AP HUG - Unit 2

• More people are alive at this time than at any other point in Earth's history, and most of the growth is concentrated in poor countries
• Can Earth sustain more than 7 billion people now, let alone the added billions in the future?
• Geographers have unique perspectives on the ability of people to live on Earth
• Indonesia is the world's fourth most populous country, so its future population growth will have a major impact on the future population of the world as a whole
• Population distribution


  Humans are not distributed uniformly across Earth. Rather, they are highly clustered in particular places, whereas other places are sparsely inhabited
• Key issues in this chapter


  • Where are the world's people distributed?
  • Why is world population increasing?
  • Why do some places face health challenges?
  • Why might population increase in the future?
• The single most important data source for population geography is the census
• Nonparticipation in census


  Homeless people, ethnic minorities, and citizens of other countries who do not have proper immigration documents may be less likely to complete census forms
• Sampling in census


  Statistical sampling techniques can be utilized to get a more accurate count, as well as to identify detailed characteristics of people, housing, and businesses
• The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that sampling may not be used to redraw Congressional district boundaries
• Population concentration


  • Regions of Earth's surface where population is clustered and regions where it is sparse
• Population concentration


  • North America, Latin America, the South Pacific, and Greenland
  • Eastern China
  • Southern India
• Cartogram


  Map that depicts the sizes of countries according to population rather than land area
• Two-thirds of the world's people live in Asia and Europe
• Four major population clusters


  • East Asia
  • South Asia
  • Europe
  • Southeast Asia
• East Asia


  • Nearly one-fourth of the world's people live here, clustered near the Pacific Coast and in fertile river valleys, with much of the interior sparsely inhabited
  • Nearly half the people live in rural areas as farmers
  • 93% of Japanese and 80% of South Koreans live in urban areas
• South Asia


  • Nearly one-fourth of the world's people live here, concentrated along a 1,500-km corridor from Lahore, Pakistan to the Bay of Bengal, along the Indus and Ganges river plains, and near the coastlines
  • Most people are farmers living in rural areas
• Europe


  • Three-fourths of inhabitants live in cities and towns
  • Ranges from tiny Monaco to vast Russia
• South Koreans


  • Clustered in urban areas
  • Work at industrial or service jobs
• South Asia


  • Nearly one-fourth of the world's people live there
  • Largest concentration of people along a 1,500-kilometer corridor from Lahore, Pakistan, through India and Bangladesh to the Bay of Bengal
  • Much of the population concentrated along the plains of the Indus and Ganges rivers
  • Population also heavily concentrated near India's two long coastlines
• Most people in South Asia are farmers living in rural areas
• Europe


  • Includes four dozen countries
  • Three-fourths of Europe's inhabitants live in cities
  • Fewer than 5 percent are farmers
  • Highest population concentrations near major rivers and coalfields of Germany and Belgium, as well as historic capital cities such as London and Paris
• Southeast Asia


  • Around 600 million people live there
  • Mostly on a series of islands between the Indian and Pacific oceans
  • Indonesia, the world's fourth-most-populous country, has the largest population concentration on the island of Java
  • Several islands that belong to the Philippines contain high population concentrations
  • Population also clustered along several river valleys and deltas at the southeastern tip of the Asian mainland, known as Indochina
  • Characterized by a high percentage of people working as farmers in rural areas
• Africa


  • Has several population clusters
  • The two largest, both with around 300 million people, are along the west coast between Senegal and Nigeria and along the east coast between Eritrea and South Africa
  • Most Africans work in agriculture
• Western Hemisphere


  • The largest population concentration is in the northeastern United States and southeastern Canada, containing around 100 million people, extending along the Atlantic Coast from Boston to Newport News, Virginia, and westward along the Great Lakes to Chicago
• Ecumene


  The portion of Earth's surface occupied by permanent human settlement
• The areas of Earth that humans consider too harsh for occupancy have diminished over time, whereas the portion of Earth's surface occupied by the ecumene has increased
• Dry lands


  • Cover approximately 20 percent of Earth's land surface
  • Deserts generally lack sufficient water to grow crops that could feed a large population, although some people survive there by raising animals adapted to the climate
  • Contain natural resources useful to people, notably much of the world's petroleum reserves
• Wet lands


  • Lands that receive very high levels of precipitation, located primarily near the equator, are often inhospitable for human occupation
  • The combination of rain and heat rapidly depletes nutrients from the soil and thus hinders agriculture
• Cold lands


  • Much of the land near the North and South poles is perpetually covered with ice or the ground is permanently frozen (permafrost)
  • The polar regions are unsuitable for planting crops, few animals can survive the extreme cold, and few humans live there
• High lands


  • The highest mountains in the world are steep, snow covered, and sparsely settled
  • Some high-altitude plateaus and mountain regions are more densely populated, especially at low latitudes (near the equator) where agriculture is possible at high elevations
• Arithmetic density


  The total number of people divided by total land area
• Physiological density


  The number of people supported by a unit area of arable land
• Agricultural density


  The ratio of the number of farmers to the amount of arable land
• Comparing physiological and arithmetic densities helps geographers understand the capacity of the land to yield enough food for the needs of the people
• Measuring agricultural density helps account for economic differences, as developed countries have lower agricultural densities because technology and finance allow a few people to farm extensive land areas and feed many people
• The studies of Egypt and the netherlands demonstrate that crops grown on a hectare of land in these two countries must feed far more people than in the united States or Canada, which have much lower physiological densities
• The highest physiological densities are found in Asia, sub-Saharan Africa, and South America. The lowest are in north America, Europe, and the South Pacific
• The world's population is highly clustered in four regions
• The physical environment discourages population concentrations in some regions