Population distribution, density,
and data
Before we begin…
• MDC: More developed country
• LDC: Less developed country
• What makes a country developed?
– Education, health care, government, safety
• Name some countries that would be MDCs
and name some LDCs
Arithmetic Density
• Most often used
• Total number of objects in an area
• People per square mile or kilometer
• Why is it important to talk about population
density rather than just population?
1
million
people
Physiological Density
• The number of people supported by a unit
area of arable land
– What do we mean by unit area?
– What does arable land mean?
• This is more about food and the land’s ability
to support a population
Agricultural Density
• The ratio of the number of farmers to the
amount of arable land
• Why would we use agricultural density rather
than physiological density?
•What are the pros and cons of each type of density
measurement?
•Choose three countries and quickly analyze their population
density data: Look at all the information you have and tell me
what we can learn.
Population
Where are the people?
Demography
• The scientific study of population
characteristics
– Death rate
– Birth rate
– Infant Mortality rate
– Age
– Where are the people?
Where are the population clusters?
• Ecumene
– The portion of the Earth’s surface occupied by
permanent human settlements
• What would make a place uninhabitable?
World Population Changes
• What causes a population to grow or shrink?
• CBR: Crude Birth Rate
– The total number of live births in a year for every 1000
people in a society
• CDR: Crude Death Rate
– The total number of deaths in a year for every 1,000
people alive in the society
• NIR: Natural Increase Rate
– The percentage by which a population grows in a year.
– CBR-CDR=NIR (converted into a percent)
– Natural – excludes migration
*Crude = society as a whole rather than looking at individual regions or population groups
Fertility
• TFR: Total Fertility Rate
– The average number of children a woman will
have through her childbearing years
– Another way of measuring the number of births
(besides CBR)
– TFR in some ways predicts the future, unlike CBR
which just gives us data from the year
Mortality
• IMR: Infant Mortality Rate
– The annual number of deaths of infants under 1
year of age, compared with total live births
• Life expectancy at birth
– The average number of years a newborn infant
can expect to live at current mortality levels
For example…
• Population: 2,000
• Deaths:85
• What is the CDR?
• Population: 39,128,000
• Births: 10,000
• What is the CBR?