Population Geography for Teens

Hey there, explorers! Bryan here. Now that we've made it through our Geology mini-unit, it's finally time to start talking about populations. Now, know what you may be thinking: population? You mean people. Why is there whole separate lesson on that? Aren't we going to be talking about people all year? We can't be trying to talk about, like, all the people at once, can we? That's great question, and so let me answer with another question: How many people do you think have ever walked the Earth? In fact, record response and explain your reasoning in the lesson guide. The most reliable estimates are between 90 to 110 billion people. That may sound like lot, but let's do some simple math. The current population is around 7.9 billion people. So, somewhere between 6%-10% of all people who have ever lived are alive right now. The sheer number of humans living today makes the world very different place than it was just hundred years ago. As the world's population has grown, patterns of human settlement have changed with it. Measuring where people live, how many people live there, and why they live where they do can give us invaluable geographic information about our world. Our learning goal for the day is to analyze patterns of human settlement. To do this, we'll examine population distribution, density, and composition. Ready, explorers? One of the premier hallmarks of humans is their ability to adapt. As result, humans have spread to every corner of the Earth. You can find humans on every continent and in many places which might be considered inhospitable. The people of Svalbard, Norway, have three solid months of sunlight and then three solid months of twilight, and the 2,000 people living there share the space with over 2,500 polar bears. In contrast, the village of Dallol, Ethiopia, can reach temperatures of 145 degrees Fahrenheit, and most of it sits atop an active volcano. The town is abandoned now, but people still go to Dallol to gather salt from volcanic pools. These examples show that humanity has found ways to adapt to the environment to make living there possible. The people of Svalbard have insulated clothing, geothermal heat, and mandatory town law to carry firearm for protection from the wildlife. What adaptations do you think the people of Dallol had to make to live there? Make prediction in your lesson guide. They crafted houses which reflect heat, wore different clothing and shoes, and gathered salt in the mornings or evening, when the temperature was lower. There are many factors that influence where we can live, so let's begin our analysis of settlement patterns by discussing population distribution. The total area of land on Earth is around 197 million square acres. If we were to evenly distribute the people across the world, everyone would have about four acres to call their own. That's little larger than three football fields. But not all land is habitable. So, if we only count the land where you could physically live, then your acreage is reduced to two. Still, not bad, right? So, why don't we do that? Well, habitable doesn't mean comfortable, and even if we could give everyone two acres, the Earth doesn't have the infrastructure to support people living everywhere. As adaptable as humans are, there are limits to where we can reasonably live. Population distribution is the way people are spread across the Earth. In other words, where do people live? From gigantic mega-cities to rural farms, the places where people live are as diverse as people are. However, there are few factors that geographer can look to in order to understand the distribution or placement of people across the Earth. Most cities and towns are located close to water source. About half of all people live less than two miles from surface body of water. With good reason, we need to drink water to survive. Waterways are also critical transportation pathways for global commerce and travel. Historically, water was the only reliable way to transport lots of stuff from one place to another, and water acted as an engine for grinding and weaving. Natural resources also play huge role in where people choose to live. Svalbard was originally founded as coal mining town, just like Dallol was settled for the naturally occurring salt. Arable land, or land that can be farmed, is major draw for the founding of settlements because people need to eat. Some of the oldest communities in the world were likely founded as farming cooperatives. Another factor affecting the distribution of people is international trade. Take look at this political map of Sudan. You may notice that there is only one large city, Khartoum. Many other African nations have only one or two cities as well. The reason? These cities were set up by European colonizers who were after land and natural resources. Cities were built as hubs to collect resources and ship them to the coasts for export. Little has changed since these nations gained independence because the previously built roads, railroads, and seaports provided an incentive to continue to trade in this way – sending natural resources to Europe and North America. Consequently, in many countries, 10 percent or more of the people live in just the one city, causing overcrowding, tribal and ethnic tensions, and equality and justice issues as well. While we can see where people live, another just as important feature is how many people live in given area. Population density, or the number of people who live in an area, is another important way to look at human settlement. Take look at these housing situations: one is favela in Medellin, Colombia and the other suburb of Dallas, Texas. In your lesson guide, compare and contrast these images. What similarities and differences can you spot? The differences in density can be seen and even felt in places like Hong Kong, China, and Phoenix, Arizona. These cities have roughly the same living space, but Hong Kong has nearly five times the people. I'm sure you can imagine the extra challenges that brings. This example illustrates how population density can be utilized as tool to understand transportation, living space, economic impact, and governance. Just as it's important to understand where people live and how many people live there, it's vital to understand who lives in populated areas. For this, we look at population pyramids. Also called age-sex diagrams, these are charts which show breakdown of the population in given country or location. In this diagram, you can see the breakdown by age group in the center of the visual. And you can see the reason for the name, as countries ideally have larger base of younger people, which narrows as the diagram tracks older and older age groups. But some look, well, little different. This diagram of Japan has very different shape, indicating that the country has larger groups of older people. Contrast that with this diagram of India, where the vast majority of the population is under the age of 35. India's pyramid is also skewed between sexes, showing societal preference for having boys, something we'll consider later. As we've seen here, population pyramid can tell geographer about the types of challenges faced by country. If we were to consider an issue like elderly health care or elderly mobility, do you think Japanese or Indian voters would be more likely to prioritize these issues? For Japan, its population is over 40, while the majority of India's population is under 35, so my bet is on Japanese voters. As we continue our study of geography, be mindful of population indicators, as it can give the geographer powerful set of data when evaluating space and place around the world. How was your town settled, and how much has it grown? Who lives there? What resources does it have to fuel its economy? These are just few questions you can ask to help make the world around you come alive. Remember to ask questions, be curious, and until next time, keep exploring!