World geography

WORLD GEOGRAPHY

Sept. 19, 2014

Notice

- Make-up class for Tuesday’s cancelled class will be announced later.

Research Project Information

Information sheet will be uploaded to the course website later today.

- Read the instructions carefully.


- Choose a topic that interests you (see the topic list for ideas).

- Conduct extensive research on that topic (Internet, library)

- Organize your research notes and create an outline for your paper, along with a references/reading list.

I will check this and provide feedback.

Research Project Information- Write a 6 – 8 page (double-spaced) paper.

- Note: Cover page, references, maps, appendices do not count toward the page total.

- Format: APA (guidelines will be available on the course website).


Sample topics:

- Population policies in a developing nation

- Immigration policies in a developed nation

- Culture and the physical environment

- Language as a nation builder

- The Global diffusion of European culture


Deadlines:

10/03: Topic choice (notify me by email; I will provide approval)

10/31: Outline + references list (APA format) - 5/20 points of the “Projects” grade.

12/12: Final draft- 15/20 points of the “Projects” grade.

Today

Population (part 2)

- Reasons for uneven distribution and density

- Population dynamics

One dot = 500,000 people

New York City: 10,000 people/km2

One dot = 500,000 people

Global population

Population distribution and density

- The world is not lacking in space.

- So why is the global population distributed like this?

World texture map

Global population is unevenly distributed

Why? It’s not a matter of “space”, exactly.

- Several factors affect how global population is distributed:

Main factor: Environment.

World texture map

Environment and population distribution

Places with lower populations tend to have hostile environments that were not/are not conductive to human population growth.

(Obvious) Example: Antarctica


“That’s an awesome place to live…”

…said no human ever.


Population of Chad: 10.3 million

Population of Nigeria: 174 million

Yangtze River

Gobi Desert

Global population distribution

There are also historical and socio-political reasons underlying human population distribution.

Some of these, we will visit later in the semester.

Global population density – Physical factors

Factor High density Low density

Relief (shape and height of land)

Low, flat land (e.g. Ganges Valley, India)

High, mountainous land (e.g. Himalayas)

Natural resources Abundant resources (e.g. wood, fishing, oil)(e.g. Western Europe)

Few resources(e.g. The Sahel)

Climate Temperate climate: sufficient rain and heat to grow crops(e.g. The U.K.)

Extreme climates of hot and cold (e.g. Greenland)

Global population density – Human factors

Factor High density Low density

Political Places with stable governments(e.g. Singapore)

Unstable countries often lose people to migration (e.g. Afghanistan)

Social Some groups of people prefer to live closely for security(e.g. the U.S.)

Some groups prefer to be more isolated(e.g. Scandinavians)

Economic Better job opportunities correlate with high popn. Densities (esp. large cities)(e.g. New York City).

Limited job opportunities correlate with lower popn. densities(e.g. Amazon Rainforest)

Population growth- Natural increase: difference between number of births and

number of deaths.

- Crude birth rate (CBR) - # of births per year per 1,000 people.

- Crude death rate (CDR) - # of deaths per year per 1,000 people.

Natural increase

Mortality rate

Life expectancy

The demographic transition model

Crude Birth Rate

Total Fertility Rate (TFR)- Considered a more accurate means to show reproduction

in the population.

- TFR = the average number of children that would be born to each woman if she bore children at the current rate for all women her age.

- TFR is measured in children per woman.

Replacement level TFR = 2.1 to 2.5 children/woman

Cultural values and fertility rate- Traditionally, more children were needed to help on the

family farm (or other business).

- As urbanization increased, children became more of a financial burden, and people started having less children.

- Religion also plays a role (at times) in fertility rate.

TFR

Overalldownwardtrend (globally)

Cultural values and growth

Role of women in a culture/society also has a significant influence on TFR (and growth).

- More equality for women = lower growth

Politics and population

Examples:

Expansive population policies:

- Communist governments (e.g. USSR, China) originally wanted large families for expansion purposes.

- Government incentives programs (e.g. Sweden, Australia)

Australia’s “Baby Bonus”: ($3,000 - $5,000)

Politics and population

Examples:

Restrictive population policies:

- Forced sterilization programs in India

- One child policy in China (relaxed now)

Population composition

Key components: Age and gender

- Relevance: The issues facing countries with overall young populations vary from those with aging populations.

Population pyramids are used to display the two key components of population composition.

Population pyramidsPoorer nations Wealthier nations

Population pyramids

Population composition

Can also be displayed in other forms (e.g. Ethnic population composition of California)

Health and population dynamics

- Infant mortality rate (IMR)

- Child mortality rate (CMR)

- Disease

- Life expectancy


- Infant mortality rate (IMR) - babies deaths during the first year following birth.

IMR temporal dynamics


- Child mortality rate (CMR) - children's deaths from ages 1-5 years old.


Disease

Infectious diseases (e.g. Malaria, HIV/AIDS)

Chronic & genetic diseases (e.g. cancer, heart disease)

HIV/AIDS

HIV/AIDS – key facts (WHO)

- 39 million deaths, so far (1.5 million last year)

- 35 million people infected with HIV currently (2.1 million newly infected last year)

- Subsaharan Africa: 24.7 million infected (~70% of world’s HIV infections).

AIDS and Subsaharan Africa

HIV/AIDS

Cancer


- Life expectancy - average # of years someone expects to stay alive.


- Life expectancy - average # of years someone expects to stay alive.

Things that lower Chronic diseases – pneumonia, tuberculosis, cancer, AIDS, and other random diseases are examples.

Things that lengthen Medical achievements, technology advancements, sanitation.


- Life expectancy – comparisons (WHO statistics)

Highest: Monaco (88.2 years: Male – 85.3 Female – 89)

Lowest: Sierra Leone (47.5 years: Male – 47, Female – 48)

Mean (average): 70 years

World’s mean age: 28.4 years (Japan – 44.6, Germany – 43.7, Uganda – 15, Chad – 16.6)

Health and population dynamics- Life expectancy – U.S. data breakdown (ethnicity)

Overall: 78.7 years

White: 78.9

African-American: 74.6

Hispanic: 82.8

Asian-American: 86.5

Native American: 76.9

% of popn. Under 15 years old

Summary

- Population distribution

- Population density

- Population dynamics

Before next class

Do the reading on the website.

World geography

Documents

Transcript of World geography