The World Population Distribution, Density And Growth

Most African countries have an annual population growth rate in excess of 2%.

Asian countries comprise 60% of the world’s current population. It has the highest growth rate today.

Medical and educational facilities is not a push factor, it comes under the pull factor.

It took only 12 years for the population to rise from 5 billion to 6 billion which shows that doubling time of population is reducing fast.

Three geographical factors that influence the distribution of population are-

There are a number of areas with high population density in the world. This happens because –

• GEOGRAPHICAL FACTOR- Several geographical factors such as adequate availability of water, plain landforms, comfortable climate, and fertile soils attract the people to settle in those areas.

• SOCIAL AND CULTURAL FACTORS-Most people they settle in those areas which are religiously and culturally important. Forex- Banaras in India.

• Sometimes people tend to move away from places where there is political and social agitation.

• ECONOMIC FACTOR- Some time people want to settle in those areas where they can easily get the job. Such examples are the areas of Mining and industries.

The three components of population change are-

• BIRTH RATE- Birth rate is expressed as a number of live births per thousand of the population in a year. It is the most important factor in population change.

• DEATH RATE- It plays an active role in population change. Population growth is also due to the decreasing death rate.

• MIGRATION- Migration is also a big factor for population change. When people migrate from one place to another it also affects the population change.

(i) Birth rate and death rate.

(ii) Push factors and pull factors of migration.

The factors influencing the distribution and density of population in the world-

I. GEOGRAPHICAL FACTORS-

Physical conditions like Climate, landforms in terms of altitude, type of soil and the availability of energy are the important factors of population distribution.

I. Temperature is an important factor in a climate which determines human life in an area. Example- Life in the Arctic region and in the desert region.

II. Water is very essential for human beings and for their survival. Rainfall and other sources of water supply determined the population distribution. Like - rivers and lakes.

III. The nature of the terrain is also an important geographical feature in determining population distribution. Like in mountainous region population density is low and in arable land it is high.

IV. Quality of Soil also determines the population distribution. If soil is fertile and rich then people mostly live in that area an good for agriculture. Like Alluvial plains of Ganga and Nile

ECONOMIC FACTORS-

I. The role of energy sources and raw material also determine the distribution of the population. Presence of raw material is an ideal place for the industry. Most people wanted to settle in those places to get a job.

II. Urbanization is again an important factor of population distribution. Cities offer better job opportunities, medical facilities, educational facilities and better means of communication. All these attract rural people to urban cities.

SOCIAL AND CULTURAL FACTOR-

I. Many people wanted to settle in those areas which are religiously and culturally significant.

II. People also settle in those areas where the culture is not too different from their own.

The three stages of demographic transition-

• The First Stage- It is marked by high fertility and high mortality. The death rate is also high due to epidemics and variable food supply. So, the population growth is slow and life expectancy is low. People are mostly illiterate and their main work is agriculture due to which large families are preferred and the use of technology is low.

• Second Stage- In this stage, the expansion of population remains high because the death rate reduces due to the improvement of medical facilities and sanitation but the fertility rate is high. At the later stage, it declines. The mortality rate also decreases.

• The Third Stage- In the last stage, both fertility and mortality decline considerably. Population in the third stage is either stable and grow slowly. The family size is controlled and mostly population becomes urbanized and literate. There is a high level of technical knowledge. High technical knowledge contributes deliberately in controlling the family size.