ENV203/GEO205: Introduction to Geography
International Organization for
Lecture 19
North South University
Demography & Population Geography
• Evolution of the world’s population
– Long historical process:
• Has been very slow up to recently.
• 300 million people around year 0.
• Remained small until the last 250 years.
– A new growth trend:
• Has increased almost exponentially.
• From 1.6 billion in 1900 to 6 billion in 1999.
• To what it can be linked?
• Population “explosion”
– Defines a process of strong demographic growth.
– Started after the Second World War.
– About 80 million people added each year.
– Major concern for the future of humanity.
Migration
Dynamics of Human Population
ENV203/GEO205
2. Demography and Population Geography
• Overpopulation
– Not an absolute number, such as size or density.
– Relationship between population and available
resources:
• E.g. food, energy, water, etc.
– At some population level (overpopulation) additional
numbers become a cause of declining standards of living
and environmental degradation.
– Numbers should be linked with level of consumption.
– Countries with low populations can thus be
overpopulated.
– The United States would be more overpopulated than
3 4
China.
 Meaning and Definition The most appropriate definition was given by Thompson &
Lewis:

• Demography is the study of changes which take place in
population including its size, distribution, and organization.
• It has been derived from the Latin word ‘demos´ meaning
people. Hence, it is the science of people.
• As regards definition of this term, it has been defined in
various ways by different authors.
• The DEMOGRAPHIC studies is concerned with the,
population, its size, composition and distribution and in
changes in these aspects through time, and the causes of
the changes as they are related to human welfare.
NATURE OF THE STUDY
Three main aspects are concerned under demography.
1. Size and growth of the population,
2. Composition of population, and
3. Distribution.

Size World Population 1804-2048 (in billions)

This deals with the number of people living in an area and
what changes are taking place and how these changes are 10
affected. 9
20 years
2048

8 2028
15 years
In a demographic study, the concern is not only in finding out: 7 2013
14 years
– How many people live in a particular area at a given point of 6 1999
12 years
time 5 1987
13 years
4 1974
– Whether the number is larger than what it was, but also, 3
15 years
1959
37 years
• What would be the likely number in future. 2 118 years 1922

1 1804
These can be due to increase in the rates of death and birth, or on
0
account of increased migration, etc. 1800 1850 1900 1950 2000 2050
8
 Distribution Composition
Population distribution study is concerned with
matters like: Composition of population mainly related to certain
characteristics:
– how are the people distributed;
– what is the nature of changes in population Age, Sex & Literacy are most widely used characteristics
distribution; of population study.

– To find out the proportion of population living in According to Thompson & Lewis composition of a
advanced urban industrial areas, newly developing out population affects demographic processes.
growing urban industrial areas and rural areas and the
ways in which changes are taking place in each
category.

If one were to analyze a series of world

population density maps published over the past The Concept of Overpopulation
several decades, two important points emerge:
1) Population is not distributed uniformly around the
world.
Unsustainable >1
– Some areas support large populations (One out of every Overpopulation

Population / Resources
three people in the world is from either India or China); 1
other areas are very sparsely populated.
Sustainable
2) Population patterns and rates of growth change over
time.
– With respect to growth rates, there are tremendous
disparities around the world. We live in “two very
different demographic worlds,” one relatively small, old, 0
and wealthy (with very high consumption rates per
capita) and the other very large, young, and poor (with 12
relatively low consumption rates per capita).
 What’s Behind Population Growth
• Three Factors • Industrial Revolution
– Fertility
– Infant Mortality
– Longevity
• Animal Domestication
and Agriculture
– Provided for a few to
feed many
Population Predictions
• Most predictions: 9-
12B by 2050 10-15B
by 2100;
• UN (Low) requires
global fertility at less
than zero growth in 15
years;
• Large uncertainties.
Fertility Trends
• Population predictions are
very sensitive to future
– Growth of Cities and fertility assumptions;
Infrastructure • At 1990 fertility rates
• Water (constant by region)
• Energy population would grow to
• Transportation 110 billion in 2100, over 700
– Increased Productivity billion in 2150;
• Has been dropping since
– Nutrition
1800 in developed nations -
– Sanitation
now at Zero Growth;
– Medicine
• Is on its way down in much of
the developing world.
Speaking of Consumption . . .
• If everyone in the world
consumed like the average
U.S. citizen, we would
need four more planet
Earths to meet everyone’s
needs!
 Resource Consumption The Agricultural Revolution
• Nature
• High consumption
– Also known as the “Neolithic Revolution”.
• Getting worse – Started around 10,000 BC (12,000 years ago).
• Rate increase – First major demographic change in human history.
faster than – World’s population was around 5-10 million of mostly
population growth nomadic tribes.
– Likely occurred around the Fertile Crescent:
• Mesopotamia (“The land between rivers”).
• Tigris and Euphrates rivers in today’s Iraq.
– Domestication of crops and animals:
• Large-scale agricultural production possible and leading to agrarian
societies.
– “Dawn of civilization”.
– Invention of the plow, the wheel, writing, and numbers.
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The Agricultural Revolution The Agricultural Revolution

• Change of lifestyles
– Population went from nomadic to sedentary lifestyle.
– Created private property, tools and the accumulation of
wealth.
– Subsequently the creation of the state.
– By 1500, 20% of the world was composed of statehoods.
• Agricultural surpluses
– Farming allowed greater population densities and the
generation of an agricultural surplus.
– A growing share of the population was able to engage in
non-agricultural activities.
– Induced all sorts of innovations such as irrigation,
craftsmanship, and metallurgy.
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• Demographic consequences
– High birth rates:
• A feudal society required large families.
• Help agricultural activities that were very labor intensive.
• No contraceptives.
– High death rates:
• Wars between competing city-states.
• Frequent disruption of food supplies.
• Medicine almost non-existent.
• Epidemics: One famous plague, the Black Death, reduced
European population by 25% between 1346 and 1348.
• Life expectancy around 30-35 years.
– The population growth rate remained low.
– Small cities of at most 25,000 people. 20
 The Industrial Revolution The Industrial Revolution
• Nature • Agriculture
– Started at the end of the eighteenth century (1750-1780). – Less agricultural population.
– Transformations first observed in England. – Growth of the production of food.
– Demographic transition of the population: – Mechanization and fertilizers.
• Fast growth rate. – Scientific and commercial agriculture.
– Economic and social transformations. – Declining food prices.
• Technological innovations • Social changes
– Use of new materials (steel, iron, chemicals).
– Significant urbanization.
– Usage of thermal energy to produce mechanical energy.
– Creation of a labor class.
– Substitution of machines to human and animal labor.
– Production (factory). – Work ethics, savings and entrepreneurship.
– Transportation (rail). – Migration from the countryside to cities:
– Health (medicine). • By 1870 more than half of the population of the first industrial
21 nations was no longer in the agricultural sector. 22

Major Phases of Demographic Change Population and Environment in

Bangladesh
• Agricultural Revolution • Population and environmental problems had been two
– Feudal society. areas of concern in the past.
Agricultural
Revolution – Wealth from agriculture and land ownership.
– Slow demographic growth.
• In the recent years, particularly after the UNCED in
12,000 years • Industrial Revolution
Brazil in 1992 and the Population Conference in Cairo
– Wage labor society.
Industrial – Wealth from industry and capital ownership.
(1995), there have been many attempts to explore the
Revolution – Fast demographic growth. interlinkages between population and environment
• Post-Industrial Revolution both at conceptual and organizational levels.
200 years
– Information society.
Post-Industrial – Wealth from technological development. • Population is seen as an aggregate of consuming units,
Revolution – Slow demographic growth.
putting stress increasingly on the natural resources
leading to environmental degradation;
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 Population and Environment in
Bangladesh…
• the inter-relationship between population and
environment is more complex and multi-dimensional.
• Human beings are not always consumers they are also
producers and some time they are conservators of nature
and environment.
• The quality and quantity of the population of a country
have inevitable interaction with its natural resources and
environment;
• Environmental changes due to both anthropogenic and
natural causes have vital effects on population structure
and on social systems;
25
Growth of Population in Bangladesh
BBS, Population Census, 1991 and UNFPA, 1998 27
Population and Environment in Bangladesh…
• All the population projections show that there will be
an increase of global population in the next few
decades and the bulk of the contribution would come
from the developing countries;
• Though there is a declining trend of population growth
in Bangladesh, nevertheless the total population is
increasing at a fast rate, and by the turn of the century,
it will be about 140 million;
• Population control through effective family planning,
educating women; creative employment generation for
the poor are some of the primary measures for
improving population and environment relation. 26
Population and Environment Interrelationship
• Population of a country at a period of time, has a number
of quantitative (size, growth and spatial distribution) and
qualitative characteristics including age-structure, health,
education, skill, income and consumption patterns which
have both negative and positive impacts on natural
resources, production systems and on environment.
• The actions and interactions of people, natural resources,
environment and development could be understood in the
following figure;
28

Population and Environment Interrelationship…
• This relationship could be further aggravated by a number of
other social factors which include the following:
• The economic systems based on high rates of resources
consumption, environmentally damaging trade practices and
lack of environmental accounting;
• Widespread poverty and unsustainable development efforts;
• Women’s inequity and the large unmet need for quality
reproductive healthcare and family planning;
• Lack of educational, employment and income opportunity;
29
Population-Environment Interactions
in Bangladesh
• The population-environment linkages must be considered
in the context of the people and available natural
resources;
• Poverty is regarded as one of the greatest threats to
environment, and the poor are the worst victims of
environmental degradation in the country;
• The widespread poverty in Bangladesh can best be
addressed by creating adequate employment
opportunities.
31
Population and Environment
Interrelationship…
• Under-utilization of environmentally sound and locally
appropriate technology; and
• Lack of people’s participation in resources management
and inadequate understanding of people about the natural
systems (WWF, 1986);
• The quantity and quality of a population essentially its size,
income, education and consumption determine the
demands for goods and services in terms of their basic
needs;
30
Population and Rural Environment
• The location of Bangladesh makes the country vulnerable
to many natural calamities like flood cyclone and drought.
• Besides, there are environmental problems in relation to
degradation of land, water and forest in rural Bangladesh,
which have been intensified by the increase of population,
overexploitation and mismanagement of resources.
32
 The major rural environmental B. Water: Problems of Scarcity and
problems Abundance
A. Land Degradation
• It is viewed that the country would face serious
There are a number of ways in which population increase scarcity of fresh water for agriculture, industry,
impinges on land quality. fisheries and other livelihood activities in near future.
• Three things might happen: 1. flow of up-stream
• Firstly, by increasing use of chemical inputs like water is decreasing, 2. ground water level is going
fertilizers and pesticides. down particularly in the dry season and 3. saline
water is intruding in the inland areas.
• Secondly, by increasingly converting marginal lands
(e.g. chars, deforested lands, converted wetlands, etc.) • Major environmental concerns in water sector
to crop cultivation. include: degradation of wetlands, floodplain and
• Thirdly, pressure is increased on non-crop ecosystems water bodies, declining of ground water, non-
availability of water for irrigation, water pollution,
such as forests and wetlands to convert them to water logging, river bank erosion and flood damages.
croplands. 33 34

The major rural environmental problems…. Population and Urban Environment

C. Depletion of Open water Fisheries • Pollution of Air and Water

D. Forest and Bio-diversity • Problem of Waste Disposal

E. Energy Crisis • Growing Slums

F. Health and Sanitation

G. Natural Hazards

35 36
 How do we measure population Doubling Time
changes? 1. How long will it take for a population of a given area to
double in size?
• Rate of Natural Increase - Percentage by which a
population grows in a year (birth rate minus death rate). 2. Doubling time assumes the population will grow at a
Does not take migration into account. Current rate is about given annual rate;
1.14% for the world.
3. Approximated by dividing the annual rate of population
• Doubling time - Number of years needed to double a into 70;
population. Current doubling time is about 61 years for the Example: Bangladesh
70/R.N.I. = 70/1.292 = 54.18 years
world (in the 1960s it was 35 years). World = 50
U.S. = 35
• Recent evidence suggests . . . MDC = 550
– that population growth is slowing down LDC = 40
Honduras = 22
– that doubling time is increasing Denmark = 700

Population Pyramids

• An analytical tool, a bar graph, that allows to

examine the distribution of a country’s population by
age and gender.

• Tells us something about dependency (young and

old).

• Tells us something about the future as well

(demographic momentum).

• The shape of a pyramid is determined by the crude

birth rate.
Tanzania, Africa (rapid growth)
Sun City (Arizona) retirement community
 Overpopulation… Overpopulation….
• What are the contributing factors to overpopulation? What are some consequences of overpopulation?

– Cost of and accessibility of birth control methods; – Famine

– Urbanization
– Cultural barriers (religion; little choice for women; men
– Shortage of jobs
wanting many children; preference of having boys;
religious beliefs); – Poverty
– Shortage of space
– High death rates, so overcompensation with the – Shortage of natural resources
number of births;
– Pollution
– Government incentives. – Conflict / war
– Lack of provision of government services

Overpopulation…. Policy Responses and Suggestions for

Future Programme
What are some solutions to overpopulation?
Barton T (1997) in his Our People, Our Resources, reported
some of the good option how people could take care of
– Technology and innovation; their environment:

– Improved education of women;
– Improved access to birth control;
1. People take care of their environment when their
demographic profile is not stressed beyond the capacity
of the natural resources to cope with the changing
situation;

– Laws limiting number of children people can have. 2. People could take care of their environment when
conditions are in place for them to meet their present
needs and to feel secure to meet their needs in future;
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 Policy Responses and Suggestions
for Future Programme….
3. People can take care of their environment when they
agree on what their problems and opportunities are and
how to organize to meet them together;
4. People can take care of their environment when they can
manage to obtain the support they need from various
partners including government, etc.
Population, environment and development linkage will be
best served with a better understanding of the people-
natural resource linkages.
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