Population and Settlement Geography
Population and settlement geography studies where people live, how populations are composed and how settlements are arranged. The exam tests density calculations, pyramid interpretation, migration logic and settlement site and situation.
Core rules
- Arithmetic density = total population ÷ total area. Physiological density = population ÷ cultivated area. Agricultural density = agricultural population ÷ cultivated area.
- Population pyramids show age–sex structure; broad bases indicate high fertility, narrow tops indicate shorter life expectancy or ageing.
- Demographic transition moves from high birth and death rates, through falling death rates, to low birth and death rates.
- Migration is pushed by unemployment, disaster or conflict and pulled by jobs, services and safety; streams link rural–urban, urban–urban and international moves.
- Settlement patterns include compact, dispersed, linear and radial; site is the actual ground, situation is the regional setting.
Worked example
A district has 250,000 people, an area of 500 km² and 100 km² of cultivated land. Arithmetic density is 250,000 ÷ 500 = 500 persons per km². Physiological density is 250,000 ÷ 100 = 2,500 persons per km². The second figure is more revealing because it measures pressure on farmland; a high value warns of food and land scarcity even when total density looks moderate.
Traps
Keep the units as persons per km². Do not use total area for physiological density. Do not infer migration from a single pyramid without checking age and sex. Do not confuse a settlement pattern with a settlement type such as rural or urban.