Population
Population
refers to the inhabitants of place. There are many aspects to population.
An excellent web site which contains population data on 200 countries
around the world is population.com.
Population
Density
Population
distribution means where people live. Places which are sparsely
populated contain few people. Places which are densely populated
contain many people. World population distribution
(map) is uneven. Sparsely populated places tend to be difficult
places to live. These are usually places with hostile environments
e.g. Antarctica. Places which are densely populated are habitable
environments e.g. Europe.
Population
density is a measurement of the number of people in an area. It
is an average number. Population density is calculated by dividing
the number of people by area. Population density is usually shown
as the number of people per square kilometre.
Population
Change
The
world's population is growing very rapidly. It recently reached
6 billion people. Current world population figures can be found
here
This is an excellent site explaining world population growth.
The major reason for population changes, whether in an individual
country or for the whole world, is the change in birth and death
rates. The birth rate is the number of live babies born in a year
for every 1000 people in the total population. Death rates are
number of people dying per 1000 people. When birth rates are higher
than death rates the population of an area will increase. When
death rates are higher than birth rates population will decrease.
Population
pyramids are used to show the structure of the population according
to age and sex. Click here
to see teh three major types of population pyramid.
The Demographic
Transition Model attempts to show how population changes as
a country develops. It does not take into account migration.
Life
Expectancy
Life
expectancy is the average age a person can expect to live to in
a particular area. Life expectancy can be used as an indicator of
the overall 'health' of a country. From this figure you can determine
many features of a country e.g. standard of living. An excellent
article about life expectancy can be found here.
Population
Structure
The
population structure for an area shows the number of males and females
within different age groups in the population. This information
is displayed as an age-sex or population pyramid. Population pyramids
of LEDCs (Less Economically Developed Countries) typically have
a wide base and a narrow top. This represents a high birth rate
and high death rate. Population pyramids of MEDCs (More Economically
Developed Countries) typically have a roughly equal distribution
of population throughout the age groups. The top obviously gets
narrower as a result of deaths. Population pyramids for every country
in the world can be found here.
Migration
Information
on migration can be found here.
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