Chapter 8
HUMAN POPULLATION
Mr. Yousif Ibrahim
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:Changes in population size
• Population: all the organisms of one species living in
a defined area at the same time.
• Lag phase: the period of time in population growth
when an organism is adapting to its new environment
and the growth is slow.
• Log/exponential phase: when the growth rate of a
population Increases overtime as all requirements are in
superabundance
• Stationary phase: when the growth rate of a population
has slowed down to zero as the carrying capacity is
reached.
• Carrying capacity: the maximum size of a population that
an environment can support in terms of food, water and
other resources.
:Changes in population size
History of human
:population
about 10000 years ago, there were about 5 million people living as hunter- gatherers.
Significant points in the growth of the human population since then are:
- About 6000 years ago, humans started growing crops and rearing animals, which provided more food
and allowed the
population to begin to grow;
- By the time the modern system of counting years started, the population was about 250 million;
- It then took another 1800 years to reach 1 billion;
- After this, the growth become very rapid;
- By 1930, it was 2 billion;
- By 1975, it was 4 billion;
- By 2016, it was over 7 billion, a rise of 3 billion in just 37 years.
UN predictions for the human population
:in 2100 based on evidence
Important Terms
• Birth rate: the number of live births per thousand of
population per year.
• Death rate: the number of deaths per thousand of
population per year.
• Natural increase: the difference between birth rate
and death rate.
:Factors effecting birth rate
- In countries with a high death rate for the very young
(high infant mortality), birth rates are also high.
- In farming economies of many LEDCs, more people are
needed for manual labour
- ؞families tend to be larger.
- In MEDCs, it is expensive to have children and pensions
are provided by the state.
- As pensions are provided, they do not need
children to take care of them in their old
age.
- Many social and political factors result in low use of
birth control in LEDCs, whereas in MEDCs birth control
is widely used, so both birth and death rates
are lower.
Migration
• The movement of people into (immigration) or
out of (emigration) a region, country or an area.
- Most common worldwide movement is from rural
to urban areas in LEDCs.
- Sometimes urban to rural migrations also occur,
mostly in MEDCs.
- Population growth: (birth rate + immigration) –
(death rate + emigration).
:Push and pull factors
PUSH FACTORS: factors that encourage people to move away from an
area.
PULL FACTORS: factors that encourage people to move into an area.
Push from rural to urban Pull from rural to urban
;Drought/famine Good supplies of food whatever the
;weather
;Poverty ;Well-paid jobs
;Poor links with outside world ;Good roads
;Poor services ;Hospitals, schools, water, electricity
,Work on the land only Factory, shops, office work for a
;subsistence .wage
;Desertification
;Sea-level rise No comparable pull factors
.Seasonal weather events
Human population distribution and
:density
• Population density: population per area
(figures providing an average
value).
• Population distribution: how the
population is spread over an area.
Example: very few or no people live
in deserts and mountains, whereas
populations are very high in coastal
areas due to availability of fresh
water.
Population Density and Distribution
:Population structure
• Population/age pyramid: a diagram that shows the
proportion of the population that is male and female in
different age groups (usually 5-year interval).
Expanding (young) populations: a typical pyramid for
LEDCs with high proportion of young people due to high birth
.rate
Contracting (old) populations (Japan 2016):
population is declining because of low birth rates, and its
.pyramid is top-heavy because of low death rates
Austria 2018
Dependent and Independent
• Dependent: those people in the population who are not economically active (working)
i.e. the young (<16) and old (65+)
and thus rely on those who are working for their needs.
• Independent: those people in the population who are economically active (working) i.e.
the middle-aged (between 17
and 65).
• Taxes from the independent population is used for:
- Education for the youngsters and provision of school places for the children yet to reach
school age.
- Creating care-home places and hospitals for the ageing population.
Managing human population
:size
Family planning: methods used by couples to decide the number of children to have and
when, which is mostly encouraged by governments
- Contraception: used to prevent pregnancy.
• Improved health and education: makes people more aware of methods to limit family size.
- Educated women may plan a career as well as having children, the former frequently limiting how many
children are born.
- Education can also lead to a tendency for later marriages and thus later child bearing.
- High infant mortality causes couples to have more children. When it is reduced by better healthcare and
sanitation, the trend is reversed.
:National population policies
- Pronatalist policy: a national or regional policy that aims to encourage couples
to have children.
▪ In countries like France, couples were encouraged to have more than 2
children.
▪ Parents are paid the equivalent of the minimum wage for a year after they
have a third child.
▪ They enjoy subsidized train fares, pay less tax the more children they have,
and subsidized day care.
- Antinatalist policy: a national or regional policy that aims to discourage couples to
have children.
▪ In LEDCs, population increases too fast, and these policies can form in weak
measures such as the provision of family planning, contraceptives and
education, to laws encouraging couples to have only one child. E.g. Chinese
▪ Some countries have no population policies at all and usually have high
birth rates.