Chapter 2: Population Study Questions
DIRECTIONS:
Answer the following in complete sentences on your own paper. You will not be allowed to use this
assignment sheet on your quizzes so answer the questions in such a way that you know what the question
was. You will be allowed to use your answers on any study question quiz. For definitions you can simply write
the definition next to the word. (G= direct from glossary)
Key Question #1: Where in the World do People Live and Why? (pages 40-46)
1. What is demography, and how do population geographers work with demographers?
2. What is population density? What does it assume?
3. Define arithmetic population density (G). How is it derived?
4. Define physiological population density (G). (What does arable mean?(G))
5. What is population distribution? How do geographers often represent population
distributions? (define)
6. Where have people historically congregated, and what correlation does this show?
7. Where will you find the three largest population clusters in the world, and where is
the fourth located?
8. In East Asia, what are three countries in which you will find the most extensive
shading on a dot map?
9. How many people live in China alone?
10. Describe the population densities in China.
11. What country lies at the heart of the South Asian cluster, and how many people
does it have?
12. In the South Asian cluster, where do people cluster?
13. What two physical geography barriers create the boundaries of the South Asian
population cluster?
14. How is the area different from East Asia? How is it also similar to East Asia?
15. About how many people does the Europe population cluster contain, and how does
this compare to the South Asia cluster?
16. Describe three ways in which European terrain and environment are not as closely
related to population density as they are in East and South Asia.
17. Describe the location of the North American population region. What cities are
included?
18. Define megalopolis (G). (copy to first semicolon and then look to end of
definition) For what is it a synonym?
19. What is a census (G)?
20. Who protests the use of the census and why?
21. How does under-counting result in the loss of money for social services?
22. How does being under-counted lead to less government representation?
23. What did advocacy groups urge the census to do, and why?
24. Name three agencies that collect and report data on world population.
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Population (Chapter 2) Study Questions
Key Question #2: Why do Populations Rise or Fall in Particular Places? (pages
46-57).
25. What did Paul Ehrlich’s book, The Population Bomb, say about the world’s
population?
26. What did Thomas Malthus say in his essay, an Essay on the Principles of Population?
What was his reasoning?
27. What did the predictions that Malthus made assume?
28. What did Malthus not foresee?
29. What did mercantilism, colonialism, and capitalism bring?
30. What happened through global interaction?
31. How has food production grown exponentially instead of linearly (as Malthus
assumed)?
32. What things have been done in the 21st century in order to help food production to
grow exponentially?
33. How do you calculate the natural increase rate of a country’s population?
34. What two components does calculating the natural increase miss?
35. Despite low TFRs and low population growth rates that are enumerated in the
chapter, describe how population continues to grow.
36. Define doubling time (G).
37. What was the population explosion (G)?
38. Describe the global growth rate and today’s population.
39. What will have to happen to the global growth rate to slow down global population
growth?
40. Describe the impact of the AIDS epidemic in Subsaharan Africa.
41. What does the map reveal about the growth rates in Muslim countries of North
Africa and Southwest Asia?
42. What do demographers indicate about the correlation between high growth rates
and the low standing of women?
43. What region is the most important geographic region in the population growth rate
picture? Why?
44. Describe the population growth rates in Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and India.
45. What is the population growth situation in East Asia with China and Japan?
46. How does Southeast Asia compare to East and South Asia in terms of population
growth?
47. What is the situation of population growth rates in South America?
48. Where do the slowest growing countries lie?
49. What are the factors that are the reasons for negative population growth rates?
50. What things will help reduce natural population growth rates?
51.
52.
53.
54.
55.
56.
57.
58.
59.
60.
61.
62.
What is the rate of natural increase (text)?
What are CBR (text) and CDR (text)?
Define the demographic transition model (G).
In the initial low-growth stage of the demographic transition model, what kept the
death rates high among all sectors of the population? (4 total)
What causes the lines connecting different period of population growth to turn up
and down frequently.
What allowed Europe’s workers to move from farms to factories at the beginning of
the Industrial revolution?
What other advances helped to lower death rates at this time?
What caused the population growth rates in Europe to begin to decline in the first
half of the 1900s?
In the 1900s, where would you find the countries with the lowest birth rates?
What is the stationary population level (SPL) [in the text]?
What are some predictions about the world when the world’s population levels?
What general overview does your text give regarding population increase?
Key Question #3: Why Does Population Composition Matter? (pages 57-58)
63. What can maps not reveal in terms of aspects of population geography other than
distribution & density?
64. What is population composition (G)?
65. Why is population composition important?
66. What is a population pyramid (G)? (LONG definition) (examples on page 58)
67. What does the population pyramid of a poorer country look like?
68. What are 5 examples of a poorer country with this type of population pyramid?
69. What does the population pyramid of a country with economic wealth look like?
Why?
70. Name 4 countries with low TFR and high wealth that fit into this pyramid model.
What are kwashiorkor and marasmus (text)? What do these affect the most?
What is life expectancy (text)?
What has AIDS done to LERs in some SubSaharan countries?
What do the dramatically lower figures for the world’s poorer countries primarily
reflect? What does this mean for a person that has survived well beyond childhood?
88. What do medical geographers study?
89. What are infectious diseases (text)? Give an example.
90. What are chronic or degenerative diseases (text)? Give an example.
91. What are generic or inherited diseases (text)? Give an example. Where do
they tend to appear?
92. What are the geographic terms used to describe the spatial extent of a disease?
What does each mean?
93. What are the two types of infectious disease?
94. How is a vectored infectious disease spread? What is a host?
95. Why are mosquitoes such an effective vector of infectious disease?
96. What are some other sample vectors?
97. How are non-vectored diseases spread? What is an example of two of them?
98. What is another name for chronic diseases? What are they?
99. Name 6 examples of chronic diseases.
100. Why are genetic diseases of particular interest to medical geographers?
101. What are the primary genetic diseases like primary lactose intolerance called? What
do they do?
102. What is AIDS (text)? (what does it stand for and what is it?)
103. Where will you find the largest number of AIDS cases? How does it rank in terms of
cause of death?
104. What are some ways that Africa is combating the AIDS epidemic?
84.
85.
86.
87.
Key Question #5: How Do Governments Affect Population Change? (pages 7073)
Key Question #4: How Does the Geography of Health Influence Population
105. What are three categories of population policies?
Dynamics? (pages 58-70)
106. What is an expansive population policy (text)? Where are two places where
71. What are among the most important influences on population dynamics?
this was practiced?
72. What is IMR (text)? How is it different from CMR (text)?
107. Why are countries of today pursuing expansive population policies?
73. What are 6 causes of high infant mortality rates?
108. What form might these expansive policies take?
74. What are the two main killers of children throughout the world? What is an
109. What is a eugenic population policy (text)? What are 3 places where eugenics
additional threat to infants & children?
has or has reported to be used?
75. Name 3 countries where the IMR rates are low.
110. How are eugenic population policies practiced?
76. Name 2 countries where IMR rates are high.
111. What are restrictive population policies (glossary)?
77. What does the IMR regional variation within countries allow us to see?
112. What were some of the unintended results of the Chinese one-child policy?
78. How does the IMR for African-Americans compare with that of non- Hispanic whites? 113. How can population policies influence growth and decline?
79. What factors contribute to the higher IMR in African-Americans?
114. What is one large contraindication to population statistics?
80. Explain the regional variation of IMR in the US.
115. What is the only Asian Roman Catholic country?
81. What is the newborn death rate (text)? Where does the US stand in this?
116. How did the Muslim country of Indonesia persuade the people to accept family
82. What does the Mother’s Index confirm about Subsaharan Africa? What trend does it
planning education?
say about newborn death rates & maternal death rates?
83. What are 5 examples of countries with a poor Mother’s Index & either violent conflict
or recent history of conflict?
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Population (Chapter 2) Study Questions