CHAPTER 2 GEODEMOGRAPHY: PEOPLING THE EARTH 1 Definition: Demography • Statistical analysis of human population – Spatial Density – Humans are quite unevenly distributed over the Earth’s surface – Population densities range from zero to over 2,000 people per square mile 2 What is studied? • Areas of inquiry – Fertility – Gender – Health – Age – Nutrition – Mortality – Migration 3 What is studied? • Also study the spatial variation of other demographic qualities. – Birthrate differences – Death rates – Overpopulation – Sex ratios – Age groups – Crime – Quality of life – Human mobility 4 Density and Distribution • Population distribution and density – Uneven population distribution by continent – Density divided into categories – Density does not indicate standard of living, overpopulation, or under population – Physiological density difficult to measure • More useful than the arithmetic density • Agricultural Density better for comparing countries – Shifting population densities • Migrations 5 Density and Distribution • Formal regions devised by population geographers • Distribution of people by continents – Eurasia 73.3 percent – North America 7.3 percent – Africa 12.7 percent – South America 5.5 percent – Australia and Pacific Islands < 0.5 percent 6 7 3 1 2 8 Cartogram of World Population 9 Density and Distribution • Population density categories for demographic regions – Thickly settled areas – 250 or more per sq mi – Moderately settled areas – 60 to 250 per sq mi – Thinly settled areas – 2 to 60 per sq mi – Categories based on single trait of population density. (Formal Regions) 10 Choropleth Map of Arithmetic Density 11 Density and Distribution 12 Physiological Density 13 Agricultural Density 14 Demographic regions • Is the world really overcrowded? – Who determines or defines “overcrowded”? – How is this to be determined? • Does population density give us the full picture? 15 Demographic regions • Population density – What population densities do not tell us • Standard of living • Over or under population • As a statistic concept it conceals changes that constantly occur 16 Components of Change • Patterns of natality – Birthrate – measured as the number of births in a year per thousand people. – Total fertility rate (TFR) • More useful measure than birthrate • Varies greatly from one part of the world to another • Key number is 2.1 (replacement rate) 17 Total Fertility Rate (TFR) • Measured as the average number of children born to each woman during her reproductive years – Focuses on female segment of population and reveals family size – In Europe TFR now stands at 1.4 – Sub-Saharan Africa’s overall rate is 6.0, Niger is highest with 7.4 – Remember that 2.1 indicates no growth – just replacement 18 19 Components of Change • Birth rate does not generally correspond to population density • Inverse situation in China/Europe and interior of Africa • High birthrates concentrated in a belt through the lower latitudes • Mid-latitudes and high-latitude countries have low birthrates • Birthrates now declining in most all countries 20 Birth Rates 21 Components of Change • The geography of mortality – Mortality rate: Number of deaths per 1000 people – In developed world most people die of age-induced degenerative conditions – In poorer countries contagious diseases leading cause of death – Discussion of differing death rates in different parts of the world 22 Death Rates 23 Components of Change • Reasons for differences in death rates when compared with birth rates – Countries with high birth rates tend to have younger population – More developed regions, such as Europe, including Russia, have low birth rates and an aging population that is reflected in higher death rates. – Australia, Canada, and the United States attract more young immigrants 24 Components of Change • Nature seeking to find a balance may have developed effective diseases to control population in Africa where our species originated. – Changing climatic patterns imposed a great desert across Africa blocking disease spread from humid tropic region – AIDS started in Tropical Africa but has diffused to more temperate climates 25 26 Components of Change • Fatal or potentially fatal diseases can occur in all parts of the world – Many are increasingly resistant to medicines – antibiotic overuse – Monitored by World Health Organization and US Center for Disease Control – Next slide shows that few areas of the world have been spared. – Medical Geography – name given to 27 spatial study of human health 28 Components of Change • Death comes in different forms geographically –In developed world – ageinduced degenerative conditions • Enter the “sandwich generation” –In developing nations contagious diseases are leading cause of death 29 Sandwich Generation 30 Infant Mortality Rates Compared for Selected Countries YEARS USA UK Japan Italy Belarus India China South Korea Haiti Brazil Afghanistan Mexico 19501955 28 29 51 60 75 190 195 115 160 41 220 135 225 121 19551960 26 24 37 48 44 173 179 100 145 36 193 122 214 101 19601965 25 22 25 40 30 157 121 70 125 29 176 109 203 88 19651970 22 19 16 33 24 145 81 58 102 25 165 100 189 79 19701975 18 17 12 26 21 132 61 38 82 23 152 91 184 69 19751980 14 14 9 18 22 129 52 30 65 18 139 79 178 57 19801985 11 11 7 13 20 107 52 23 54 14 124 65 177 47 19851990 10 9 5 10 16 94 50 14 44 11 106 55 173 40 19901995 9 7 4 7 16 79 47 12 33 9 74 47 167 34 19952000 8 6 4 6 12 73 41 8 27 6 68 42 165 31 2005 6 ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... .. . ... ... Jordan Israel Equal to or better than the USA figure for those periods. ... not available 31 2008 Source: Encyclopedia Britannica Components of Change • Population explosion – Triggered by a dramatic decrease in the death rate – No universal decline in the TFR – Example of the geometric doubling of world’s population – Discussion of Thomas Malthus predicting the population explosion 32 33 U.S.A. Population Pyramid POPULATION MEASURES & STRUCTURE 34 Infant Mortality Rates 35 Life Expectancy at Birth 36 % of Population under age 15 37 Was Malthus totally off base? • What could he not have foreseen? – Ingenuity: increasing food supply – Green Revolution • 21st century Organic Farming Revolution – World's falling TFR 38 Components of Change • Or population implosion? – Karl Marx—communistic view of society – class struggle driven by economics – Ingenuity of humans in increasing food supply – Green Revolution – World's falling TFR 39 Components of Change • World population explosion is not a worldwide phenomena – Confined to underdeveloped and developed countries with high TFR – All industrialized, technologically advanced countries have achieved low fertility rates – Stabilized or declining populations – Passed through the demographic transformation 40 Many developing countries are stuck here! 41 42 Demographic transformation • In pre-industrial societies, birth and death rates are normally high • Coming of industrial era – Medical advances and diet improvements – Sets state for drop in death rates – Life expectancy soared from average of 35 years to 75 years or more at present – Results in population explosion – Eventually leads to decline in birth rate following decline in death rate 43 Demographic transformation • In post-industrial period, demographic transformation produces actual zero population growth or decline • Stages 3 and 4 of demographic transformation – Require effective methods of birth control – Traditionally, infanticide served as principal method in some cultures – Abortion remains common in some parts of the world – More common are various contraceptive devices 44 Cape Verde – Chile – Denmark 45 46 47 China – One Child Policy 48 Family Planning % of Women Using Family Planning 49 Family Planning Methods 50 Demographic regions • Geography of gender – Gender roles and culture • Importance of number of children to men and women • Restriction of places where men and women can go – Education of women results in falling fertility levels – China and India—female-specific infanticide or abortion – Results of infanticide 51 Geography of gender • Humanity is divided almost evenly between females and males, but geographical differences in the sex ratio occur – Recently settled areas tend to have more males than females – Look at the next slides parts of Alaska, tropical Australia – Alaska 53% male – Mississippi 52% female reflecting the emigration of young males seeking better jobs – Africa – 59% females in some poverty-stricken areas 52 Geography of gender • Gendered spaces: Daphne Spain – Finds them in homes, schools, at work, and sometimes regionally – Males and females often spatially segregated – Inequality of status, access to knowledge, and well-being • Some cultures impose gender-specific place taboos – Muslim countries – Mount Athos peninsula in Greece • Influence of WWII on Germany where lower number of males, even 50 years later 53 Geography of gender • Female-specific infanticide or abortion – Most notorious in China and India – Results from culturally-based preference for male offspring – About 100,000 ultrasound devices available, even to rural Chinese peasants, allowing sexual identification of fetuses – By 2020 China will have 110 marriageable aged males for every 100 females – India today, has only 930 females for each 1000 males creating a profound gender imbalanc 54 Why Children? 55 Rural Pakistan • In rural settings where a child becomes an economic asst by the age of six, girls train for early marriage and motherhood by looking after their younger siblings. • While studies show that more educated women bear fewer children, only one in four women is literate. • The average Pakistani woman has more than six children. 56 Rural Pakistan • Since daughters will marry out of their birth households, spending money on their education is seen as wasteful. • Parents prefer sons for their labor, oldage assistance, and pride of accomplishement. • With a natural increase rate of close to 3%, Pakistan is still in state 2 of the demographic transformation. 57 Age distributions • How countries differ – Countries with almost half their population under 15 years of age • Kenya, Africa has the highest number • Many other nations in Latin America, Africa, and tropical Asia – Early industrialized countries have greatest preponderance of people in the over20/under-60 category age bracket 58 Age distributions • Growing number of affluent countries have remarkably aged population – Sweden has 18 percent over the age of 65 – Other European countries not far behind • In Africa, Latin America, or other parts of Asia, the average person never lives to age 65 • In Sudan, Gambia, Saudi Arabia, Guatemala, and other countries only 2 or 3 percent reach age 65. 59 60 Population pyramid • Useful graphic device for comparing national age characteristics • Reveals past progress of birth control • Allows geographers to predict future population trends • Broad based pyramids suggest the rapid growth of population explosion • Excessively narrow based pyramids represent countries approaching population stability 61 62 63 Age distribution • Different cultures result in populations that have large numbers of young or aged people • Age structure differs spatially within individual countries • Rural populations – In US and many other countries are usually older than the urban areas – In the United States, the flight of young people has resulted in rural people having a median age of 45 years or older 64 Age distribution • Retirement havens for the elderly – Arizona and Florida have populations far above normal average age – Sun City, Arizona legally restricts residence to elderly – In Great Britain, coastal districts have a higher proportion of elderly 65 Demographic regions • Standard of living: Use of the infant mortality rate – One simple measure to map living standards is using infant mortality rate – Tells how many children die (per 1000 live births) before reaching one year of age – Reveals many different things • • • • • Health and nutrition Sanitation Access to doctors, clinics, and ability to obtain medicines Education Adequacy of housing 66 Demographic regions • Standard of living – Human Development Index • Combines literacy, life expectancy, education, and wealth • Examples of where countries place on the index • Surprises about the United States 67 HDI 2005 • (Liberia, Puerto Rico, Afghanistan, Macau, North Korea, Iraq, Andorra, Liechtenstein, Monaco, Montenegro, San Marino, Serbia, Vatican City, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, Palau, and Tuvalu are not ranked, either because of an inabilty or an unwillingness to provide the necessary data.) 68 69 Standard of living • East vs west component, brought on by collapse of the Soviet empire • Standard of living could be the basis of future mass migrations or conflicts, especially where rich border poor 70 Brazil • This boy lives in a village in the Amazon basin accessible only by river. – While the village has electricity, there is no plumbing and raw sewage puddles in the dirt road. – There is a clinic but no resident doctor, a two-room school but few supplies – Television is received via satellite 71 Amazon Village Cont. • Chances for employment in the village are negligible. • Most young people seek economic opportunity in mines and logging camps or in larger settlements such as Manaus. • Will this boy join the ranks of the ruralurban migrants? 72 Population ecology • Cultural ecology is quite relevant to the study of population geography • Successful adaptive strategy – Permits a people to exist and reproduce in a given ecosystem – Population size and growth offer an index to successful adaptation • Maladaptive strategies can lead to dwindling number, even extinction 73 Population ecology • Preadaption – to what extend did a groups’ ways of living precondition them for success in a new land? • Successful cultural adaptation – Can lead to catastrophe if it causes significant environmental alteration and destruction so as to undermine livelihood – The key is sustainability – Adaptive strategy must allow many generations to use the land in more or less the same manner 74 Population ecology • Environmental influence (Climate) – Characteristics of mid-latitude settlement population concentrations – Human viewpoint of “defective climate zones” • Human remain creatures of the humid and subhumid tropics, subtropics or mid-latitudes • Small populations of Inuit (Eskimo), Sami (Lapps), and others live in cold or dry areas • In avoiding cold places, we may reveal even today the tropical origin of our species 75 Population ecology • Main reasons for American interregional migration – Mild winter climate and mountainous terrain – Diverse vegetation including forests, and mild summers with low humidity – Presence of lakes and rivers – Nearness to seacoasts – Where? 76 Population Ecology • Immigrants to Arizona reveal a preference for its sunny, warm climate • Immigrants to Florida cite attractive environment as the dominant factor • Different age and cultural groups often express different preferences as reasons for migrating interregionally in the United States – All are influenced by their perception of the environment – Misinformation is at least as important as accurate impressions – People often form strong images of an area without ever visiting it 77 Population ecology • Environmental influence (Climate) – Preference for living at higher altitudes in tropical regions • Escape the humid, not climate of tropical lowlands – Reasons for the tendency to live near seacoasts • Partly stems from trade and fishing opportunities – How the presence of disease affects settlement patterns—Africa 78 Aging and Environmental Preference • Landscapes of the elderly become especially noticeable in societies with aging populations – those with low birth rates and long life expectancy. • Many North American retirees become part of a migratory population known as “snowbirds.” • Traveling northward in summer and southward in winter, they frequently follow specific circuits of places and events. 79 Quartzite, Arizona • In the desert, a giant swap meet and lapidary festival is held in February. • Close to a million people, mainly retirees attend. • More than 50,000 winter in Quartzsite but in summer as temperatures rise, the resident population drops to about 3000 and snowbirds head for more comfortable climes 80 Hollow Shell 81 Sweden 82 Population ecology • Continental interiors tend to be regions of climatic extremes – Australia’s interior is a land of excessive dryness and heat – Desert regions lack water and people cluster together where it is available from rivers (Nile), or oases – Extreme cold of Siberia & North central Canada 83 Water in the desert 84 Population density and environmental alteration • Through adaptive strategies people, especially where population density is high, can radically modify their habitats • Can happen even in low density areas where the environment is fragile • The carrying capacity of Earth varies greatly from one place to another 85 Worldwide Ecological Crisis • Partly because at present densities many adaptive strategies are not sustainable • Close relationship between population explosion and ecological crisis • Haiti – Rural population pressure particularly severe – Most available biomass (humus) now being used in small intensively cultivated kitchen gardens – Surrounding fields and pastures becoming 86 increasingly denuded Population ecology • Overpopulation can precipitate environmental destruction – Yields a downward cycle of worsening poverty – Many cultural ecologists believe attempts to restore balance of nature will not succeed until we halt or reverse population growth • Adaptive strategy is as crucial as density – Population pressure can lead to more conservational land use – Rural China offers supportive evidence 87 Overpopulation? • Overpopulation can precipitate environmental destruction – Yields a downward cycle of worsening poverty – Many cultural ecologists believe attempts to restore balance of nature will not succeed until we halt or reverse population growth • Adaptive strategy is as crucial as density – Population pressure can lead to more conservational land use – Rural China offers supportive evidence 88 Ecological Crisis • Worldwide ecological crisis is not just a function of overpopulation – Relatively small percentage of Earth’s population controls much of the industrial technology – Absorbs a gargantuan percentage of the world’s resources each year – Americans (US), who make up less than 5% of the world’s population, account for about 40% of the resources consumed each year 89 Population Ecology • The factor of disease in population location – Malaria depopulated Italy’s coastal regions after Romantimes – Diseases attack domestic animals, depriving people of food and clothing – Sleeping sickness in parts of East Africa • • • • Particularly fatal to cattle, but not humans Cattle represent wealth and provide food Serve a religious function in some tribes Its spread caused entire tribes to migrate from 90 infested areas Disease can influence settlement 91 Population ecology • Environmental perception and population distribution – Major role in where a group chooses to settle – Example: European Alps – Industrialization caused people to flock to new areas for work – Climate and interregional migration in the United States 92 Population ecology • Population density and environmental alteration – Can cause radical alterations through adaptive strategies – Population explosion and ecological crisis closely related – Belief—balance of nature not possible until population growth is stopped – High consumption of resources in the United States 93 Cultural-demographic interaction • Cultural factors – Example: cultural food preferences – Religion as a factor in migration – Need for personal space differs between cultures 94 Cultural integration and population patterns • Cultural factors – Basic characteristics of a group’s culture influence the distribution of people – Rice domestication influenced high population growth in Southeast Asia – In environments similar to Southeast Asia where rice was not grown, populations did not reach such densities 95 Changing Cultural Factors • In the 1700s, the introduction of the potato to Ireland allowed a great increase in rural population – It yielded much more food per acre than traditional Irish crops – In the 140s, failure of the potato harvests reduced Irish population through starvation and emigration. 96 Fertility Decline • France – first place in the world where sustained fertility decline took root – Did not keep pace with nearby lands of Germany, Italy, and the United Kingdom – Was the most populous of these four countries in 1800 – Became the least populous after 1930 and still is – During the years between 1800 and 1930 millions of Germans, British, and Italians emigrated overseas 97 Fertility Decline • Few French left their homeland • French Canadians in Quebec continued to favor large families – About 10,000 people left France between 1608 and 1750 – Today, Quebec’s population of about 7 million does not include those that migrated to New England and other areas • Some unknown cultural factor worked to produce demographic decline in France 98 Culture & Migration • Why some cultural groups differ in their tendency to migrate – Religious ties bind some to traditional homelands • Travel outside sanctified bounds of the motherland considered immoral • Responsibilities to tend ancestral graves and perform rite at parental death kept many Chinese in China • Navajo Indians bury the umbilical cord in the floor of the hogan at birth, which seems to strengthen attachment to the house – Some groups consider migration a way of life – Poverty stricken Ireland proved so prone to migration that today Ireland’s population is about half the total of 1840 99 Political Factors • Governments can restrict voluntary migration • Haiti and Dominican Republic share island of Hispanola – Haiti supports 620 people per square mile – The Dominican Republic has only 440 people per square mile – Government restrictions on migration into the Dominican Repluc make migration form Haiti difficult – If Hispanola were one country its population would be more evenly distributed 100 Hati-Dominican Republic 101 Political Factors • All cultures have laws based in the political system to maintain order within society • Laws, especially those concerning inheritance, can affect population density – In Europe, the code derived from Roman law requires that all heirs divide the land and other property equally. Farms fragment as generations pass. Rural population density increases – In Germany, primogeniture is favored – inheritance of all land passes to the firstborn son. But in south Roman law was practiced and severe rural overpopulation occurred in mid-nineteenth century 102 Protein deficiency and malnutrition • Research often produces negative results that are enlightening • Experts long assumed vegetarianism in India, based on Hindu belief, led to protein deficiency, malnutrition, and resultant health problems • Study revealed no spatial correlation between vegetarians and consumption of animal protein • Nonvegetarians also eat little or no meat • Greatest protein deficiency occurs in areas where rice, rather than wheat bread accounts for the greater part of cereal consumption 103 Malnutrition in India 104 Diffusion of Fertility Control • Needed for the final two stages of the demographic transformation – Successful cultural diffusion of effective methods of birth control – Acceptance that small families are preferable to large ones • Sustained fertility decline arose in Europe in the first half of the 1800s 105 106 Fertility decline in Europe Diffusion of fertility control • France was the country of origin • Spread slowly at first, eventually diffused through most of Europe • Fertility decline became accepted as countries industrialized and became prosperous • Root of population explosion caused by failure of European idea of fertility control to spread to less-developed countries • Why? 107 Diffusion of fertility control • Reasons for birth control in an urban society: – Investment of large sums of money into the formal education of its children – The forbidding of child labor makes children a financial burden 108 People’s Republic of China – One Child Law 109 Enforced fertility control • China: “one couple, one child” • Authorities sought to halt population growth and decrease the number of people • Penalties for violations of the policy – Huge monetary fines – Cannot request new housing – Lose rather generous old-age benefits provided by the government – Forfeit their children’s access to higher education – Maybe even lose their jobs 110 Enforced fertility control • Late marriages encouraged • China’s falling fertility rate – Plummeted from 5.9 births per woman to 2.7 between 1970 and 1980. – Was 2.2 by 1990 – Latest statistics 1.8 • China achieved one of the greatest short-term reduction of birthrates ever recorded • Cultural diffusion can be coerced 111 Enforced fertility control • China has less rigidly enforced its population control program in recent years – Economic growth eroded government’s control over the people – Allowed more couples to have two children instead of one – Rise of economic opportunity and migration to cities led others to have smaller families 112 Diffusion of fertility control • Barriers to diffusion of fertility control • Example of India’s rural society – Children may offer the only way out of a life of poverty and an old age of solitary begging – Costs of raising and educating a child are minimal and grow smaller with every child added to the family – Children start working at an early age, replacing expensive hired labor – Without offering a method of attaching the root problem, the struture of peasant poverty, tenancy, and insecurity is to offer nothing 113 Resistance • Religious teachings • Cultural attitudes – – Machismo – Preference for males • Dependence on male children for old-age support 114 Diffusion in population geography • Disease diffusion – Example: HIV/AIDS diffusion across the world • Discussion of theories on its origin • May have started as early as 1930 • No doubt it started in Africa – HIV-1 – in east-central Africa – HIV-2 – in the upper Niger River country in the Guinea highlands of West Africa – Role of transportation in diffusion – All types of diffusion spread disease 115 Diffusion in population geography • AIDS – Apparently originated in the local monkey population – Passed on to humans through the local cultural practice of injecting monkey blood as an aphrodisiac – HIV-2 • Most similar to the simian type • Has had less impact on humans in its source region • Has not spread as widely beyond Africa as HIV-1 116 117 118 Disease diffusion • Diffusion after humans became infected – Apparently moved throughout central and western Africa – Followed transport routes and spread through growing urban areas – Haitians working at civil service posts in Zaire (now Democratic Republic of Congo) carried disease back to the Caribbean in the early 1960s – Europeans visiting central Africa diffused AIDS back to Europe 119 Disease diffusion • American male homosexuals vacationing in Haiti likely contracted the virus and spread it throughout the gay communities in the United States • Americans falsely believed the virus was exclusively linked to homosexual behavior • Western Europe became a secondary diffusion area 120 121 Disease diffusion • Not all diseases spread by contagious diffusion • Relocation diffusion – tourism, temporary migration • Hierarchical diffusion – disease spread by persons affluent enough to participate in international tourism 122 Diffusion in population geography • Diffusion of fertility control – Arose in France during first half of the 1800s – Product of industrialization – Children not needed for farm work – Example: China and enforced fertility control 123