Chapter 2 Guided Reading
Where Are the Children?
1. Where is the author?
2. What does he notice about children?
3. Describe what is happening to the population of Europe.
4. What is replacement level?
5. What is the Total Fertility Rate? (TFR)
6. According to the map on p. 36 and 37, As of the year 2000 how many countries had
fallen populations that fell below replacement level?
7. What country in the world is recording the lowest TFRs today?
8. Why are women in wealthier countries having fewer children?
9. What do the younger workers have to provide?
10. What must happen if there is a large aging population and fewer young workers?
11. Describe what will happen if Japan resists immigration.
12. What is Sweden doing to encourage a larger population?
Where in the World do People Live and Why?
13. Define demography.
14. Describe population density.
15. What is arithmetic population density?
16. Why do 98% of Egyptians live on just 3% of the land?
17. Describe physiologic population density. Why is this a better measure of population
density?
18. Explain population distribution.
19. Why would a geographer use a dot map?
20. Historically, people tended to concentrate in places where they could _________________
_________________________.
21. For each area note 3 key points about population density and/or population patterns.
East Asia



South Asia



Europe



North America



22. What is a megalopolis? Where could you find one?
23. Explain what a census is.
24. Why are populations reported as estimates rather than actual counts?
Why do Populations Rise or Fall in Particular Places?
25. Who was Thomas Malthus? Where did he live? What did he warn of? When did he write
An Essay on the Principles of Population?
26. How does globalization nullify Malthus’ theory that food production is limited by what can
be grown in a certain country?
27. How do you calculate natural increase?
28. What four components are used to calculate demographic change?




29. Which countries are specifically mentioned that have high TFRs?
30. What is doubling time? What is doubling time for world population now?
31. What will the global population growth rate have to significantly slow down population
growth world-wide?
Why Does Population Composition Matter?
1. Why is population composition important to population geographers?
2. What key indicators of population composition are used to make a population pyramid?
3. What is going on in the population pyramid of countries that look like a Christmas tree?
(birth, death, etc.)
4. Why do you think the pyramids for Pakistan and Guatemala get much narrower after about
age 50?
5. Describe a pyramid of a wealthy country?
6. Does a population pyramid tell us all the reasons that a pyramid is shaped the way it is? Give
two examples of things that cannot be determined from a population pyramid.
7. What is IMR? What does it mean?
8. What are 4 reasons for high infant mortality?




9. What, together with malnutrition is the leading cause of infant mortality in the world today?
10. Why do you think Japan and Singapore have lower IMRs?
11. Explain what CMR stands for.
12. On what 2 continents are the CMRs the highest.
13. Many children die because of inadequate ____________________ and insufficient
_________________.
14. How is life expectancy measured? How does a longer life expectancy indicate a wealthier
country?
15. Why is Japan’s life expectancy predicted to rise so high?
16. What has the spread of AIDS done to life expectancy in Subsaharan Africa?
17. In about what year did medical geographers begin to notice how many people were infected
with HIV?
18. Why is AIDS considered a pandemic today?
19. What do medical geographers estimate is the percentage of tropical African countries AIDS
infection rate today?
20. What is happening to the population pyramids of the countries hardest hit by AIDS?
21. Explain the projected population pyramid for South Africa in 2035 on p.62
22. Write two main idea sentences for The Maladies of a Longer Life Expectancy.
How do Governments Affect Population Change?
23. Government policies that influence the growth rate or ethnic ratios within a population fall
into three groups. What are they?
24. Describe expansive population policies. Where are governments passing laws to encourage
expansive population policies today? Why are these governments doing this?
25. Describe eugenic population policies. Give one example of a government that used eugenic
population policies.
26. What are restrictive population policies? Why and when did China institute the “one-childonly” policy?
27. What happened to Sweden’s population after the government gave tax incentives, payments,
and time off to be with children? What changing circumstances changed this?
28. What is happening to population growth in Roman Catholic countries? Why do you think
this is happening?
29. What is happening to the populations of Islamic countries? In contrast, what has Indonesia
done to try to limit population growth? What did Indonesia do when Muslim leaders objected?