1.1 Introduction:
Population Geography is one of the major branches of humangeography.
Population geography is the study of human population
and its distribution, pattern on the earth's surface. It studies how population
affects the development of a region.
In this chapter we will study human as a resource.
You may know, both circular diagrams are known as
pie-diagrams. This is one of the data representation methods.
First pie diagram showing Continent wise share of land
mass in % and second pie diagram showing Continent wise
Population distribution in % (2019).
Observe both pie diagrams and answer the following
questions.
1.
Which continent has the least population? Australia
2.
Which continent has least landmass and least
population also? Australia
3.
Which continent has most landmass and most
population also? Asia
4. Did you observe one major data difference in both pie-diagrams? - Yes,data of Antarctica is missing in the second pie diagram.
Why it is so? - There is no permanent settlement on Antarctica therefore it is not shown in the second pie diagram.
Can we merge data of both pie-diagram? Which data representation method will be best suitable for the merging? - Yes, we can merge data of both pie diagram by using joint bar graph.
1.2 Important concepts related to population:
a) Population Density:
• Density
is one of the factors of Population study which helps us to understand
population distribution in a better way.
• Population
Density is a ratio of number of people living in a unit area (in sq.km)
b) Crude birth rate:
·
it is expressed as a number of live births in a
year per thousand of population.
c) Crude death rate:
· it is expressed as a number of deaths in a year per thousand of population.
1.3 Patterns of population distribution in the
world:
By observing above pie diagrams or bar graph, we can say
Population and Population densities are unequally distributed in the world. It
helps us to understand demographic characteristics of the world.
What is demographic? It means study of population or related
to population analysis.
If we compare physical map of the world with the population
distribution in the world, we will observe following points:
·
snow covered areas, desert areas, mountainous or
hilly regions are having low or sparse population.
·
On the other hand, river basin or valleys,
coastal, plateau areas having dense population.
So, we can say geographical factors have influence on the population distribution of any area.
1.4 Geographical factors affecting population
distribution:
A) Physical factors affecting population distribution:
1) Relief: it means difference between lowest and
highest values of height/elevation of a place.
Relief represents landforms. Desert, Mountainous or
hilly areas are far away from mean sea level and are not favourable for
livelihood. (as there is lack of water, oxygen,resources, not favourable for
agriculture, steep slope etc.) Therefore, it is less populated. Ex. Himalayas, Western and Eastern Ghat in
India, Alps, Rockies, Sahara, Ran of Kacch, even dense forests like Amazon etc.
Exceptions are
Dehradun, Leh etc.
Plateaus or plain, coastal region are flat surfaces,
having abundant number of resources, favourable for agriculture etc. Therefore,
these regions are densely populated. Ex. Gangetic plain region, Deccan
Plateau, Chhota Nagpur Plateau, Coastal region of most of the countries,
2) Climate:
Extreme climates are not favourable for population.
Ex. Hot or cold deserts like Sahara or Rann of Kacch are having lack of
water, basin extreme temperatures,
densely forested region like amazon and congo river so those are sparsely
populated regions.
A region having pleasant, average climate are densely
populated.
3) Availability of water:
From ancient time, we have observed that settlements were
located near the river or other water sources. Water is one of the basic needs
of human livelihood. It is also another reason why people don’t live in desert
area. Scattered settlements though found in desert but that also near water
source only. On the other hand, there is sufficient amount of water
availability on plateaus, river valleys,
coastal areas, therefore, those are densely populated areas.
4) Soils:
Fertile soil supports agricultural practices, e.g. black
cotton soil on deccan plateau, alluvial flood plains like Gangetic, Yangtze
river, Brahmaputra river etc. have dense population.
Deserted area, de-forested area are soil erosion prone
areas, not favourable for agriculture. Therefore, those areas have scattered or
lack of settlements.
B) Human factors affecting population distribution:
1) Agriculture:
If area having fertile soil and other supplementary factors
for agricultural practices, that region has potential to feed that population.
More and more people prefer such region to live. Types of agriculture, crops,
method of cultivation such characteristics of agriculture affect the
distribution of population.
Ex. Shifting agriculture- tribes shifts to different places
to do farming.
Plantation farming- tea, coffee crops are planted on the
slope of hilly region, on the flat top or at the bottom of that hill/mountain
those farmers are living.
If farmers practice seasonal farming and after that they may
prefer animal husbandry, then they will shift to meadows after farming.
2) Mining:
Mineral resources are natural resources. Those have power to
attract population because it creates employment. Ex. Chota Nagpur Plateau in
India – richest mineral source of India, gold mines in Australian desert,
mineral oil resources in UAE these regions required skilled as well as
unskilled labour so it attracts population. These areas have dense population.
3) Transportation:
If an area is accessible through various modes of
transports, it is highly populated like metro cities in India- Delhi, Mumbai,
Nagpur, Chennai, Bengaluru, Pune etc. these cities have road, rail, airways,
and some have seaways also. It is important key factor in the population
distribution.
Port cities are developed because sea connects different
countries with benefits of trade.
But if some regions are inaccessible, people can’t reach out
there or costlier to reach there, like mountainous region – Himalaya, Alps,
Rockies etc., or some undeveloped regions- rural areas with the lack of
transport could not develop.
4) Urbanisation:
Urbanisation means availability of various facilities like transport, employment, modern culture, high standard of living, education, medical facilities, better administration and services etc. these factors attract population. Therefore, we can observe more than 60% population of India living in urban area. Rural areas have comparatively less density of population.
5) Political factors and government policies:
Poor public services including education and health
facilities discourage people from living in an area, leading to a low
population density. Civil war and persecution can lead to a low population
density as people move to escape violence. Governmental corruption can also
lead to a low population density. A safe, reliable, peaceful, cooperative
government can encourage people to reside over a region. Post-partition
redistribution between India and Pakistan changes the demography of both
nations. Unrest in Syria forces people to migrate nearby countries. Countries
with stable government tend to have dense population. ex. Singapore. Sometimes
government deliberately choose depopulation policy to relieve stress of a
region. Ex. Government of Tokyo giving incentives to people to migrate other
regions of Japan as about one third of Japan lives in Tokyo. These are some
major factors affecting the distribution of population in the world. Along with
these, distance from the sea coast, sources of energy, cultural factors,
economic activities, migration, science and technology etc are another factor
affects the distribution of population in the world.
1.5 Components of population change:
There are three components of population change:
A) Crude Birth Rate B) Crude Death Rate C) Migration
A) Crude Birth Rate:
The crude birth rate is expressed as number of live births
in a year per thousand of population.
B) Crude Death Rate:
Crude death rate is expressed in terms of number of deaths
in a particular year per thousand of population in a particular region. Change
in these rates affects the population growth pattern. Higher birth rate and
lower death rate increases the overall growth of a region. But if death rate
also increases the population will decrease.
C) Migration:
Apart from birth rate and death rate, another factor that
changes population size is migration. When people move from one place to
another for shorter or longer time is called migration. The place from where
they move is called Place of origin and the place move to is called Place of
destination. The place of origin shows a decrease in population while place of
destination shows increase in population. migration may be permanent, temporary
or seasonal.
· Population
Growth/change:
It refers to change in number of inhabitants/residents of a region during
specific period of time. These changes may be positive(growth) or negative
(decline). It has different references as per socio-economic status of that
particular region.
If a region has scarcity of manpower and population grows then it will be
beneficial for that region up to some extent. But already having larger
population size and now growth is out of control then it will affect economic
development of that region.
India has facing population growth issue like poverty eradication has
slow down and so many development statuses are stagnant with increasing
population.
These
changes show trends of population of a country as growth rates are varies from
region to region. Theory of demographic transition explains these
changes through various stages. Those stages are as follows:
Stage no. |
Stages |
Birth Rate |
Death Rate |
Characteristics |
Examples |
|
1 |
High Stationary |
High |
High |
Underdeveloped economy |
not a single country at present |
|
2 |
Early expanding |
Stable |
Low |
Developing countries with
high population - Population explosion |
Congo, Niger, Uganda,
Bangladesh |
|
3 |
Late expanding |
Low |
Low |
Moving toward developed from
developing status minimal population
growth |
China, India |
|
4 |
Low stationary |
Very Low |
Very Low |
Improved economic status of
citizens so the country's |
USA |
|
5 |
Declining |
Very Low |
Low |
Very low number of children Mainly tertiary activities
are contributing economy |
Sweden, Finland |
1) Socio- Economic development of
countries in the world is not same. Factors responsible for the
development is different.
2) Death rates in many rural areas
of Africa have remained higher due to the prevalence and impact of HIV.
3) Migration impacts can alter
changes in demographic structure.
|
Population composition |
Population structure |
|
All the
characteristics of population that can be measured. |
Overall
picture of population composition |
|
Ex. Age wise
population- just a statistic Sex ratio, marital
status, |
Age structure
can be studied by observing age pyramids and give us idea about dependency
ratio, its effect on economy. |
Summary of the chapter 1:
·
Population as a human resource
·
Population distribution in the world
·
Demographic concepts
·
Factors affecting population distribution –
Physical and human factors
·
Components of population change, population
growth
·
Theory of demographic transition
·
Population composition and population structure
In our next blog we will discuss about second chapter Population part 2.
