Chapter 4 Section 2 Population Geography Population grew

Chapter 4, Section 2 Population Geography

Population grew exponentially during the industrial age 4. 2 • Birthrate -number of live births per 1, 000 people • Fertility rate - the average number of children a woman can expect to have in her lifetime – 2. 1 is required to maintain a population • Mortality rate or Death rate – number of deaths per 1, 000 • Infant Mortality Rate – the number of deaths among infants under age one per thousand live births • Rate of Natural Increase = Birthrate minus Death Rate (plus or minus migration)

A population pyramid is a graphic that shows age and sex distribution of a population

People are NOT distributed evenly across the earth Almost 2/3 of the population lives between 20° N and 60°N Warm enough Wet enough Near coasts and river valleys Lightly populated areas are polar regions, heavily mountainous regions, rain forests and deserts

Currently more than half the world’s population lives in rural areas • This number is changing rapidly – People are moving to cities – Particularly cities of more than 1 million people • Twenty-six giant cities, known as megacities have a total of 250 million people – Tokyo has 28 million – These cities struggle with problems of overcrowding and sanitation

Migration-Reasons for migrating are sometimes called push-pull factors Push • • Push Environmental conditions such as drought Political oppression War Religious persecution • • Pull Strong economies/jobs Favorable climate Political and religious freedoms Reconnect family

More population • Population density is the average number of people per a square unit of land – Can be misleading • Areas within region may be unevenly populated • Most people in Egypt live in the Nile Valley • A better concept for comparison may be carrying capacity – based on the ability of the land to support a population – A region with fertile land may support more people – The carrying capacity may rise due to technology • Irrigation • Mechanized farming • Cities