BSEH SS Geography key terms

The number of people living per unit area, usually expressed as persons per square kilometre, obtained by dividing total population by total land area of a region.

Total population of an area divided by its total surface area, ignoring whether land is cultivated, desert, forest or urban, so it gives only a rough crowding measure.

Total population divided by the area of cultivable land only, showing how many people each hectare of farmland must support; high values signal pressure on arable land.

The number of farmers or agricultural workers per unit of cultivated land, used to judge how labour-intensive farming is and whether farms are overcrowded with workers.

The pattern in which people are spread across a territory, ranging from dense river plains and coastal belts to sparse deserts, mountains and forests.

The number of females per 1,000 males in a population; in Indian census data a value below 1,000 indicates a female deficit.

The number of girls aged 0-6 years per 1,000 boys of the same age group, used as an indicator of son preference and discrimination before and after birth.

A paired bar graph with age groups on the vertical axis and male and female numbers on either side, revealing whether a population is young, ageing, or affected by migration.

The number of persons aged below 15 and above 64 per 100 persons aged 15-64, showing how many non-working people each working-age person supports.

The economic advantage a country gains when a large share of its population is of working age and the dependency burden is low, provided enough jobs exist.

The historical shift of a population from high birth and death rates, through a phase of rapid growth, to low birth and death rates and slow growth.

The number of live births per 1,000 persons in a population during a given year, a basic measure of natural fertility.

The number of deaths per 1,000 persons in a population during a given year, reflecting health conditions, nutrition and age structure.

The surplus of births over deaths in a population in a year, expressed as a rate per 1,000; it excludes change caused by migration.

The number of deaths of children under one year of age per 1,000 live births in a year, widely used as a sensitive index of health and living standards.

The average number of years a person is expected to live if current age-specific death rates continue unchanged throughout life.

The movement of people from one place to another for residence, either within a country or across national borders, for work, marriage, education or better living conditions.

Conditions that drive people away from a place, such as unemployment or drought, and conditions that attract them elsewhere, such as jobs or better services.

Movement of people from villages to towns and cities, usually for employment, education or services, and a major cause of rapid urban growth in developing countries.

The rising share of a country's population living in towns and cities, together with the growth and spread of urban land uses and ways of life.

A continuous urban spread made of a core city together with its adjoining towns and outgrowths, treated as one unit for demographic and planning purposes.

An extensive urban region formed when several originally separate towns expand and merge physically, yet may retain distinct local administrations.

A settlement that is not a statutory town but is treated as urban because it has a minimum population, high density and at least three-quarters of male workers outside agriculture.

A composite index combining life expectancy, education (mean and expected years of schooling) and gross national income per capita to rank countries' human development.

The percentage of persons aged seven years and above in a population who can read and write with understanding.

The distribution of a population's workers among primary, secondary and tertiary activities, indicating how advanced or agrarian an economy is.

An economic activity that directly draws products from nature, such as farming, fishing, forestry and mining, and which dominates agrarian economies.

An economic activity that transforms raw materials into finished or semi-finished goods, including manufacturing, processing and construction.

An economic activity that provides services rather than goods, such as transport, trade, banking, education, health care and administration.

A knowledge-based service activity involving collection, processing and interpretation of information, such as research, consultancy, computing and financial analysis.

An industry whose location is not tied to raw material sources because inputs are light and transport costs low, so it can settle wherever labour and markets suit.

The siting of a factory or industry at a particular place, influenced by access to raw materials, power, transport, labour, capital, markets and government policy.

The number of crops raised on the same field in one agricultural year, expressed as a percentage of the net sown area; higher values indicate more intensive land use.

The total area sown with crops once in an agricultural year, counted only once even if the same field is sown more than once.

The maximum population that a given area can support at a reasonable standard of living with available resources and technology, without damaging the environment.

Development that meets the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.

A large-scale map showing relief by contours, together with rivers, settlements, transport and land use, used to interpret terrain and human occupancy of an area.

A line on a map joining points of equal elevation above sea level; the spacing of contours shows slope, and closed loops show hills or depressions.

A surveyed altitude value printed as a dot with a number at a specific point on a topographic map, giving exact elevation at that location.

The ratio between a distance measured on a map and the corresponding distance on the ground, stated as a representative fraction, a verbal statement or a graphic bar.

A map with a small representative fraction denominator, such as 1:50,000, that covers a small area but shows detail such as individual buildings and field boundaries.

A set of easting and northing numbers read from the grid lines of a map that locates a feature to a precise square on that sheet.

The ratio of a cross-section's vertical scale to its horizontal scale; a value above one means hills appear steeper on the drawn profile than in reality.

A profile drawn along a straight line on a map, plotting distance horizontally and elevation vertically to reveal the shape of the land along that line.

A diagram in which lines or arrows of proportional width show the movement of people, goods or traffic between places, used to display interaction and volume.

A thematic map in which administrative units are shaded or patterned in graded tones according to the value of a variable, such as density or literacy.

A map on which lines connect points of equal value, such as rainfall or temperature, allowing continuous patterns to be read across an area.

A map designed to show the distribution of one particular attribute, such as crop production, population density or rainfall, rather than general physical features.

Three measures of central tendency: the arithmetic average, the middle value of ordered data, and the most frequently occurring value in a set.

A measure of how far values in a data set spread from their mean, calculated from squared deviations; a large value indicates high variability.

A graph plotting paired values of two variables as points, used to see whether a relationship exists and whether it is positive or negative.

The statistical relationship between two variables, expressed by a coefficient between minus one and plus one that shows direction and strength of association.