Population geography

The changing nature, rate and distribution of the world’s population

• The world’s population growth is slowing but not coming to a complete stop
• Families are having fewer children than they used to
• The population is changing at an averagely paced rate
• The bulk of population change is in Asia
• The UN has estimated the population will reach 10 billion by 2050

Population distribution

• The second-largest growth area is Africa but it is expected to take over Asia in the coming years
• Asian population makes up more than half of the world’s population
• The developing countries of the world hold 83% of the population
• Developing countries account for 98.5% of the world’s annual population increase

Demographic trends

• Ways to tell that the population is increasing or decreasing:
  • Fertility rate
  • Life expectancy
  • Population under 15

Spatial patterns of fertility and mortality

Fertility rates

• The high people’s economic and social well-being is the less likely they are to have children
• Global births are at the lowest ever
• It is expected by the end of the 21st century that developing world fertility rates will fall below replacement level
• Factors contributing to the fall in fertility rates:
  • Education for women
  • Use of contraception
  • Process of urbanisation
• Highest fertility rate is in Africa with 3.5 children per woman
• Developed areas of the world have an average of 1.7 children per woman

Factors that can affect fertility rates:

• Levels of economic and social wellbeing
• Infant mortality rates
• Importance of children as part of a labour force
• Education and employment for women
• Average age of marriage
• Cost of raising children
• Availability of contraception
• Availability of aged services and pension
• Family size preferences

Factors affecting mortality rates:

• Nutritional standards
• Standards of personal hygiene and sanitisation
• Access to safe drinking water and the incidence of infectious diseases
• Access to medical and public health technology

Population structure:

• An ageing population means that people are living for longer
• Europe by 2050 will have 28% of its population over the age of 65
• Africa by 2050 will have 7% of its population over the age of 65

Types volumes and directions of population movements

Internal movements:

• Movement within one country

Rural-urban migration

• Push factors - push someone out of an area
• Pull factors - pull someone to an area
• Urban living is increasing as cities are coming more appealing
• By 2050 more than 60% of the population is expected to live in cities

Counter urbanisation:

• People are choosing to leave the cities and head to rural locations
• May be related to the longer retirement people are having
• Working from home is also now more popular and public transport is better
• 45.5% of the world’s population lives in rural areas

Other movements:

• People move to where there is work available for them
• Manufacturing firms are moving to the outskirts of cities where it is less populated
• People who work in fruit picking, ski resorts or tourism tend to move as seasons change in order to be wherever the work is

International migration:

• International migration - the movement of persons away from their place of usual residence and across an international border to a country of which they are not nationals
• Many move for work or to escape a crisis such as war or natural disaster (Palestinians and Syrians)