GEOG 1HB3 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Population Geography, Infographic, Doubling Time
12 Dec 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
Lectures 9-11: Population
Lecture 9
Population Geography
Demography: the study of population. Demographic department - within geo, science, engineering,
health sciences, the study of population is of interest to many fields
Population Geography: the study of the spatial expression of population
• Where do they live, work? (What is the spatial distribution of the population? Human geographic
issues as well)
• How do they live? (What is the density of the human settlement, what are the consequences of
how we live (suburban, environmental implications)
• What resources do they use? (are these resources equally accessible to all people? Is it even?)
• What are their conditions of health and well being?
Current global population is 7.6 billion
Global population in the past
• 20000 - 6.15-6.20 billion at midpoint of July
• 1.5 billion people in our lifetime: 225 000 per day
National geographic - 7 billion infographic video
• From a few years ago when pop just reached 7 billion
• 1800s: world population was 8 million
• We need balance not space
Population by country: worlds largest country in terms of population
• China 1.41 billion, India 1.34 billion, US 326 million Canada 36 million
• In 5-10 years India's population will surpass china, China's population growth is slowing
Top 10 most populous countries: 1) China, 2) India, 3) US 4) Indonesia, 5) Pakistan 6) Brazil 7) Nigeria 8)
Bangladesh 9) Russia 10) Japan
South Asia: India, Pakistan, Bangladesh
Population growth rate: 1.2% (1.13% in 2016) per year
• Power of compounded population, 1.2% is significant
• If our population continues to grow at 1.2% then the doubling time would be 54 years. Not likely
to continue to do this, instead it will grow at progressively slower rates
Beyond simple growth, the key issues are
1. Differential (unequal) population growth
• Where does this growth occur?
• Almost all future population growth is connected to parts of the less developed world
• 10% of births in more developed world
• 90% in LDW but declining
2. The consequences of this growth
• Consider:
• Provisions of health care and social services
• Provision of food
• Resource scarcity (water, oil, etc.)
• Potential for conflict
Distribution geographic phenomena can be explained with reference to the distance between them and
their spatial organization
Factors that contribute:
• Why are there so few people living in place x and so many people living in y
• Environment resources
• Physical geo factors and human geo factors
There forms of distribution
• Uneven distribution
• Clustered vs. dispersed
• Factors: physical geographic and human geographic
• Concentrated Population
• Western Europe, South Asia, East Asia (china, Japan, South Korea) South East Asia
• Dispersed Population
• Sahara, Alaska, Greenland, Australia
Recall 'haves' and 'have nots': with respect to economic development
• This correlates with levels of population
• The most populous countries tend not to be part of the global core
• What are the consequences of this?
• A large number of people who live in poverty and with poor access to health care,
education, housing, etc.
Population Density: the number of people occupying an area of land, following map is just one of many
ways to measure density
Measures of Population Density
Arithmetic (crude) # of people per unit of land
Physiological # of people per unit area of arable land (excludes areas where food cannot be
grown, or where people can live)
Limits to Growth
Document Summary
Demographic department - within geo, science, engineering, health sciences, the study of population is of interest to many fields. Global population in the past: 20000 - 6. 15-6. 20 billion at midpoint of july, 1. 5 billion people in our lifetime: 225 000 per day. From a few years ago when pop just reached 7 billion: 1800s: world population was 8 million, we need balance not space. Population by country: worlds largest country in terms of population: china 1. 41 billion, india 1. 34 billion, us 326 million canada 36 million. In 5-10 years india"s population will surpass china, china"s population growth is slowing. Top 10 most populous countries: 1) china, 2) india, 3) us 4) indonesia, 5) pakistan 6) brazil 7) nigeria 8) Population growth rate: 1. 2% (1. 13% in 2016) per year: power of compounded population, 1. 2% is significant. If our population continues to grow at 1. 2% then the doubling time would be 54 years.
