Fundamentals of Human Geography: Measuring, Classifying and Explaining Human Patterns
This domain covers the ideas that explain where people live, how populations change and are composed, how livelihoods are classified from primary to quaternary, and how settlements and transport organise space. The PSEB Senior Secondary paper tests definitions, measurement formulas, classifications with examples, and the interpretation of simple data.
Population: distribution and measurement
- Arithmetic density = total population ÷ total area. Physiological density = population ÷ cultivated area. Agricultural density = farm workers ÷ cultivated area. A country can have high arithmetic density but low physiological density if much land is desert or forest.
- Natural increase = births − deaths. Actual growth = natural increase + net migration (immigration − emigration).
- Doubling time ≈ 70 ÷ annual growth rate in per cent.
Composition and development
- Age–sex pyramid: broad base means high birth rates (expanding); near-vertical sides mean stable population; narrow base means declining fertility.
- Sex ratio is normally expressed as females per 1000 males.
- HDI combines longevity (life expectancy), knowledge (literacy and schooling) and standard of living (per capita income in PPP). Income alone is not human development.
Economic activities
- Primary activities draw directly from nature (farming, fishing, mining). Secondary activities transform raw materials (steel, textiles). Tertiary activities are services (trade, transport, teaching). Quaternary activities are knowledge-based (research, software).
Worked example
A country has 80 million people over 400,000 km², 2.4 million births, 0.8 million deaths and net migration of −0.2 million. Density = 80,000,000 ÷ 400,000 = 200 persons/km². Natural increase = 2.4 − 0.8 = 1.6 million. Actual growth = 1.6 + (−0.2) = 1.4 million, or 1.4 ÷ 80 × 100 = 1.75% per year.
Traps that cost marks
Forgetting to add net migration when asked for actual growth; mixing the three density types; treating HDI as an income measure; and confusing an expanding pyramid with a declining one.