Distribution Population
Population and Structure Population Trends and Characteristics
Population Distribution and Structure
The Distribution of People
-an essential starting point of economic geography; Distribution of people = the events of economic activities. -the kind of economic activities depends on the density of population ex) a scattered rural population; wheat farming in the Great Plains, a clustered population; the Ruhr Valley in Germany
a. East and Southeast Asia
-is consisted of over 34% of the world population -China alone, with over1,200 million, has over 1/5 of the world population -the population density of China is high along with coastal areas and declines westward to more rugged and drier interior -Japan has 126 million -Indonesia with the population of 201 million; the most densely settled island on the earth -the highest population density along coastal areas and in major river valleys: the Philippines, Taiwan, Vietnam, Thailand, and Myanmar -dominant industry; agriculture
b. South Asia -the second biggest human continent -high population density along with the coastal areas and in the fertile river valleys ex) the Ganges of India, the Indus in Pakistan -India is the second most populous country with population of 950 million -Bangladesh/East Pakistan with 120 million split off from India in 1947 -Pakistan/West Pakistan with 134 million split off from India in 1947
c. Europe -supports dense industrial areas -Russia; the sixth populous country in the world with 148 million -big population countries; Germany (82million), the United Kingdom (59million), France (58 million), and Italy (57 million) -low population countries; Greece (10.5 million), Sweden (8.8), and Denmark (5.2 million)
d. North America
-densities are relatively lower than the preceding continents -is highly urbanized and industrialized; the United States, and Canada -among the several former European colonized areas, it is the most populous and economically advanced areas along with Australia and New Zealand -the most rapid buildup area by human migration: Southern California and Florida -human density in central Mexico and along the coasts of the central American countries
e. South America -strikingly noticeable population density along the coast -three exceptions of coastal areas of sparse population: i) north Chile between 20 and 30 degrees south, ii) Argentina between 40 and 50 degrees south iii) Northern Brazil encompassing the broad estuary of the Amazon River and extending through French Guiana and Suriname. -the massive hole of population density surrounding Amazon valley
f. Africa -is consisted of over 12 percent of world population -partial coastal distribution of population holds only partially -have a significant interior population: i) in East Africa around Lake Victoria, ii) along the Nile River in Egypt and the Sudan, and iii) in most of Nigeria g. Australia -is the smallest continent -has the smallest population just over 18 million -has peripheral coastwise distribution of population
Population Trends and Characteristics
Subsistence system -production is consisted of simple gathering and hunting -trade was not an important component of economic life
Agricultural Revolution (10,000 to 12,000 years ago)
-creation of premature city; led to a new human settlement, the first city(7000-9000 years ago), and to a new economic system -started to domesticate both plants and animals -resulted in food surplus -the surplus made other economic and social activities possible -resulted in the greater leisure time and the leisure time led to technological advancement ex) hoe culture: from the digging stick to the metal hoe -gradual but irregular population growth due to uneven agricultural sophistication and unpredictable death rate from disease and plague -population rose from approximately 10 million in 8000 B.C. to about 20 million in 6000 B.C. -after 6000 B.C., irregular and even slower population growth owing in part to the inadequate sanitation and the paucity of medical knowledge
Industrial Revolution (1600 A.D.) -creation of urban-dominated economic system -used steam power and machinery -brought a drastic productivity increases and massive migration to cities -population of about one-half billion in 1600 to 5.7 billion in 1990
Population Dynamics and Processes
Demographic Transition Theory:
Demographic transition is resulted from economic, political, social, and technological transformations associated with industrialization and urbanization
The Demographic Transition -demographic sequence as a result of economic development -"demographic trends related to levels of economic well-being, to the size and growth of markets, and to labor availability and its substitutability with automation." (25-26)
i) Stage I
-represents 98 percent of human history -both high birth rate and high death rate -high birth rate; an economic necessity for labor-intensive subsistence activities -high death rate primarily due to high infant mortality -a majority of African countries; a large degree of primitive subsistence agriculture
ii) Stage II
-rapid population growth resulted from high birth rate and low death rate owning to agricultural and medical technology -countries in Africa, southern and southeastern Asia, and a few in Latin America : pluralistic societies; a somewhat commercial activities + traditional subsistence economy
iii) Stage III
-death rate continues to decline at a slow pace and infant mortality rate decreases -birth rate drops significantly along with the maturation of the industrial system and concomitant urbanization -a large family is considered as not an economic asset but a liability -countries in Southeast Asia and several in Latin America: pluralistic societies; a growing commercial activities + a still important subsistence farming
iv) Stage IV
-both birth rate and death rate are low -is characterized by slow rates of population growth in industrialized countries/postindustrial economy -increasing employment in service sector; relies on heavily on international trade as well as on intensive trade, transportation, and communication within and outside the borders of the countries. -countries in Europe, Russia, Japan, Anglo-America, Australia and New Zealand, and Argentina and Uruguay; manufacturing, tertiary, and quaternary activities are dominant
Demographic trap:
Many and peripheral semi-peripheral countries appear to be stalled in the transitional phases of II and III
The disparity between birth and death rates for core and peripheral countries
-the rate difference between the fast advancement of medical technology and the slow rate of decreasing desirability of large families
Critics on the theory:
-is less useful to explain the demographic transition of peripheral countries -foreign investment plays more significant role in industrialization, which is the cause of transition from phase II to phases III and IV, in the peripheral countries cf) industrialization in core countries are driven by internal capital investment -undermines factors of the transition by economic development; the shortages of skilled laborers, the absence of advanced educational opportunity, and limits on technological advances.
Refugee flow out of Afghanistan, 1979 - 90
Source: Knox, Human Geography, p113
The Causes of Afghanistan Migration
The first wave of Afghanistan refugees -was in response to the invasion of Russian troops in 1980s The second wave caused by Taliban regime -faced with dire domestic circumstances; famine brought by a prolonged drought The
third wave caused by the global war on terrorism by the U.S.
"The U.S. war in Afghanistan, waged in response to the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, has resulted in hundreds of Thousands of Afghans fleeing their country" (Knox and etc., 2004).
Mobility and Migration
a) mobility: -an ability to move from one place to another b) migration: -a long-distance move to a new location -involves a permanent or temporary change of residence -involves a desire for economic betterment or an escape from political oppression -sending countries- loss of trained professional; receiving countries-benefits from low-wage cost vs. job-market stress during recession
i) emigration refers to moving from a particular location; out-migration ii) immigration defines moving to a particular location; in-migration iii) gross migration refers to the total number of migrants moving into and out of a place, region, or country iv) net migration refers to the gain or loss in the total population of that area as a result of the migration.
The decision to migrate is a combination of both push and pull factors. Push factors are events and conditions that impel
an individual to move from a location. They might range from the idiosyncratic dissatisfaction to the dramatic such as war, economic dislocation, or ecological deterioration.
Pull factors are forces of attraction.
B. Voluntary Migration i) Guest workers: -are individuals who migrate temporarily to take up jobs in other countries ex) an Overseas Contract Worker (OCW) of the Philippine; a gender-biased program ii) Transnational migrants: -set up homes and/or work in more than one nation-state
ex1) Mexican migrants in the unskilled sectors of manufacturing, agriculture, and the service economy in the U.S. ex2) Hong Kong Chinese in Vancouver with the higher end of the socioeconomic spectrum as a result of Hong Kong's pending transfer from British to Chinese control in 1997
A. Forced Migration
-a recent example is that of Lebanese and Kurdish people in the Middle East due to war and civil strife; the 1975-1990 civil war in Lebanon, and the Kurdish failure to establish an autonomous state -includes the migration of Jews from Germany and Eastern Europe -the scattering of Palestinian from their homeland since the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948 -According to the U.N. report, a total of 21.5 million people were forced migrants or refugee in 2000.
C. Internal Voluntary Migration Three important internal migrations in the U.S. i) the first with colonization:
-the first part is characterized by the movement from the settled Eastern...