome and inappropriate

Immigration

Migration into a new location.

Epidemiological Transition Model

Distinct causes of death in each demographic state of transition.

Carrying Capacity

The population level that can be supported given the quantity of food, habitat, water, and other life infrastructure present. This is important because it tells how manu people and area will be able to support

Chain Migration

Migration of people to a specific location because relatives or members of the same nationality previously migrated there.

Place Utility

The desirability and usefulness of a place to the individual or to a group such as the family. Factors such as housing, finance, amenity and the characteristics of the neighborhood are perceived by the individual or group as being satisfactory.

Remittance

Money migrants send back to family and friends in their home countries.

Sustainability

Avoidance of depletion of natural resources in order to maintain an ecological balance.

Step Migration

Migration to a distant destination that occurs in stages, such as from a farm to a village, then to a city.

Population Pyramid

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

Transhumance

The seasonal migration of livestock between mountains and lowland pastures.

Infant Mortality Rate

The total number of deaths among babies under 1 year old for every 1,000 live births in a year.

Zelinsky Migration Transition

The type of migration that occurs within a country depends on how developed it is or what type of society it is.

Arithmetic Density

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

Ravenstein's Laws

Most migrants move only a short distance. There is a process of absorption, whereby people immediately surrounding a rapidly growing town move into it and the gaps they leave are filled by migrants from more distant areas.