Population
(Lecture Notes from Mr. Kersey's 7th Grade Geography Class)Population
Population is the total number of people living in a place or region.Population Distribution
- Population distribution is how people are spread out over an area, like a country or the Earth.
- Demographers study the populations of the world.
- They try to figure why people live where they do.
- Populations are often not distributed evenly.
- The basic reason for this is that people are picky about where they live.
- People tend to live in places where it is easier to get around, to trade, to farm, to work, and where there is fresh water.
- Would you live in a swamp with no electricity, roads, or medical care?
- Some continents have loads more people than others because it is easier to live there.
- Asia, for example, has more than 81% of the world’s population.
Population Density
- Population Density is the average number of people per square mile (or square km).
- To figure out population density, take the population of an area and divide by the number of square miles.
- For example, the population of Columbus, Ohio in the year 2000 was 711,470 people.
- The total land area is about 210 sq. miles.
- What is the population density of Columbus?
- The population density of Columbus, Ohio is a whopping 3387 people per sq. mile.
- Always remember that population density is an average.
