EXTENDED ENGLISH FOR ACADEMICS

Degree in Humanities and Social Sciences

Prof. Ricardo Marín Ruiz PhD.
College of Humanities, Albacete

Population

Demography the study of statistics such as births, deaths, income, or the incidence of
disease, which illustrate the changing structure of human populations. In other words,
demography is basically about people. It is about where they live, how many people there are
and why they live where they do. It looks at population facts such as which are the largest
cities in the world. And it goes on to look at what will happen to the population of the world in
the future. It asks questions such as: will we continue to grow in numbers exponentially? Or
will the population of the world reach a peak in the future?

Density
One of the main topics in demography is the place where people live and the number of
people living in that place, that is to say, density. Population density is the number of people
for a given area. Often given as how many people per square kilometer. If places are densely
populated, they will have a high population density and if places are sparsely populated, they
will have a low population density. Now, could you guess the first five countries with the
highest density rates in the world? And the first five with the lowest rates?

The heterogenous distribution of population all over the world is due to a number of
reasons. Compare the three density maps, comment on the different population density in the
three countries and try to figure out the motives underlying the different density patterns. By
doing this, you will be able to notice some of the facts that influence on density.

Growth
Another issue studied by demography is how population increases or decreases in a
place. One of the main ways to represent graphically this aspect of population, among others,
is population pyramids, which are a visual way to look at the whole population of a particular
place. They show the numbers of people in each age bracket and they can be used to study
different issues in population studies like, the increasing numbers of dependent people as a
share of the working population. Similarly, they can be used to measure baby booms and how
this will affect public services in future years. They can be used to look at gender imbalance,
demographic transition and population growth. Here you can see the population pyramid of
the UK in 2015. Which information can you find here?
EXTENDED ENGLISH FOR ACADEMICS
Degree in Humanities and Social Sciences
Prof. Ricardo Marín Ruiz PhD.
College of Humanities, Albacete

Now write a descriptive and interpretative comparison between this pyramid and those
representing the population of Angola and China: