Unit II Key Terms

1. Unit II Key Terms

2. Agricultural Density • Number of farmers per area of farmland

3. Antinatalist Population Policy • Restrictive policy that discourages people from having babies

4. Brain Drain • Net out-migration of the most educated individuals from a region

5. Carrying Capacity • Maximum number of people a region can reasonably sustain

6. Cohort • Group of people usually classified by age

7. Demographic Accounting Equation • Equation used for evaluating population change on global and subglobal levels. At global level only CDR and CBR are factors, at subglobal level immigration and emigration are taken into account

8. Demographic Momentum • Phenomenon of a growing population size even after replacement-level fertility has been reached. This occurs when the base of the population pyramid is so wide that the generation of parents will take time to cycle out before zero growth occurs

9. Desalination • Removal of salt from saltwater to make potable drinking water

10. Distribution • Spread of a particular phenomenon across a given space

11. Doubling Time • Number of years it will take for a population to double in size

12. Ecumene • Portion of the Earth’s surface that is habitable for humans

13. Epicenter • Center, or most intensely affected region, of an outbreak or disaster

14. Esther Boserup • Principal critic of Malthusian theory who argued that overpopulation could be solved by increasing the number of subsistence farmers

15. Exponential Growth • Growth that is compounded, like interest in a bank account; contrasts with linear growth

16. Fecundity • Ability to conceive a child

17. Female Infanticide • In response to restrictive population policies, families kill their female infants so they can try to have male babies

18. Graying Population • Evidenced by a population pyramid showing a higher number of older people in its projection than younger, working-age people. The pyramid is top-heavy

19. Infrastructure • “Backbone” of a society, including communication, transportation, and other such maintenance structures.

20. Interregional Migration • Internal migration among particular regions in a country

21. Intranational Refugees • Refugees who abandon their homes but remain in their country to escape persecution

22. Intraregional Migration • Internal migration within a particular region, such as from a suburb to an inner city

23. Medical Revolution • Period in stage 2 of the demographic transition model when lifesaving medical technology drastically reduces the CDR, leading to longer life expectancies and higher rates of natural increase

24. Migration selectivity • Combination of factors that predict a person’s likelihood to migrate based on factors like age, gender, and education.

25. Migration streams and counterstreams • In a migration stream migrants are moving from a place of origin to a destination. When the original flow of migrants produces an opposite flow of returning migrants, a counterstream results.

26. Mortality • Death-related activity in a population

27. Net in-migration • Occurs when the number of immigrants is larger than the number of emigrants

28. Net out-migration • Occurs when the flow of emigrants exceeds the numbers of immigrants

29. One-Child policy • Restrictive, antinatalist policy in China that aimed at immediately reducing China’s birth rate to replacement level and below

30. Overpopulation • Occurs when a region exceeds in carrying capacity. This is difficult to measure because of changing technology and environmental issues that continually alter the carrying capacity

31. Place desirability • Degree of attractiveness of a place to a migrant

32. Pronatalist population policy • Expansive policy that encourages more live births in a population

33. Rate of Natural Increase (RNI) • Natural growth rate of a population, which is CBR minus CDR expressed as a percentage. A + RNI means population is growing and a – RNI population is reducing

34. Replacement-Level Fertility • When the number of births equals the number of deaths. Usually reached at a TFR between 2.1 and 2.5

35. Scale of Inquiry • Level of geographic area being investigated. At a very large scale a neighborhood may be investigated. At a very small scale, the entire earth may be the focus

36. Sex Ratio • Number of males compared to 100 females in population

37. Space-time compression • Reduction of the friction of distance and distance decay effects because of improved transportation, communication. Increasing the link between people so real distance stays same but perceived distance is shorter

38. Total Fertility Rate (TFR) • Number of children predicted to be born to a woman as she passes through the fecund years

39. Underpopulation • Measure that is difficult to pinpoint; occurs when a population size is below its carrying capacity and cannot sustain the economic development it has reached

40. United Nations growth scenarios • Predictions by the United Nations that yield high, medium, and low population growth forecasts for the earth’s future.

41. Urban Migration • Migration into cities from rural areas

42. U.S. quota act of 1921 • Immigration legislation the limited the # of people from any one country and discriminated against Asians and favored Europeans migrants

43. Zero Population Growth • Occurs when births equals deaths, leading to a stationary population level