Where is the world’s population distributed?
Population Density is the concentration of people within a specific area.
Types Of Density
1. Arithmetic Density- total number of people/total land area
- Geographers rely on Arithmetic Density to compare conditions in different countries. (also the easiest two pieces information to obtain)
- Arithmetic Density enables geographers to compare the number of people trying to live on a given piece of land in different areas of the world.
- It also answers the “Where?” people are distributed over the earth’s surface.
- Example: To compute the arithmetic density, one can divide the population (300 million) by the land area (9.6 million square kilometers). The result shows that the United States has an arithmetic density of 31 people per square kilometer.
2. Physiological Density- number of people supported by a unit area of arable land
- arable land : land fit for growing crops
- Physiological Density provides insight into the relationship between the size of a population and the availability of resources in a region
- The higher the physiological density, the greater the pressure that people may place on the land to produce enough food.
- Example: The large difference between the physiological density (2,580 people per square kilometer of arable land) and arithmetic density (75 persons per square kilometer over the entire country) shows that the majority of that land is unsuitable for use.
3. Agricultural Density- ratio of the number of farmers to the amount of arable land.
- This density measure helps account for economic differences.
- MDCs have lower agricultural density because technology and finance allow a few people to farm extensive land areas and feed many people. As a result, a majority of the population of an MDC is able to work in factories, offices, or shops.
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