Population, Settlement and Migration
Population measures
Population density is people divided by area in km². Distribution describes where people live; density is a number. Natural increase is birth rate minus death rate per 1,000. Growth rate includes net migration. Malawi's 2018 census recorded about 17.6 million people, a young population with a broad-based pyramid and a high dependency ratio.
The demographic transition
Stage 1 has high birth and death rates; Stage 2 has falling death rates and rapid growth; Stage 3 has falling birth rates; Stage 4 has low rates of both. Malawi is in late Stage 2 or early Stage 3.
Migration and settlement
Push factors include land shortage, unemployment and drought; pull factors include jobs, schools and safety. Rural–urban migration feeds informal settlements. Settlement patterns are nucleated (villages near water), dispersed (scattered farms) and linear (along roads). Site and situation explain why a settlement grew where it did.
Worked example
A country has birth rate 38/1,000, death rate 12/1,000, immigration 3/1,000 and emigration 1/1,000. Natural increase is 26/1,000, or 2.6%. Net migration is +2/1,000. Growth rate is 28/1,000, or 2.8%. Each step must be shown separately.
Traps
Confusing density with distribution; using total population instead of rates; treating natural increase as the growth rate; misreading pyramid axes; ignoring the sign of net migration.