GEOGRAPHY IGCSE: POPULATION DENSITY AND DISTRIBUTION. It contains: factors influencing the density and distribution, case studies: Singapore and Sahel.

1. IGCSE GEOGRAPHY
4. POPULATION DENSITY
AND DISTRIBUTION
FACTORS INFLUENCING
THE DENSITY AND DISTRIBUTION
CASE STUDIES
SINGAPORE – DENSELY POPULATED
SAHEL – SPARSELY POPULATED

2. The way in which people are spread
across a given area is known as
population distribution.
Geographers study population
distribution patterns at different scales:
local, regional, national, and global.
Patterns of population distribution tend
to be uneven.
For example, in the UK there are more
people living in south-east England than
in Wales.

4. Population density = total population ÷ total land area in km²

5. The following map shows patterns of
population density on a global scale.

6. Areas of high and low population
density are unevenly spread across the
world.
The majority of places with high
population densities are found in the
northern hemisphere.
The population density of a country has
very little to do with its level of
economic development.
For example, both Bangladesh and Japan
are very densely populated, but
Bangladesh is a LEDC and Japan is a
MEDC.

7. Environmental and human factors
affect the spread of people across
the world.
Factors attracting settlement
Temperate climate - eg the UK.
Low-lying flat fertile land - eg the
Bangladesh Delta.
Good supplies of natural resources
- eg building resources.

8. Brahmaputra
River in India

9. Factors discouraging settlement
Extreme climates - eg Sahara Desert.
Mountainous or highland areas - eg the
Scottish Highlands.
Dense vegetation - eg the Amazon
Rainforest.

10. The Sahara Desert

11. Factors such as the availability of jobs
and comparatively high wages can
contribute to high population density
through migration.
For example, from 2004 the UK has seen
an influx of migrants from countries that
have recently joined the EU, such as
Poland.

12. Civil war, eg in the Darfur region of Sudan, can contribute to
lower population densities as people become refugees and
leave an area.

14. Singapore population: 5.2 million people
Land area: 710 sq km
Population density: 7300 people/ sq km
GDP per capita: $50.000
From these statistics, it is evident that
Singapore is already an extremely dense
country.
However, it is important not to forget that
Singapore, having an urbanisation rate of
100%, resembles more of a city rather than a
country, due to its small land area.

16. These 10 countries span over 7 million
square km and have close to 135 million
inhabitants.
Some of the larger countries that contain
extensive expanses of desert (Mali and
Niger) have low population densities of
fewer than 20 people per square km.
Other geographically smaller countries that
have access to the sea (such as Senegal)
have population densities of 50 people or
more per square km.
Landlocked Burkina Faso has a population
density of 65 people per square km.
Only Gambia has more than 150 people per
square km.