Population Geography I
The Where and Why of Population
• Density
• Distribution
• Demographics (Characteristics)
• Dynamics
Cultural Hearths of Civilization
5000 BC
Year 1
1500
1900
World Population
World Population Cartogram
Population by continents
Density of World Population
Blackout of 2003
Select Population Densities
(people/mi2)
•
•
•
•
Lower 48 states
94.7
NJ
1134
Lincoln Co., NV
0.4
Manhattan
66,834
•
•
•
•
Wisconsin
Eau Claire Co.
Florence Co.
Milwaukee Co.
98.8
146
10.4
3885
Population Densities
(people/mi2)
Canada
Russia
United States
Holland
Bangladesh
8
22
80
Egypt
1002
2261
173 people/mi2
3% of area inhabited
Nile River
6000 people/mi2
High density
in Bangladesh
Distribution:
Why do we live where we live?
Population Distribution in North America
Trans-Siberian railroads
in eastern Russia
Omsk
Demography:
Population characteristics
• Ascribed characteristics
• Achieved characteristics
Characteristics
• Ascribed
– Gender
– Race
– Age
• Achieved
–
–
–
–
–
Education
Income
Occupation
Employment
Etc.
Census:
Count of population
and its characteristics
Dynamics
Rate of Natural Increase (RNI)
Births
- Deaths
=
RNI
National population
Births
- Deaths
+ Immigration (in)
- Emigration (out)
=
Population growth
Population increase and decrease
World Birth Rate
(births per 1,000 population)
Doubling Time
Number of years
it will take for population to
double, at current rate
United States: 117 years
Nicaragua: 21 years
World Death Rate
(deaths per 1,000 population)
Epidemics (AIDS)
Infant mortality rate
(deaths of infants <1 year old)
Lack of maternal health care or child nutrition
Philadelphia Infant Mortality
Red area high than
at least 28 “Third
World” countries,
including:
Jamaica
Cuba
Costa Rica
Malaysia
Panama
Sri Lanka
South Korea
Taiwan
Uruguay
Argentina
Chile
Life Expectancy at Birth
AGE DYNAMICS
Dependency Ratio
• Dependents are under 15 & over 65
• How many are supported by 15-65 group
• Problems?
“Graying of the Core”
• Low birth and death rates in Core
• Low population growth
(except immigration)
• Steadily older population
Comparison of U.S. eras
Baby Boom
(1946-1964)
Baby Bust
(1965-1980)
Baby Boom impacts yet to come
• Strain on Social
Security
70
60
50
40
Millions
over 65
in U.S.
30
20
10
0
2000
2030
• Growing health care
costs
• Challenge to youth
identity (Gen. X)
Population Pyramid
tracks age-sex groups (cohorts)
U.S. (slow growth)
Tanzania, Africa (rapid growth)
Denmark (zero growth)
Germany (effect of wars)
Japan (effect of war)
China (One-child policy)
Canada, 1971-2006
Russia, 1990-2006
Arabian Peninsula, 1980s
Labor sending : Labor receiving
Sun City (Arizona) retirement community
Eau Claire County
5.7%
6.3%
Grafton Co., N.H. (1970)
Two years before Dartmouth went co-ed
Different neighborhoods of Tucson
Demographic Transition
Move from high birth and death rates
to low birth and death rates
Took centuries of development
for Core to make transition
More difficult for Periphery
to make transition without its
own capital, skills, education
Demographic Transition
Stages of
Demographic
Transition 1. Pre-Industrial Equilibrium
(high birth/death rates)
2. Early Industrialization
1 2
3
4
(better sanitation)
3. Developed industrialization
(better health care)
4. Post-Industrial Equilibrium
(low birth/death rates)
Demographic Transition in Denmark
Core (low birth/death rates)
Demographic Transition in Chile
Semi-periphery
Demographic Transition in Cape Verde, Africa
Periphery (high birth/death rates)
POPULATION GROWTH
Population growth
in Periphery:
Cause or symptom
of poverty and
environmental
degradation?
Fertility Rate
(# children per woman of childbearing age)
Malthus Theory of “Overpopulation”
Not confirmed in reality
Ehrlich Theory of “Population Bomb”
• Population growth would deplete resources
– Can be true on local/national level
• Treats population as cause
Core responsibility for Periphery growth
• Core consumes far more resources
• Demands cheap, unskilled young labor
• Population growth is a symptom of poverty
Why parents in Periphery have kids
Better chance for one kid to survive
Bring in the crops and income
Help parents in old age
Women often lack power to not have kids
Women’s empowerment:
Contraception Rates
Policies to lower birth rate
• Forced
– One-child policy (China)
– Coercive “population control”
• Voluntary
– Availability of birth control
– Incentives for small families
•Social
–Empowerment of women
–Better health care and education
–End to child labor
–Social security