The Cultural Geography
of Africa south of the
Sahara
21.1 Notes
Population Patterns
Life
 High



infant mortality rate
Africa = 90/1,000
World Avg. = 56/1,000
Europe = 7 U.S. = 6.7
 Highest


birth rate
38 per 1,000 people
U.S. 14, Europe 10
 Lowest life expectancy
 52 yrs.
 U.S. 77, Europe 74
Distribution of population
Uneven
Most
river
near coast, lake or
Distribution of population
Food Production
 Declining
because…
 Intensive cultivation
 Loss of soil fertility
 Droughts
 70% of Africans S of Sahara
farm
 Producing less
 Eating less
Some reasons for death
 Famine
 Poor
nutrition
 Impure water – BBC Water site
 Only 40% have pure drinking
water
 Diseases
 Tsetse fly carry
 AIDS – BBC AIDS site
Scale of Living
 Very
low
 Population grows 2x’s economy
 GDP
 $150 billion
Equivalent to Belgium
 Per Capita income
 Varies greatly
Chad = $220, Gabon = $5,200
GDP Per
Capita
Urbanization
Least
urbanized of any
continent
Currently world’s fastest rate
Est. 235 million live in cities
Diverse people
 East
Africa
 Many Asians and whites
 Kenya
 Has 70 ethnic groups
 Tanzania
 Has 100 ethnic groups
 Africans speak more than 800
languages