Population, Migration, and Demographic Models

A complete set of vocabulary flashcards covering key terms, demographic indicators, population theories, and migration patterns from the lecture notes.

Population distribution

How people are spread out across an area.

Population density

The number of people living in a certain amount of land, calculated as the number of people divided by land area (reported in people per square kilometer).

Arithmetic population density

The total population divided by the total land area.

Physiological population density

The total population divided by the amount of farmable land (arable land).

Agricultural population density

The number of farmers divided by the amount of arable land.

Ecumene

The parts of Earth's surface where people permanently live.

Age structure

The percentage of people in different age groups within a population.

Population composition

The characteristics of a population, including age, sex, income, and other demographic characteristics.

Sex ratio

The number of males compared with the number of females in a population.

Dependency ratio

The number of people generally too young or too old to work compared with the working-age population.

Population pyramid

A graph showing the age and sex composition of a population.

Census

An official count of a country's population, usually conducted by the government.

Crude birth rate (CBR)

The number of live births per $1,000$ people in a population each year.

Crude death rate (CDR)

The number of deaths per $1,000$ people in a population each year.

Total fertility rate (TFR)

The average number of children a woman is expected to have during her lifetime.

Infant mortality rate

The number of babies who die before reaching age one per $1,000$ live births.

Child mortality rate

The rate at which children die before reaching a specified childhood age, specifically before age five per $1,000$ live births in many international comparisons.

Life expectancy

The average number of years a person is expected to live.

Rate of natural increase (RNI / NIR)

The rate at which a population grows from births minus deaths, excluding migration, calculated as $NIR = \frac{CBR - CDR}{10}$.

Population growth rate

The percentage by which a population increases or decreases over a certain period, which includes natural increase and net migration.

Demographic momentum

When a population continues growing even after birth rates decrease because a large number of people are entering their childbearing years.

Doubling time

The amount of time it takes a population to double in size, calculated by the formula $\text{Doubling time} = \frac{70}{\text{Growth rate (\%)}}$.

Zero population growth (ZPG)

When a population has approximately equal numbers of births and deaths, with little or no overall population change.

Stationary population level (SPL)

The population size at which a population stops growing and remains relatively stable.

Carrying capacity

The maximum population an environment can support with its available resources.

J-curve

A graph showing population growth that increases rapidly over time, forming a shape similar to the letter J.

Thomas Malthus

An English economist who studied population growth and food production, believing population would eventually grow faster than the food supply.

Malthusian theory

The theory that population grows faster than food production, eventually creating shortages of food and other resources.

Neo-Malthusian

Someone who believes population growth can create serious problems, such as resource shortages, pollution, and environmental damage.

Demographic Transition Model (DTM)

A model showing how birth rates, death rates, and population growth change as a country develops through five distinct stages.

Epidemiological Transition Model

A model explaining how major causes of death change as a country develops, shifting from infectious diseases and malnutrition to chronic diseases like heart disease and cancer.

Pro-natalist policy

A government policy that encourages people to have more children.

Anti-natalist policy

A government policy that encourages people to have fewer children.

One-child policy

A Chinese government policy introduced in $1979$ and ended in $2015$ that restricted most families to one child to slow population growth.

Contraception

Methods used to prevent pregnancy, which can help lower fertility rates by allowing people to plan when they have children.

Migration

The movement of people from one place to another to live, usually for an extended period, changing a person's usual place of residence.

Mobility

The ability or tendency of people to move from one place to another.

Circulation

Short-term or repeated movement that does not involve permanently changing residence.

Cyclic movement

Regular movement that follows a repeated pattern, such as traveling to school every weekday and returning home.

Nomadism

A lifestyle in which people move from place to place rather than living permanently in one location.

Transhumance

The seasonal movement of livestock between different grazing areas, such as moving herds between mountain pastures and lowland valleys.

Internal migration

Moving from one location to another within the borders of the same country.

International migration

Moving from one country to another country.

Interregional migration

Moving from one region of a country to another region.

Intraregional migration

Moving within the same region of a country.

Rural-to-urban migration

Moving from the countryside to an urban area or city.

Forced migration

When people are compelled to leave their homes because of war, persecution, disasters, or other serious circumstances.

Voluntary migration

When people choose to move to another location by their own decision.

Emigration

Leaving one's home country to live in another country.

Immigration

Entering another country to reside there.

Source region

The original place or territory that a migrant departs from.

Destination region

The final place or territory to which a migrant moves.

Push factors

Unfavorable reasons that drive people to leave their current location, such as war, poverty, unemployment, or natural disasters.

Pull factors

Attractive reasons that draw people to a new location, such as better jobs, higher wages, safety, or political freedom.

Intervening obstacle

A physical, economic, or legal barrier that makes migration more difficult or prevents a migrant from reaching their destination.

Intervening opportunity

A favorable opportunity encountered along a migration route that causes someone to settle before reaching their intended destination.

Step migration

A migration process that occurs in a series of shorter stages or moves rather than one single journey to the final destination.

Chain migration

A migration pattern in which individuals move to a specific location because relatives or friends have previously settled there.

Kinship links

Family ties and relationships that connect individuals across different geographical locations and facilitate migration.

Gravity model

A spatial model predicting that migration between two places increases with larger population sizes and decreases as the physical distance between them increases.

Distance decay

The geographic concept stating that interaction and movement between two locations decreases as the distance between them increases.

Ravenstein's laws of migration

A collection of migration generalities establishing that most migrants travel short distances, seek economic opportunity, move in steps, and head toward large cities.

Zelinsky's migration transition model

A model showing how migration patterns evolve with economic development, shifting from rural flows to international migration, suburbanization, and circulation.

Counter migration

A stream of migration moving in the opposite direction of an established flow.

Refugee

A person forced to flee their home country due to fear of persecution, war, or violence who qualifies for international protection.

Asylum

Legal shelter and protection granted by a sovereign state to someone fleeing danger or persecution in their home country.

Internally displaced persons (IDPs)

People forced to leave their homes due to armed conflict or disasters who remain displaced within the borders of their own country.

Deportation

The compulsory removal of an individual from a country for entering or staying without legal permission or violating legal codes.

Quotas

Specific limits established by governments setting the maximum number of immigrants allowed into a country or granted a particular status.

Guest workers

Foreign laborers permitted to reside and work temporarily in another nation to fulfill labor shortages.

Brain drain

The large-scale emigration of highly skilled, educated, or specialized professionals from their native country.

Remittances

Monetary transfers sent by migrant workers back to family members or contacts in their home country.

Transnational migration

A pattern of movement where migrants maintain regular economic, social, or civic connections across the borders of multiple nations.

Relocation diffusion

The spatial spreading of cultural traits, traditions, ideas, or languages resulting from the physical migration of people.

Less-developed countries (LDCs)

Nations characterized by lower levels of economic development, industrialization, and per capita income.

More-developed countries (MDCs)

Nations that feature advanced industrialization, modern infrastructure, and high levels of income and economic development.

Land degradation

The deterioration in the health, productivity, and quality of land, frequently caused by human actions such as deforestation or overgrazing.