Human geography3

Human Geography: Places and Regions in Global Context, 5e

Chapter 3: Geographies of Population

Paul L. Knox & Sallie A. Marston

PowerPoint Author: Keith M. Bell

Chapter Objectives

• The objectives of this chapter are to:• Examine the national census and understand its

limitations• Investigate population distribution and structure• Explore various population dynamics and

processes• Understand population movement and migration• Discuss current population policies and debates

Chapter Outline• The Demographer’s Toolbox

(p. 84)– Censuses and vital records– Limitations of the census

• Population Distribution and Structure (p. 86)– Population distribution– Population density and

composition– Age–sex pyramids

• Population Dynamics and Processes (p. 100)– Birth rates– Death rates– Demographic transition theory

• Population Movement and Migration (p. 107)– Migration types and definitions– International voluntary

migration– International forced migration– Internal voluntary migration– Internal forced migration

• Population Debates and Policies (p. 123)– Population, resources, and

Thomas Malthus– Population policies– Sustainable development and

gender• Conclusion (p. 124)

Geography Matters

• 3.1 Geography Matters—GIS Applications and Google Earth (p. 92)– How GIS and Google Earth can be used in marketing

and urban planning• 3.2 Geography Matters—The Baby Boom

and the Aging of the Population (p. 97)– The burden of funding social security is shifting to

Generations X and Y• 3.3 Geography Matters—Internal

Displacement (p. 108)– The flow of refugees globally—and the impacts of the

“War on Terror” on internal displacement

Geographies of Populations

Population geographers depend on a wide array of data sources to assess

the geography of populations.

Population geographers investigate “the why of where.”

Two important factors that make up population dynamics are birth and

death.

Push and pull factors impact the movement of populations around the

globe.

UN Millennium Summit: How can the global economy provide the world’s

growing population with enough food and water and still support a

sustainable environment?

World Population Density, 2006

Degree of accessibility, topography, soil fertility, climate and weather, water availability and quality, and type and availability of other natural resources are some of the factors that shape population distribution.

The Demographer’s Toolbox

Demography is the study of the characteristics of human

populations.

A census is a straightforward count of the number of people in a

country, region, or city.

Population experts employ data sources like vital records, which is a report of births, deaths, marriages,

divorces, and the incidence of certain infectious diseases.

No census is entirely comprehensive (or comprehensible). All censuses

tend to under-represent nonmainstream kinds of households,

as well as homeless individuals.

Federal funding can have a real impact on peoples’ lives.

Population Distribution of Egypt, 2004

Population Density and Composition

• One way to explore population dynamics is in terms of density, a numerical measure of the relationship between the number of people and some other unit of interest expressed as a ratio.

• Crude density is the total number of people divided by total land area.

• Nutritional density is the ratio between the total population and the amount of land under cultivation in a given unit of area.

• Agricultural density is the ratio between the number of agriculturists per unit of farmable land in a specific area.

• Geodemographic analysis is the practice of assessing the location and composition of particular populations.

Population Density: Melbourne, Australia

Melbourne represents a classic low-density urban settlement predicated on a quarter-acre home and garden enabled by the widespread use of automobiles. Since the 1990s, Melbourne has begun to address this sprawling urban form through infill.

Population Density: Tokyo, Japan

Urban form in Tokyo is the result of many factors. Most important in terms of its population size is its role as a central node in the world systems of cities. The urban economy is complex, requiring a wide range of labor skills from professional and managerial to low-skilled, service-oriented workers.

Health Care Density

In this cartogram (a map/diagram fusion) , the core countries and China have the highest ratio of doctors to overall population. Most of Africa has the lowest ratio, reflecting another dimension of core–periphery inequality.

Population Pyramids, 2006

The shape of an age–sex pyramid varies depending on the proportion of people in each cohort. The pyramid for the peripheral countries reveals that many dependent children, ages 0–14, exist relative to the rest of the population. The core countries pyramid illustrates the typical shape for a country experiencing low birthrates.

GIS Applicationsand Google Earth

• The key to using GIS effectively in marketing is the ability to link demographic data to particular locations. This is known as georeferencing.

• Demographic data are linked to ZIP codes and telephone prefix zones. Is it a meaningful spatial relationship?

• GIS is often used in locational analysis, determining where to locate a business.

• The potential for invasion of privacy through the coupling of different sorts of data sets is very real.

• Google Earth enables users to go anywhere on Earth by way of satellite imagery, maps, terrain models, and 3-D buildings. But skeptics believe it is a surveillance mechanism in disguise.

• Geospatial technologies offer solutions to complex problems, but also frighten others who foresee Orwellian outcomes.

U.S. Boomers, 1969–2000

Youth cohort: ages 0–14

Old-age cohort: 65+

Middle cohort: ages 15–64

Uses of Population Pyramids

Age–sex pyramids can vary within different census tracts of the same city. The tracts show that even within a city, variation in populations can be substantial. Information like this can be very valuable in decision-making and policymaking at varying government levels, as well as marketing through targeted mailings.

U.S. Baby Boom Crude Birthrate

How do population geographers and demographers mark the beginning and end of a generation? What are these statisticians and analysts calling your generation? Is this a fitting moniker? Who belongs in your generation?

Baby Boom and the Aging Population

• Demographic Factors• Political and Economic

Factors• The Aging of the Population• The Impacts on Younger

Americans– Generation X (1965–1975)– Naming the next generation:

Generation Y or Echo Boomers, iGeneration or NetGeneration

The Net GenerationMembers of the Net Generation, people who are currently in their late teens to late twenties, are faced with the awesome burden of having to help support a huge, aging, baby boom population. They are likely to continue to drive demand around increasingly sophisticated personal technology.

World Crude Birthrate, 2007

Crude birthrates and crude death rates are often indicators of the levels of economic development in individual countries. The doubling time is a measure of how long it will take the population of an area to grow to twice its current size.

World Crude Death Rates, 2007

The global pattern of crude death rates varies from crude birthrates. Most apparent is that the difference between highest and lowest crude death rates is relatively smaller than is the case for crude birthrates, reflecting the impact of factors related to the middle phases of the demographic transition.

Total Fertility Rate and Birth Control

Birth control programs coupled with improved educational and economic opportunities for women have proved to be far more effective than birth control policies alone. But in India, a good example of a pluralistic society, issues of ethnicity complicate things because one ethnic group is fearful that if it limits its births, it will soon be outnumbered by another ethnic group.

World Rates of Natural Increase, 2007

The difference between the CBR and CDR is the rate of natural increase, the surplus of births over deaths; or the rate of natural decrease, the deficit of births relative to deaths.

Demographic Transition Model• A demographic transition is a model

of population change in which high birth and death rates are replaced by low birth and death rates.

• Once a society moves from a preindustrial economic base to an industrial one, population grows more slowly.

• The slowing of population growth is attributable to improved economic production and higher standards of living brought about by better health care, education, and sanitation.

• Some experts insist that the usefulness of the model is applicable only to the demographic history of core countries.

World Infant Mortality Rate, 2007

The geography of poverty underlies the patterns on this map. These rates reflect a number of factors including inadequate or completely absent maternal health care, as well as poor nutrition for infants.

Migration Patterns

Mobility and Migration• Mobility may be used to

describe a wide array of human movement, ranging from a journey to work to an ocean-spanning permanent move.

– Emigration and immigration

– International migration and internal migration

– Gross migration and net migration

– Push factors vs. pull factors

– Voluntary migration vs. forced migration

– Refugees, IDPs, guest workers, and transnational migrants

Internal Voluntary Migration: Suburbanization

• By the early twentieth century, residents fled to the suburbs to get away from the new immigrants and their increasing hold over urban political machines.

• Automobile dependency and energy costs in the twenty-first century will likely impact the suburbs (and exurbs further out) in a negative way.

• A general migration trend to the west and south is apparent over the past century.

Internal Forced Migration: EthiopiaAnother causality of ecological catastrophe is Ethiopia where late rains, failure of crops, and soaring food prices have led to severe food crisis and dislocation. This population dislocation caused by the degradation of land and essential natural resources is called eco-migration.

Population Debates and Policies• Thomas Malthus and Neo-

Malthusians– Food is necessary to the existence of

humans.– The passion between the sexes is

necessary and constant.

• William Godwin, Karl Marx, and Friedrich Engels

– Human knowledge can overcome population pressures with technology and equitable distribution of resources.

• Moderates of this “population and resources” argument see the issue not as a population or economic problem, but a political one.

Population Policies and ProgramsImproving the economic status of women is central to the success of controlling population growth (as with these Afghani girls). Access to education and employment security are seen as critical factors shaping a woman’s decisions about how many children to have and when to have them.

UN World Summit—MDGs

The MDGs reflect the neoliberal turn in international development, with the intent of enabling peripheral countries to achieve core economic standards of wealth and prosperity.

End of Chapter 3

Discussion Topics and Lecture Themes

• Gather census data (the age and sex of the population) for the local community. Then use this information to construct an age–sex pyramid for the community. What features are revealed by the age–sex pyramid?– Census data for communities in the United States can

be obtained from the U.S. Census Bureau’s website at http://www.census.gov/. Information for other countries can also be obtained from the U.S. Census Bureau’s website at http://www.census.gov/ipc/www/idb/ and from the Population Research Bureau’s site at http://www.pop.psu.edu.


• Have the students look at sample census questions on the Census Bureau’s website at www.census.gov. What kind of information is gathered by the census? Are there any potential problems in gathering this type of data?– In addition to counting the number of people in the

country, the census also collects data on number of households in the country, people’s racial and ethnic associations, age, marital status, occupation, respondent’s type of residential structure, and many other details. Problems include ambiguity in racial and ethnic classification, under-representation of non-mainstream households and homeless people, among others.


• Using the image for Figure 3.2, what do you note about the distribution of the world’s population? What factors account for this uneven distribution? Why do some parts of the world have extremely low population densities?– Population is unevenly distributed around the world. Reasons for

low densities include unproductive natural environments, such as desert, mountain, or tundra environments.


• Again using the image for Figure 3.2, as well as the data in Table 3.1, discuss how North America compares in terms of its share of the world’s population and population density. Then discuss this information in the context of the immigration question in the United States. Does the United States have room for more immigrants?

– North America (which in Table 3.1 does not include Mexico or any part of Latin America) contains only 5 percent of the world’s total population—a very small percentage. Students will have varying opinions as to immigration and potential overpopulation, but many may not realize that 95 percent of the world’s population lives outside of North America.


• Some of your students may belong to Generation X (people born between 1965 and 1980, approximately). Generations are often defined in terms of shared experiences. Ask the students what experiences their generation has shared, and how this creates a sense of being part of a generation. Does Generation X share any significant experience equivalent to the sharing of the Vietnam War, the Sexual Revolution, or the Civil Rights movement by the Baby Boom generation? Is it too early to tell what Generation X’s shared experiences might be?– The same question can be asked of members of that generation

born after 1980. Are there noticeable differences in values and attitudes between students born before and after 1980?


• Overpopulation is often a popular topic with students. First, ask them whether they think the world—or parts of the world—is overpopulated today. Second, ask them how they define overpopulation. Many will likely respond “too many people in a place.” Then ask them if they think that places like Japan are overpopulated, despite Japan’s lack of food and other resources. The students should realize that overpopulation is a value-laden term, with many different possible definitions.– This question provides an opportunity to initiate debate on how

values shape population policies such as those regarding immigration.


• How can Geographical Information Systems (GIS) be used in locating retail businesses?– This question allows the students to see one practical

application of geographic methods. You or the students could try contacting local retailers (especially chain retailers, such as Starbucks or McDonald’s) to see if they will provide information about how they select their retail outlet locations. The Geography Matters 3.1 boxed text also provides information about this issue.


• How is the burden of social security and other public goods being shifted onto the “Baby Boom” generation?– Have the students use census data (see the discussion for

Question #1, above, for details on how to gather census data) for the local region, state, or country as a whole and construct age–sex pyramids. Use these pyramids to show how the large “Baby Boom” cohort is aging, while the following generations (those born between 1965 and the present) are smaller, therefore putting pressure on those generations when baby boomers retire and become dependent on younger generations. Also see the Geography Matters 3.2 boxed text for more information.


• What natural disasters have taken place in or near the local community? How has this affected population?– Consult local histories, museums, or

newspapers for information on what may have taken place in the local area. Students may also want to examine impacts of natural disasters in other areas, such as the impacts of hurricanes on the Gulf Coast.

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