Human Geography Revision Notes - population patterns and changes.

Authors Avatar

Geography – Human Revision

The distribution of global population

Reasons for area being sparsely populated

  • Countries with unstable government  tend to have lower population densities as people migrate, e.g. Afghanistan Human
  • Limited job opportunities causes some areas to be sparsely populated because people leave the area, e.g. Amazon Rainforest Human
  • High land that is mountainous and inhospitable makes people leave the area because you can’t grow crops and you can’t build roads. Physical
  • Areas with extreme climate of hot or cold tend to be sparsely populated because you cannot grow crops and this major problem relating to starvation. Physical
  • Areas with few resources tend to be sparsely populated , e.g. The Sahel Physical

Reasons for area being densely populated

  • Countries with stable governments tend to have high population density, e.g Singapore Human
  • Low land which is flat is good for farming therefore allows better growth of crops, e.g Ganges Valley in India Physical
  • Areas with temperate climates tend to be densely populated as there is enough rain and heat to grow crops, e.g UK Physical
  • Good job opportunities encourage high population densities in large cities in HICS e.g New York and LICS (Nairobi) around the world. Human
  • Areas rich in resources (e.g coal or oil) tend to be densely populated, e.g France Physical

Birth rate: the number of live babies born in a year for every 1,000 people in total population

Death rate: the number of people in every 1,000 who die each year

If Birth rate is higher than the death rate, then the total population will increase.

If death rate is higher than the birth rate, the total population will decrease

Natural increase (%) = Birth rate – death rate 

                                                         10

What causes birth and death rates to change?

Join now!

Medical

  • Improvements in medical care; In HICs new treatments, such as medicines to combat cancer, are continually being invented to combat diseases, which lead to longer lives and decrease in infant mortality rate.
  • There are now vaccinations for young children

Economic

  • It is now very costly to bring up a child in the UK. Increasingly in HICs couples do not want to change their lifestyle in order to have children. A typical family now pays an average of £186,032 to raise a child from birth to the age of 21.
  • Death rate in UK is strongly ...

This is a preview of the whole essay