This document discusses studying population through demography and geography. It defines key terms like population geography, demography, and explains why governments monitor population figures. Sources of demographic data are described, including censuses in developed countries and estimates in poorer nations. The structure of populations is analyzed using biological data like age and sex distributions in population pyramids. Natural population changes from births and deaths are quantified using rates like crude birth rate and death rate to measure population growth or decline.

1. UNIT 2. STUDYING
POPULATION
WHY IS IT NECESSARY TO STUDY
POPULATION?

2. 1. POPULATION GEOGRAPHY
 Population geography: it is a branch of
geography that studies the inhabitants of the
planet and their relationship to the physical
environment, analysing the evolution and
composition of the population and its spatial
distribution.
 To find out about the population, geography
uses a science called demography, which
deal with the quantitative and statistical
study of the population. For example, the
Birth or Death rate (in the world, in Spain…).

3. A) USES OF DEMOGRAPHY.
 Since ancient times, governments have
tried to monitor the number of inhabitants
in their territory to find out who has to pay
taxes or to make it easier to recruit soldiers.
For example, in ancient Rome censors
counted the population.
 In modern times, states have other reasons
to be interested in population figures, such as
planning for the cost of pensions or
forecasting how many places are needed in
schools and hospitals.

4. B) DEMOGRAPHIC SOURCES.
 Nowadays, developed countries count their
population using questionnaires, such as
census forms, which allow them to find out
accurate population figures, as well as
information about certain characteristics
(age, sex, occupation…).
 However, in the poorest countries, population
figures are based on estimates made by
governments and by other agencies, such as
United Nations, which allow them to know
approximately population figures.

5. C) DEMOGRAPHIC SOURCES IN SPAIN
 THE POPULATION CENSUS: an official document
published by the National Institute of Statistics
(Instituto Nacional de Estadística o INE). The
census takes place every 10 years, although the
data are updated continually.

6.  THE CIVIL REGISTRY: in this registry, the Ministry
of Justice records all births, deaths and marriages
that take place in the country. It is compulsory to
register these events.

7.  THE MUNICIPAL REGISTER: a document
prepared by municipalities which includes data
on age, sex, addresses, level of education and
economic activity of the inhabitants of a
municipality.

8.  Population geography is used to study population
from two different perspectives:
DEMOGRAPHY
STATIC
Characteristics of population at any given time
DISTRIBUTION STRUCTURE
BIOLOGICAL STRUCTURE:
age or sex
ECONOMIC
SITUATION
DINAMIC
Population´s evolution over time
NATURAL MOVEMENTS MIGRATORY MOVEMENTS

9. 2. THE ESTRUCTURE OF THE
POPULATION
A) BIOLOGICAL STRUCTURE OF THE POPULATION.
Is its composition according to age and sex.
 In terms of age, we can distinguish three groups:
◦ the child population (0-14 years old)
◦ the adult population (15-64 years old)
◦ the elderly population (aged 65 and older).
 According to sex, we can calculate the percentage of men
and women in the total population.

10.  If we want to study the biological structure of population,
we can use population pyramids. There are different
types of population pyramids:
TRIANGLE SHAPE
It reflects a very
young population.
High percentage of
the population under
14 years old.
Very small group of
elderly people.
Example: poor
countries in Africa.
BELL SHAPE
It reflects a young
population.
The group of elderly
people has increase
because the age of
death is higher.
Example: developing
countries (Brazil or
Argentina).
URN SHAPE
It reflects an ageing
population because
of fewer births.
Example: population
of Europe (image
below) or Spain and
developed countries
in general.
POPULATION PYRAMIDS
NOTE: as much EUROPE (740 millions inhabitants) as SPAIN (46.5 million
inhabitants, more women than men) have an urn shape pyramid of population.

11. B) Economic situation.
According to the economic structure, we can stabilising
two main population groups:
 Active population: people who are available for
work.
 Employed population: people who have a paid job.
 Unemployed population: people who are looking for a
job.
 Inactive population: people who do not do paid
work and are not seeking it (students ages over 16
and pensioners, for example).

12. 3. NATURAL MOVEMENTS
 THE BIRTH RATE (NATALIDAD): number of
births during one year. If we want to know
whether the birth rate is high or low, we have to
calculate the crude birth rate according to the
following formula:
 Note: birth rate are low in developed countries (have rates
lower than 20 ‰), whereas less developed countries have
rates with higher values (can be as high as 50 ‰).
 The crude birth rate in Europe are between 9 ‰ and 11 ‰.
In Spain, 9.17 ‰.

13.  THE DEATH RATE (MORTALIDAD). Is the
number of deaths during one year. If we want
to know whether the death rate of population
is high or low, we have to calculate the crude
death rate according to the following
formula:
 Note: developed countries have low death rates
(below 10 ‰), whereas in less developed
countries these rates are high (poor sanitary
conditions, hunger…). For example, in Spain the
crude death rate is 8.48 ‰.

14.  OTHER DEMOGRAPHIC INDICATORS
RELATED TO MORTALITY:
 The infant mortality rate:
In Spain 2.82 ‰
 Life expectancy: an estimated average expresses the
number of years that a person can generally expect to live
for from the moment of their birth. In general, women
have a higher life expectancy than men. Besides, in less
developed countries life expectancy is below 50, while in
developed countries it is about 80.
In Spain, life expectancy is 82.87 years.

15.  THE RATE OF NATURAL INCREASE.
 To calculate the rate of natural increase over a
period of time, this formula is used:
◦ There is a positive natural increase if the number of
births is higher than that of deaths → population is
growing.
◦ There is a negative natural increase if the number of
deaths is greater than births → number of inhabitants
decreases.
 Note: The rate of natural increase in the world is at 1.2 %,
indicating that the world population is continuing to grow.
However, the highest rates correspond to developing
countries.
In Spain, the natural increase is 0.06 %

16.  Currently, as you can see in the chart
below, it is calculated that the world
population exceeds 7.3 billion.
Billion= mil millones / Billón= un millón de millones