Lecture 5 :

Current global population

o 7-7.5 billion (7.4 billion)
o annual increase, 2.5 CANADAs every year
o Would reach to 9 billion (2050)
Most populous country - China: 1.35 billion, India: 1.25 million, USA: 0.35
million, Indonesia, Brazil
Canadas current population - about 35 million (rank about 35/200 countries)

Population Geography
Demography: the study of population
o From Greek: Demo = people, Graphy = writing, description, or
measurement
Population geography: the study of the spatial components of demography
o ie. birth rate
Of concern to population geographers:
o growth (or decline) of population over time
o spatial differential growth/decline of population eg. uneven birth rate
under different economic differences
o the causes, and consequences, of population change eg. one child
policy
o spatial distribution of population and the consequences with respect to
global resources eg. imbalance between resources and population

History of Population Growth - 1

How does global population levels changed over the past 12,000 years (the
Holocene period)?
o 12,000 years BP (before present) - 4 millions
o 2,000 years BP - 250 million
o 1650 AD (~350 BP) - 500 million
o 1800 AD (~200BP) - 1 billion
o c.1200 yrs -> 2 billion
o <50 years -> 4 billion
o c.25 years -> 6 billion

History of Population Growth - II

What factors have contributed to these population increases/decreases?
Significant population changes associated with:
o 1. First agricultural revolution (12,000 years ago)
Mesopotamia (then Egypt, India, China & Mesoamerica)
Keys: Food production, labour specialization, permanent =
population growth
o Epidemics - diseases
two steps forward, one step backwards
2. Industrial Revolution (18th and 19th century)
o Britain then Europe and elsewhere
o Keys: good production, standard of living, declining death rates prior to
changes in birth rates - population growth
o Note: industrialization occurring today in developing world
Population Distribution and Density
Distribution:
o recall: the spatial arrangement of geographic phenomena
World population distribution
asia vs all other area - areas of population concentration
large areas of the planet are sparsely populated
Density: territory
o varies depending on the spatial scale
Canada: low density, but variation - southern ontario (higher
density), alberta (lower density)
What factors help explain the spatial distribution of population?
o 1. Physical Geographic Factors
Some areas are more suitable for human habitation than others.
eg. we like moderate temperature, suitable amount of
participation - due to agricultural reasons to grow food for
population
in general: temperature, water availability, physiography
(landscape relatively flat, soil quality - connected to food
production
o physical geographic conditions do not solely explain the global
distribution of population
o 2. cultural and economic (human geographic) factors
areas of long (ancient) history of settlement: nuclei of ancient
civilizations
eg. North Africa, Indian subcontinent (south Asia), East
Asia (China), etc - history of occupation factor
industrialization and urbanization
eg. Europe, North America
Summary and conclusion
pollution geography helps us understand the distribution of global population
and the factors that produce these patterns
population growth to the levels we see today are a very recent phenomena

Lecture 6 :

Population Dynamics
Globally, population is understood with reference to 2 factors: fertility (births) and
mortality (deaths)
P1 = P0 + (B-D)
o P1 = population in this year
o P0 = population last year
o B = Birth since last year
o D = deaths since last year

Fertility Measures - to more accurately reflect underlying fertility patterns, we

measure female fecundity (the ability of a woman to conceive)
1. Crude birth rate (CBR)
a. CBR = (B/P) x 1000
b. True fertility: need to account for:
i. the number of women in the population
 ii. the number of women of childbearing age (ie. 15-49)
2. General fertility rate (on fecundity) (GFR)
. GFR = (B/PF:15049) x 1000
3. Total fertility rate (TFR):
. average number of children a woman will have
a. replacement rate (almost above 2)

Variations in Fertility: Developed vs Developing

replacement rate: excess of 6 or below the replacement rate
Economic development and rates of fertility
o TFR: developed = 1.6 (Canada = 1.6); Developing = 2.8
o dealing trend in both cases
Regional variations ie. urban vs rural

Factors Affecting Fertility

Fertility rates are influenced by a variety of factors many of which re social-
cultural in nature
Biological:
o 1. Age
o 2. Nutritional well-being
Economic:
o 3. Economic development
large families = social safety net
Burden?
Cultural
o 4. Marriage
Role of marriage in society
Nuptiality rates (higher fertility rate)
Age at marriage
Contraceptive use (include. abortion - legally and safely):
o cultural context

Mortality: Measures
1. Crude death rate (CDR)
a. CDR = (D/P) x 1000
b. does not account for the age of the population (age composition of the
population)
2. Infant mortality rate (IMR):
. IMR - (D0.1/B) x 1000
a. often used, as the first years of life is the most vulnerable time of your life
b. Canada: one of the lowest - 5 in 1000
3. Life expectancy: the average number of years of life
. Canada: 70s-80s

Variations in Mortality/Life Expectancy

patterns of CDR and LE are almost mirror images of each other
variability of CDR and LE reflects variations in:
o 1. access to health-care services
o 2. general economic circumstances
o 3. food supply
 o 4. general environmental conditions ie. sanitation
social inequality of health (death)

Population Migration
the spatial moment of population, from one place to another
P1 = P0 + (B-D) + (I-E)
o I = Immigration, E = Emigration
Key issues of interest:
o distance moved and political boundaries crossed
o number of migrants (flow) and causes of migration
Migration is a social and cultural process
o immigrants and cultural transfer
Why do people migrate?
o one theory: push-pull factors

Why People Migrate: Theory

Push-pull factors: 3 main forms:
o Economic: eg. employment, wages, standard of living
o Political: eg. political or religious persecution (push)
o Environmental: eg. drought, famine (pushing out to countries with food
supply)

Types of Migration:
Forced
o eg. slavery - captured and moved to somewhere to work
Impelled
o Movement when choice is limited
Free
o eg. 19th century Europeans in search of a better life elsewhere - 70
million in the 19th country alone
benefits:
o limitations today : immigration laws
o Illegal
eg. Mexico crossing border to US

Summary/Conclusion
population geography helps us understand the distribution of global
populations, and the factors that produce these patterns
o fertility and mortality
o Migration

Natural Increase
Rate of Increase (RNI)
o Measures the rate of population growth by subtracting the CDR from
CBR
Lecture 7 :

Population Growth Theory: Malthus (1766-1834)

An Essay on the Principle of Population (1798)
Malthus argument:
o 1. Food Supply increases in a linear fashion
o 2. Population increases in an exponential fashion
Time periods:
o 1. Food > Population
o 2. Food = Population (period when Malthus was writing this theory)
o 3. Food < Population
Preventative checks on population (resolution)
o control fertility, prevent population on growing
Positive checks on population (resolution)
o people start killing each other over food (war over food), famine
(indirectly solve the problem)
Was Malthus correct?
o didnt have conflicts over food
o industrial revolution - miscalculated the agricultural productivity (didnt
increase in a linear fashion, but in an exponential fashion), increased in
a greater rate than that
o contraception - he didnt think that people will reduce their fertility
during the industrial revolution

Neo-Malthusian/ Malthus
Graph

Argument Pessimistic view over the dangers of overpopulation & that supply of food was
the main limit
Believed that population rises geometrically but food supply can only rise
arithmetically
laws of nature- population can never increase past the food supplies to
support it
Details Checks: limit the population increase
o Negative/ Preventive checks
ways in which civilization can opt to reduce human fertility
i.e. delaying marriage; x having sexual intercourse
Moral restrain checks
delaying marriage & avoiding sex
o Positive checks
increase mortality
 i.e. poor living standards; unhealthy living; disease; war; famine
o Misery checks
effects of famine, disease, war
o Vice checks
family planning could be dangerous as it leads to promiscuity
As long as there is land available, there will be enough food to feed the nation
but as population increase, demand for food increase
o leads to pressure to farm more with poor cultivation and more marginal
land (land which produces minimal yield and has a low carrying capacity.
This may be due to poor quality, over use, or a lack of essential nutrients
to support economic agricultural production) over-cultivation & soil
erosion decline in food production known as law of diminishing
returns (as inputs are added to the production function, a point is
reached beyond which yields do not increase but drop) occurs
Limitation Theory is too simple
o shortage of food only one of the many possible reasons for war, famine
Global community is not closed t/f even distribution impossible
o Marxist says only the poor will be the ones to starve & claimed poverty
will come from poor distribution of food & not physical limit
Incapable of predicting innovations
o makes it possible to make enough food to feed world
Case- Easter Island
study Background Information
worlds most isolated piece of inhabited land
was settled by Polynesians in about 400AD
Landing was difficult because of steep cliffs, strong winds and high surf and only
one small harbour site
Natural resources available - fertile volcanic soils, woof from subtropical forest
and palm trees, fresh water in volcanic craters, 25 species of nesting birds and
volcanic rocks for making cutting tools
Known for the stone statues carved from volcanic rock
Closed system
Resources were finite
Captain Cook - 1774
Islanders were in poor condition, he described them as small, lean, timid and
miserable
Nature had been exceedingly sparing of her favours to this spot
Some of the statues were no longer standing
Inter-clan wars
Disappearance of the key resources - forest and palm trees
populations all the forests being cleared for farmland, housing, canoes,
firewood and increasingly for moving the statues (abandoned for human
survival)
Theory
Renewable resources (forests) were overexploited by the growing population to
the point of removal
No longer build sea-going vessels no means of obtaining resources
Conflicts ensued, population growth was checked declined to a new level that
the remaining natural resources could sustain
Modern Post-script
population
 No longer a closed system
Income from tourism
The one settlement of Hanga Roa is expanding and more food is now grown on
the island than for several hundred years

Ehrlich (Another guy that agrees with the Malthusian Theory)

Argument Population control is the only thing
We need to take action to reverse our deterioration towards the environment
before population pressure ruins the environment
We should have combine agricultural development
Birth rate should equal death rate

Limitation The times when there was the greatest population growth, the average
standard of living also increased people can adapt
Why would developed countries that have low birth rates experience
economic stability
Food shortages are sometimes due to political issues, therefore we should deal
with this issue and not population control

Case-
study

Anti-Malthusian/ Boserup
Graph

rate of food supply may vary but never reaches its carrying capacity
o every time it is getting near, there is an invention or development
that causes the food supply to increase
agriculture intensification
o induce agricultural innovation, but marginal labour cost to the
farmer as well: the the rural population density, the hours the
farmer must work for the same amount of produce
workloads tend to while efficiency

Argument Optimistic view- Necessity is the mother of invention

Increase in population would stimulate technologists to increase food
production lead to development
Population growth has enabled agricultural development
 o demographic pressure ( population density) promotes innovation
and higher productivity in use of land (eg. irrigation, weeding..) and
labor (tools, better techniques)

Details When rising population density curtails the use of fallowing (and therefore
the use of fire) that fields are moved towards annual cultivation
o First Way - changes fallow times or stages
eg. forest fallow, bush fallow, annual cropping
o Second Way - new farming methods
eg. new techniques - weather control, fertilization
eg. new organizations - agribusinesses
eg. land reform - plantations
eg. cultivation of the sea - aquaculture

Strengths both her insights and those of Malthus can be comfortably combined within
the same general theoretical framework
changes in technology allow for crop strains and yields, was supported
by evidence of GM crops and the 'Green Revolution'.
overpopulation can lead to unsuitable farming practices which may degrade
the land
o eg.population pressure desertification in the Sahal region (fragile
environments at risk)

Limitation has been instrumental in understanding agricultural patterns in developing

countries
based on the assumption of 'closed' society - not reality eg. migration
less convincing as an explanation of short-term trends
o the "short" term can last for decades
she was more interested in less developed countries than in advanced
countries
neglect the different nature of modern technology or the new role of capital
places with the food shortages tend to have low-tech agriculture, and the
high-tech parts of the world tend to have high living standards and plenty of
food
overpopulation can eventually lead to inappropriate farming which can
damage the land
o i.e. Geographers even blame population growth for desertification in
areas such as the Sahel clear evidence that some areas do not
support this extensive population growth at some point, the
population may get so huge that they can't be fed no matter how
inventive they are

Case-
study

Population Growth Theory: Fertility Transitions

Fertility Transition: a model to explain changes in population due to
social/cultural and economic processes that affect levels of fertility
More developed world: 19th and early 20th century
 o Economic growth
Less developed/developing world: late 20th century and today:
o Social and cultural change
contraceptive use >50%
contraceptive methods ~85% (condoms, birth control pills)
public health/family planning education (about birth control)
Fertility transition = cultural transition
o large families declining importance
o social status of women: greater empowerment (education) over fertility
(most powerful way to lower fertility)
cultural transition one that welcomes and encourages lower fertility, and that
provides the means for women to do this
along with cultural changes, some countries (via government policy) can
strategically, alter their fertility rates

Government Population Policies:

Governments have the ability to alter populations in 3 main ways:
Increase/decreasing births -> via natal policy
o pro-natal (baby bonus program, cash incentive- providing money for
giving birth to children)
o anti-natal (one child policy, sterilization program)
Decreasing (or increasing) deaths -> via health care, etc
Encouraging/discouraging migration -> via immigration laws
Canada has an open policy - more restricted than it used to be

Population Structure:
Population structure - Population pyramid: a diagrammatic representation one
the age and sex structure of a population

Expanding populations: successful generations

Diminish Population: each generation is small than the one before, below
replacement rate
Canada
o 1861-2036: expanding, stable then to diminish population

Population Issues: Aging

Population Aging: the process where the proportion of elderly people
increases and the proportion of young people decreases
o Median age of the population
Monaco is an aging population
o Global population >65 years old
 o 1900 - 1%, 2011 - ~8%, 2050 - ~20% (projected)
o Spatial variation
key factors in explaining population agings:
o 1. declining fertility -> the base of the pyramid narrows
o 2. dealing mortality -> the pyramid stretches upward
Spatial variations:
o Fertility:
more developed world vs less developed world
life expectancy:
o Effect of HIV/AIDS
Consequences of an aging population
o a greater proportion of dependants
working vs. non-working population -> a shift in this ratio puts
added pressure on the working population
o greater health-care needs
elderly require more and or expensive, health-care
Greater stress on social services (ie. retirement benefits)
recent and significant changes to retirement benefit plans in many of the more
developed parts of the world reflects this concern

Summary/Conclusion:
several theories help us to understand the rapid population growth of the last
2 centuries
o Each contributes to our understanding of this key process
demography and population geography concepts
o history of population growth and theories of explanation
o Population distribution and density
o Measures and factors affecting fertility and mortality
o Age and sex structures of population (population pyramids)
o Forms of population migration
o Government policies and population aging

Lecture 8

Introduction
Consider we all have our own geographies
o Places we live work
While each of our geographies are subtly different, they are
generally similar and radically different from those in many other
parts of the world
Consider we all have different health status
o Again, while our health status varies subtly from one of us to the next,
our health risks are largely similar to one another, but different as
compared to those in other parts of the world

The risks from environmental contamination are not uniform across space
o Where you live affects your risk of diseases or ill-health
Access to basic resources is spatially distributed
o Where you live affects your access to these resources
 The provision of health-care varies from one location on earth to another
o Where you live affects the treatments you get

Geographies of Health: Changing Perspectives

Traditional medical geography
o The study of the spatial context to disease
Today, health geography
o The study of the spatial context of health and well being
Whats the difference?
o Traditionally: health = the absence of disease (WHO)
o More recently: health = the state of complete physical, mental and
social well-being (WHO revised)

Geographical Concepts: Applied to Health

4 Ds of Health Geography:
o 1. Distribution: spatial patterns of health, disease, etc
Applied to health - Eg. deaths from heart attacks in the U.K
Applied to health - Eg. distribution of malaria at particular risk
Applied to health - Eg. changing distribution of obesity - shifting
distribution
The birth of Epidemiology and Medical geography - John Snow:
choloria
o 2. Diffusion: the spread of disease over space
Eg. global diffusion of avian flu
Eg. diffusion of HIV/AIDS
Eg. diffusion of cholera
o 3. Determinants: the factors affecting health status (healthy or not
healthy)
Eg. income/wealth, behavioural factors, social environment,
physical environment, genetics, etc
Income is a good predictor of health status
o 4. Delivery: the provision of health-care services
Eg. public vs private vs traditional (ie. healers)
Eg. quality of care as well as cost of care
Ie. high-tech diagnostics vs. low-tech prevention

Geography of Health: Concepts

Epidemic: an outbreak of a disease, where the number of cases substantially
exceeds what is normal or expected
o ie. normal (eg. 15%) vs unsual (eg. 40%) prevalence
Eg. influenza, salmonella, meningitis, ebola
Pandemic: an outbreak of a disease of much greater geographic scale and
proportion than an epidemic
o Wide geographic and high proportion of the population
Eg. influenza, plague, HIV/AIDS
1918 spanish flu (influenza): H1N1 strain (influenza pandemic)
o ~500 million people infected
o Between 50-100 million died (305% of the population)
 Epidemiology: the study of the incidence transmission and control of disease
Epidemiological Transition Theory: a theory that explains the changing
prevalence of infectious and degenerative disease within populations over
time
o Most people die of infectious disease
o Now infectious is rarer and more people die of dengenerative disease
o 2 ages (periods of time) - 4 (or live) stages
1. Age of pestilence and famine
Stages 1 and 2: infectious and parasitic diseases
dominate
Eg. the black death (plague) : 1300s - 25 million deaths in
europe ( of the population)
2. Age of degenerative disease
Stages 3&4: degenerative diases and chronic disorders
(associated with aging) dominate
A New Age?
Stage 5: the return of the infectious/communicable diseases -

Lecture 9

Introduction: Culture and Society

Consider your own life and daily routine
o Wakeup
o Go to school or work
o Return home

In what ways are these actions indicative of your/our culture?

o What do you wear?
o What do you eat?
o What type of housing do you live in?
o What about others aspects of your everyday life?

These cultural attributes vary based on: religious beliefs, language spoken,
ethnic/ancestral origin, age, gender and individual personality.
Despite the variation they are the dominant forms of which we call material
culture in our society
Consider other parts of the world, i.e. Narots (Kenya) or Mumbai
o Consider:
Would they be familiar with your social norms and expressions
of culture
Would they be MORE or LESS familiar with your culture than
you are with theirs?
Would they be more or less familiar with your cultural practices?
Culture (and cultural practices) varies over geographical space
o This variation may be slight or vast
Is there a distinct Canadian culture?
Or do we share a common culture with others?
How about Canadian vs American culture?
o Shared cultural traits
o Unique/different cultural traits
 mascots/majestic animal
One (or more) North American culture?
o American vs Canadian?
o Quebec, Mexican?
o Related to nations and nationality - part of our political geography
section of the course

Culture and Human Geography

Culture: the way of life of the members of a society
o Tied to the values, beliefs, lifestyles, etc
o The emergence & history of culture: civilization
o Consider sub-culture: the values, beliefs, lifestyle of a minority group
within society
Youth and/ or minority groups
An expression of resistance (or rebellion)
Cultural Geography: the study of cultural activities and phenomena
o 1. Spatial distribution
o 2. The hearth areas: the area from which the cultural activity emerges
or is most concentrated (eg. fireplace of a house)
o 3. The process of diffusion across space (eg. jeans)
Human Geography and Culture:
o 2 categories of culture: Material and Nonmaterial
Material Culture
Artifacts: all the tangible elements related to how people
live their lives
Non Material Culture: 2 Components
1. Mentifacts: key attitudinal elements/values (cant touch,
non tangible)
2. Sociofacts: norms involved in group formation
(manners, governing people what to do)

Cultural Regions and Landscapes

Cultural Region: an area with a degree of homogeneity in cultural
characteristics (similar landscapes)
o Spatial Scale Matters - the large the scale, the more generalized, the
harder to divide things, they merge together
o Regionalization: varies from one person to the next
o Eg. Quebec, Southern Ontario
Cultural Landscape: the outcome of interactions between people (societies)
and their environments the visible human imprint on the land (each region
modify their landscape according to their needs)
o Cultural landscapes reflect the human modifications of the land, ie.
urban and rural
Each culture imprints itself on the landscape in different ways: therefore, there
are many cultural landscapes
Cultural Adaptation: the adaptation (adjustment) by people and cultures, to
the challenges posed by the physical environment (to suit their needs)
o Evolution and adaptation of each culture
o Via cultural adaptation, each culture is unique
Summary/Conclusion
The nature of everyday cultural practices, and the spatial variations in culture
Culture and its material and non-material components
Cultural regions, cultural landscapes and the process of cultural adapation
Chapter 7 (229-241)