Population geography

Population geography

1. Population geography is a division of human geography

   • Human geography is a branch of geography

2. It is the study of the ways in which spatial variations in the distribution, composition, migration, and growth of populations are related to the nature of places. Population geography involves demography in a geographical perspective. It focuses on the characteristics of population distributions that change in a spatial context. Examples can be shown through population density maps. A few types of maps that show the spatial layout of population are choropleth, isoline, and dot maps.

   • Population geography studies: Demographic phenomena (natality, mortality, growth rates, etc.) through both space and time Increase or decrease in population numbers The movements and mobility of populations Occupational Structure The way in which places in turn react to population phenomena e.g. immigration

3. Censuses

   • A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses include agriculture, business, and traffic censuses. The United Nations defines the essential features of population and housing censuses as "individual enumeration, universality within a defined territory, simultaneity and defined periodicity", and recommends that population censuses be taken at least every 10 years. United Nations recommendations also cover census topics to be collected, official definitions, classifications and other useful information to coordinate international practice.

4. Demographic indicators

   • Definitions of the indicators Life expectancy at birth - The number of years newborn children would live if subject to the mortality risks prevailing for the cross-section of population at the time of their birth. Crude death rate - Annual number of deaths per 1,000 population. Crude birth rate - Annual number of births per 1,000 population. Total fertility rate - The number of children that would be born per woman if she were to live to the end of her child-bearing years and bear children at each age in accordance with prevailing age-specific fertility rates. Urban population - Percentage of population living in urban areas as defined according to the national definition used in the most recent population census.