1. APHG 30 Minute Quick Review Population

2. Pop Quiz: Population 1. What are the two most important dynamics of population? Birth & death 2. What is demography? Study of the characteristics of human population 3. What do demographer’s seek to understand? Areal distribution of Earth’s people 4. What is the census? count 5. What data are used to assess population characteristics? Vital records 6. What were the political and social ramifications of the 2000 census, including self-identification? (provide 2 examples) Representation, Hispanic classification, undercount, allocation of funds

3. What is arithmetic density?

4. Answer: It is the total number of people divided by total land area. It is the measure most often used by geographers. Example: US has about 290 million people and about 9 million square kilometers of land space. As a result, the US has an arithmetic density of 32 people per square kilometer. (290 million people/9 million

5. What is physiologic population density?

6. Answer: It measures the pressure that people may place on the land to produce enough food. It divides the number of people into square kilometers of arable land, or land that is suited for agriculture. So even though Egypt is comparatively sparsely populated, with an arithmetic density of 74, its physiologic density is more than 3500. Since so much of Egypt is desert, its people put a great deal of pressure no the arable land, giving the country a very high physiologic density.

7. It is important to think about physiologic population density and arithmetic density when thinking about population

8. What is carrying capacity?

9. Answer: It is the number of people an area can support on a sustained basis. It is not a consistent figure, and it depends largely on the area’s level of technology. For example: a region whose farmers make use of irrigation and fertilizers can support many more people than a region whose farmers do not.

10. What is zero population growth?

11. Answer: It is a movement in the late 20 th century that set as its goal the leveling off of the world’s population in order to insure that the earth would be able to sustain its inhabitants.

12. What is the demographic transition theory (model)?

13. Answer: All countries have experienced changes in natural increase, fertility, and mortality rates, but their patterns vary considerably. This theory states that population patterns vary according to different levels of technological development, but all countries are going through the same four stages. They are just at different points as they move through the “transition.”

14. Demographic Transition Model Stage 1: agrarian society, high birth rates; death rates high; Stage 2: drop in death rates; new machines help increase ag production; world’s poorest countries today in high-growth stage w/ falling death rates stable, and high birth rates Stage 3: birth rate drops, curbing population; fertility falls because more children survive to adulthood; smaller families because of birth control Stage 4: economy completes the demographic transition; population growth rate of close to zero; rate keep falling because of women working outside of home and children more expensive still.

15. Discuss the demographic transition model and the 4 stages of it.