Population Geography Vocabulary

1. Population Geography Vocabulary

2. Age Distribution • How many people are in each age category and comparing them to each other • Young, middle aged, & old • Can be seen on a population pyramid • Are there enough people of working age to take care of the needs of the young and old? • What are the dominant needs of society? Child care & education or healthcare & pension funds • How many people will enter the labor market in the near future when they become of working age? • What are the retirement projections?

3. Infant Mortality Rate • Number of deaths in a sample of 1000 babies below age one in a given year. • Indicator of how good the healthcare system is and how the developed a country is

4. Mortality • Number of deaths in a sample of 1000 of any age group in a given year

5. Overpopulation • When the number of people exceeds available resources • Overcrowding. • Third world countries are often suffering from this because of their high growth rate • China & India both have over one Billion people • Can displace people and worsen poverty, lead to famine, & stress environment

6. Population Density • Number of people divided by are • How many people live on average in each square mile • How close together we live

7. Population Distribution • Looking at where people live • Are there clusters of high population density on the map? • Urban vs. rural • Most people live near major bodies of water such as the coast In Canada , most people live in the warmer South

8. Population Pyramids • Shows the age distribution of a population divided between male and female

9. Sex Ratio • How many women are there compared to the number of men • Ideal is balanced • Women live longer than men • In China, due to the one child policy, many people have preferred their only child to be a boy, leading to a shortage of women for all the men to marry.

10. Standard of Living • Measure of people’s wealth • Can you afford to pay for your cost of living? Do you live in a house or apartment? Do you have a car? Do you go on vacation? • Needs vs. wants

11. Sustainability • When resources get used slow enough for them to replenish • This means do not overfish or over log the forest • Only renewable resources can be used sustainably, non renewable do not come back • Recycling as well as controlling harvests and increased efficiency can help • Are the resources still going to be there for our children?

12. Total Fertility Rate • The average number of children a woman will have in her lifetime in a given population. • Ranges from 5 to 6 in Africa to below 2 in Europe or Japan • Usually, the more educated a woman is and the more developed the country, the less children she is going to have

13. Crude Birth Rate • Number of babies born to a sample of 1000 people per year. • Is highest in developing world and lowest in industrialized countries Crude Death Rate • Number of people dying in a sample of 1000 people per year. Growth Rate = Birth Rate – Death Rate

14. Underpopulation • When there are not enough people to sustain a culture, economy or country • When land is populated below its carrying capacity • In Russia for example, the population is decreasing and entire villages are emptying because the birth rate is too low to replace all the older people dying away.

15. Brain Drain • The loss of skilled labor to places/countries with better opportunities • Reason for why the Berlin Wall was built. • Third world countries economic development is hurt by it.

16. Chain Migration • When one migrant follows another to the same place to reunite with family, take advantage of the same opportunities and to be amongst familiar people in the new country.

17. Guest Workers • Foreign workers invited to the country temporarily to fill a critical labor shortage in a certain area. • Sent home remittances • Many end up overstaying their visa • For example, Germany invited many guest workers from Turkey into the country decades ago. They never left, and now Turks for the largest minority in Germany.

18. Internal Migration • Movement of people within one country • For example, during the Great Migration, many African Americans left the rural southern U.S. and moved to northern cities for industrial jobs about a century ago.

19. Push Factor • Reasons to move away from a place such as war, persecution and poverty. Pull Factors • Attractive reasons to move to a place such as freedom and work opportunity

20. Voluntary Migration • Moving by your own choice and will to improve your life

21. Life Expectancy • The average age at death • Is highest in developed world (around 80) and lowest in Africa (around 55)

22. Urbanization • The process of people moving from the country to the city. Cities grow as a result. • Is highest in developed/industrialized countries • In poor countries, most people still live on their farm

23. Infrastructure • Physical support networks to keep a society functioning • Includes transportation networks such as roads and bridges as well as power lines, schools and hospitals

24. Famine • Starvation often due to crop failure or overpopulation • Effects the poorest parts of the world that rely on subsistence farming

25. Sustainable Development • Construction and growth that does not harm the environment and leads to no net resource loss . Going green.

26. Urban Sprawl • Expansion of suburbs on the edge of cities. • Can take up large tracks of land

27. Immigration • Movement of people into a country of the due to push and pull factors

28. Renewable Resources • Replenish and grow back such as forests, fisheries and wind energy

29. Non Renewable Resources • There is a finite amount that can get used up. • Examples include oil, coal, and iron ore • Recycling is a good idea

30. Deforestation • The clearing and cutting down of the forest for farm land, wood and mining • Currently a major problem the rainforests of the world • Leads to soil erosion and contributes to climate change

31. Age Cohort • People of the same generation with a common identity • Example is the baby boomers in America born in 1950s and now all about to retire

32. Demography • The study of population patterns