Population Studies
Measuring
Populations
Terms, definitions and examples
The first section of the elective deals
with the study of Populations with
two case studies to read in detail.
Firstly there are some terms to
be learned……………..
The study of populations
The spread of people across the world
The average number of people living in a
square kilometre of land
The study of populations
The spread of people around the
world
The amount of people living in a
square kilometre
Number of live births per
one thousand of the
population
Number of deaths per one
thousand of the
population….also known
as the Mortality Rate
Natural Increase:
the difference between the birth and death
rates – population rises
Natural Decrease:
the difference between the birth and death
rates – population decreases
Progressive: wide base, narrow top : Countries in stage
1 -3 of the DTM (Brazil).
Stationary:
all age groups represented fairly evenly
(except a narrower top) : Countries in
stage 4 of the DTM (Ireland).
Regressive: narrow base and wider top showing a low
birth rate and population living longer.
Stage 5 of the DTM (France…. Or
Ireland in the next 20 years!)
0 -14 years (total) + 65+++ years (total)
___________________________________
15 – 64 years (total)
The dependency ratio is calculated adding up all the
under 15 year olds (males and females) and adding
them to the total number of over 65 year olds (males
and females).
This total number of Youth Dependency + Old age
dependency is divided by the total number of people
between 15 to 64 year olds (males and females
again!).
This new number is multiplied by 100 over 1
The dependency ratio allows you to estimate
the level of development of a place. The
higher the number the deeper the troubles for
the country. The ratio of 40:100 means that
there are 40 dependents for every 100
workers. Ideally a country or a place needs a
low number of dependents to ensure there is a
higher number of eligible workers ….working
and paying taxes to keep the state at a high
level of development.
0 -14 years (total) + 65+++ years (total)
___________________________________
15 – 64 years (total)
• First settlers=arrived in Ireland approx 7,000 years ago
• Pre-famine (1845-1848)=Pop estimated at 8 million, people
lived in rural villages and depended on agriculture
• After the famine=mass emigration, death and drop in population
to approx 3 million
• Early 20th century= Population continued to drop to 2.8 million
but slowly rising since 1960s onwards
• Today=recent census recorded just over 5 million in the
Republic with this the third year of record ‘baby boom’ figures
(20,000 in first four months of 2011)
• 2015=with current trends figure may exceed 6 million
• 2050= a slow down in figures is expected and the
• Population may stabilize around 6.5million*
Uneven population distribution
50% of the people in just 10% of the land
Rural to urban migration
Urbanisation increased from 1950’s
onwards
• 2007=77% in towns or cities
• Paris basin densest populated area (21
million approx)
• Mountainous areas least populated
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Practice short question skills (reading / calculating on graphs
and charts.
Read the case studies at the end of chapter one…..you might
need or use some of the information in regional geography.
Learn how to use the formulae and examples of areas with
changing populations.
Revise ------------------------ Revise ---------------------- and just a little more!!!