Human Geography: Population, Settlement, Economy and Development
What this domain tests
Human Geography tests your ability to interpret population data, explain migration and settlement patterns, classify economic activity, and evaluate development measures - usually through data-response questions using pyramids, choropleth maps, graphs and short case studies.
Core rules and concepts
- Population change = natural increase (CBR − CDR) plus or minus net migration. Always state which component you are discussing.
- Demographic Transition Model stages link to pyramid shape; the dependency ratio = (0–14 + 65+) ÷ working-age population × 100.
- Migration: push and pull factors, intervening obstacles, and the distinction between voluntary and forced, internal and international.
- Settlement: site (local physical advantages) versus situation (position relative to the wider area); hierarchy shown by population, service range and sphere of influence; threshold population explains why services appear or disappear.
- Urban models - Burgess concentric zone, Hoyt sector, Harris–Ullman multiple nuclei - are Western generalisations. Test them against Mediterranean walled historic cores, coastal tourist growth and apartment-block redevelopment.
- Economic structure: primary, secondary, tertiary, quaternary; Clark–Fisher shift. Malta's economy is service-dominated (tourism, financial and gaming services), with high import dependence.
Worked example
A pyramid has a wide base, a sharp narrowing in the 0–4 cohort and a bulge at 25–34. Interpretation: high birth rate, improving child survival (so the narrowing is recent, not mortality-driven), and recent in-migration of young adults. The dependency ratio is moderate now but school-place demand and future labour supply are the policy implications - not just 'the population is growing'.
Traps that cost marks
Describing the shape of a pyramid instead of interpreting it; ignoring migration when explaining change; asserting a DTM stage without evidence; treating urban models as universal facts rather than hypotheses.