CHAPTER 19:  POPULATION and Urbanization

DEMOGRAPHY is the study of population World population  and looks at:
--fertility (level of child bearing in a society or culture
   --birth rate: Number of live births per 100K
--mortality (incidence of death in a population)
--migration (movement of people from one place to another)
--population composition (bio, social, and other characteristics of a population


US *ROUGHLY** 295 million  (in 1890, only 62 million in 1790, about 3.9 million)
   China: 1.3 billion
   India: 1.1 billion
   U.S.: 295 million

WORLD: 6.77 BILLION (estimated as of December 5, 2007)

We're an aging population:   1860 =  average age: about 19;
                             1960 a bout 23.5
                             1989 about 27.7
                             2005 = about 30

  1650,  about 1/2 billion (500 Million)  
  1850 about 1.7 billion
  1950 about  2.6 Billion 
  1990 about  5.3 billion (doubled in 40 years).
  2007 about  6.77 billion (increase of 22 percent in 17 years)
        (At this rate of increase, will double to 11.7 in 2010)

3-5 million years to reach our first billion. Only 130 to reach our 
second billion.   30  years to reach 3 bilion (in 1960).

Causes:

    1) high birth rates and low death rates 
    2) Increased efficiency in providing for people 
    3)  Increased abilty to transform formerly uninhabitble areas

Thomas Malthus (1766-1834) thought our population was growing faster than
the available food supply and advocated population control. It was
overpopulation, he said, that caused most of the social problems.

Karl Marx, of course, thought that there was no obvious relationship
between resources and population, and thought that capitalism was
responsible for the problems.   

Know: Functionalist perspective:

1) Ecological models - (concentric zone, sector model, multiple 
nuclei model -- good for an exam question)
QUESTION: WHAT ARE IMPLICATIONS FOR THE PLANET?

Return to JT's homepage

Page maintained by: Jim Thomas - jthomas@sun.soci.niu.edu