Chapter 2 – The World Population (Distribution, Density and Growth) Questions and Answers: NCERT Solutions for Class 12 Geography: (Fundamentals of Human Geography)

1. Choose the right answer from the four alternatives given below:
(i)
Which one of the following continents has the highest growth of population?
(a) Africa
(b) South America
(c) Asia
(d) North America

Answer:
(a) Africa

(ii)
Which one of the following is not an area of sparse population?
(a) The Atacama
(b) Equatorial region
(c) South-east Asia
(d) Polar regions

Answer:
(c) South-east Asia

(iii)
Which one of the following is not a push factor?
(a) Water shortage
(b) Medical/educational facilities
(c) Unemployment
(d) Epidemics

Answer:
(d) Epidemics

(iv)
Which one of the following is not a fact?
(a) Human population increased more than ten times during the past 500 years.
(b) It took 100 years for the population to rise from 5 billion to 6 billion
(c) Population growth is high in the first stage of demographic transition.

Answer:
(c) Population growth is high in the first stage of demographic transition.

2. Answer the following questions in about 30 words:
(i)
Name three geographical factors that influence the distribution of population:

Answer:
Availability of water: It is the most important factor of life. People prefer to live in areas where fresh water is readily available. Water is essential in development of agriculture and carrying out day-to-day activities.
Land forms: People prefer to live in flat plains and gentle slopes as they are favorable for the production of crops and in building roads and industries.
Climate: People prefer living in areas that do not have extreme climatic conditions that is areas that do not have high diurnal and annual range of temperature and also which have adequate rainfall.
Soils: Fertile soils are important for agricultural and allied activities. Therefore, areas which have fertile loamy soils, have more people living on them as they can support intensive agriculture.

(ii)
There are a number of areas of high population density in the world. Why does this happen?

Answer:
The areas with high population density across the world have at least one or usually multiple factors favorable for the settlement of population. Wherever people found conducive conditions for living, they have been settling there. With passage of time and growth of population, these areas became regions of thick population density. For example, the regions with availability of water, good climate, presence of minerals and other resources, of religious or cultural significance became regions of thick population. Example: Ganga-Yamuna Doab, Mediterranean regions.

(iii)
What are the three components of population change?

Answer:
The three components of population change are:
Crude Birth Rate (CBR): It is expressed as number of live births in a year per thousand of population in a particular region.
Crude Death Rate (CDR): It is the number of deaths in a place per thousand of population in a particular region. CBR and CDR are natural factors of population growth. They result in natural population growth, which is equal to the difference between CBR and CDR.
Migration: It is the induced factor in population growth. It is the number of people moving in and out of a place due to various social, economic and political reasons. It is taken into account while calculating actual growth of population.

3. Distinguish between:
(i)
Distinguish between Birth rate and Death rate:

Birth Rate	Death Rate
It is the number of live births per thousand of population during a year for a particular region	It is the number of deaths per thousand of population during a year for a particular region
It is calculated using the following formula: CBR = Bi/P xlOOO Here, CBR = crude birth rate, Bi = Number of live births in a year, P = the estimated midyear population of that year.	It is calculated using the following formula: CDR= D/P xlOOO Here, CDR = crude death rate, D = Number of deaths in a year, P = the estimated midyear population of that year
If birth rate is more than death rate, it results in positive growth of population.	If death rate is more than birth rate it results in negative growth of population.

(ii)
Distinguish between Push factors and pull factors of migration:

Push factors	Pull factors
These factors are the ones which makes a place less attractive for human settlement.	These factors are the ones which makes a place an attractive destination for settlement.
These factors forces people to move out- hence face emigration.	These factors force inflow of people – hence face immigration.
Examples: Unemployment, poor living conditions, political turmoil, unpleasant climate, natural disasters, epidemics and socio-economic backwardness.	Examples: Better job opportunities, better living conditions, peace and stability, security of life and property and pleasant climate.

4. Answer the following questions in about 150 words:
(i)
Discuss the factors influencing the distribution and density of population in the world.

Answer:
The factors influencing the distribution and density of population in the world may be classified into three broad categories, which may again be sub divided into minor factors. They are enumerated below:
Geographical factors:
Availability of water: It is the most important factor of life. People prefer to live in areas where fresh water is readily available. Water is essential for development of agriculture and carrying out day to day activities.
Land forms: People prefer to live in flat plains and gentle slopes as they are favorable for the production of crops and in building roads and industries. The mountainous and uneven terrain offers obstacles in infrastructure development activities that hamper human development hence are less populated. Eg. Himalayan region’s in India.
Climate: People prefer living in areas that do not have extreme climatic conditions that is areas that do not have high diurnal and annual range of temperature and also which have adequate rainfall. Eg. Mediterranean regions.
Soils: Fertile soils are important for agricultural and allied activities. Therefore areas which have fertile loamy soils, have more people living on them as these can support intensive agriculture. Eg. Northern plains.
Economic factors:
Minerals: Areas rich in minerals attract industries. Mining and allied activities generate employment. Skilled and semi skilled workers move to these areas and make them densely populated. Eg. Katanga Zambia copper belt in Africa.
Industrialization: Industrial belts provide job opportunities and attract large numbers of people. These include not only factory workers but also transport operators, shopkeepers, doctors and other professionals.
Example; The Kobe- Osaka industrial region of Japan.
Urbanization: Better employment opportunities, educational and medical facilities, better means of transport and communication attract people to cities. It leads to rural-urban migration and hence cities grow in size. Eg. a large number of people move to cities like .Delhi, Mumbai, etc. and hence make them densely populated.
Social and cultural factors: Some places attract more people because they have religious or cultural significance. In the same way, people tend to move away from places where there is social and political unrest. Example; emigration of people from civil war affected areas of Africa. Many a times government offers incentives to people to live in sparsely populated areas. Example; Indira Gandhi canal colonies.

(ii)
Discuss the three stages of demographic transition.

Answer:
Demographic transition theory can be used to describe and predict the future population of any area. The theory tells us that the population of any region changes from high births and high deaths to low births and low deaths as a society progresses from rural, agrarian and illiterate to urban, industrial and literate society. These changes occur in stages, which are collectively known as the demographic cycle.
The first stage has high fertility and high mortality rates because people reproduce more to compensate for the deaths due to epidemics and variable food supply. Population growth is slow and most people are engaged in agriculture where large families are an asset. Life expectancy is low; people are mostly illiterate and have low levels of technology. Two hundred years ago all the countries were in this stage.
In the second stage, fertility remains high in the beginning, but it declines with time. This is accompanied by reduced mortality rate. Improvements in sanitation and health conditions lead to decline in mortality. Because of this gap the net addition to population is high. This results in population explosion. Eg. Countries like India.
In the last stage, both fertility and mortality decline considerably. The population is either stable or grows slowly. The population becomes urbanized, literate and has high technical know how and deliberately controls the family size. Some countries even face negative growth of population, E.g., many Western European countries.
Map Skill:

(iii)
On an outline map of the world name the following:
(a) Countries of Europe and Asia with negative growth rate of population.
(b) African countries with growth rate of population more than three per cent.

Answer:

Europe: Estonia, Croatia, Romania, Bulgaria etc. Asia : Japan, Armenia, etc.
Angola, Niger, Guinea, etc.

Very Short Answer Type Questions

Question 1.
What was world’s population at the beginning of the 21st century?

Answer:
The world at the beginning of the 21st century recorded the presence of over 6 billion people.

Question 2.
What did George B Cressey say about Asia’s population distribution?

Answer:
George B Cressey said that ‘Asia has many places where people are few and few places where people are many’.

Question 3.
60% of world’s population is contributed by how many countries? How many of them are in Asia?

Answer:
60% of world’s population is contributed by 10 countries. 6 of them are in Asia.

Question 4.
What is population density?

Answer:
Population density is the ratio between the number of people and the size of the land.

Question 5.
Which areas in the world have > 200 persons per sq. km?

Answer:
NE USA, NW Europe, South, South east and East Asia.

Question 6.
Name two areas with <1 person/sq. km.

Answer:
North and South Poles and hot and cold deserts of the world.

Question 7.
Name two countries with medium density of population.

Answer:
Norway and Sweden.

Question 8.
Why do people migrate?

Answer:
People migrate for ^/better economic and social life.

Question 9.
What was the population of the world around 8000 – 12000 years back?

Answer:
Roughly 8 million was the population of the world around 8000-12000 years back.

Question 10.
How long did the world take to increase its population from 5 billion to 6 billion?

Answer:
It took 12 years to increase the world’s population from 5 billion to 6 billion.

Question 11.
What is population doubling time?

Answer:
Time takes for a region to double it’s population at the current growth rate.

Question 12.
Which country has the highest and lowest growth rate of population respectively?

Answer:
Liberia has the highest growth rate of population (8.2%).
Latvia has the lowest growth rate of population (-1.5%).

Question 13.
What is the correlation between population growth and economic development?

Answer:
There is a negative correlation between population growth and economic development.

Question 14.
Which is the most serious problem of population growth?

Answer:
Depletion of resources is the most serious problem of population’ growth.

Question 15.
What is the world’s and India’s doubling time of population?

Answer:
World : 37 Years and India : 36 years.

Question 16.
Name a country each from the different stages of demographic transition.

Answer:
1st stage : Bangladesh 2nd stage : Sri Lanka 3rd stage : USA

Question 17.
What is meant by family planning?

Answer:
Family planning is the spacing or preventing the birth of children.

Question 18.
What do you mean by the term ‘population distribution?

Answer:
Population distribution refers to the way people are spaced over the earth’s surface. Patterns of population distribution and density help us to understand the demographic characteristics of any area.

Question 19.
Mention the names of areas where density of population is very low.

Answer:
Hot Deserts — Sahara, Kalahari, Atacama and West Australia.
Extremely Cold Areas—Northern Part of Canada, Greenland and Northern Part of Siberia.
Cold Deserts — Areas of Central Asia.
Equatorial Region — Amazon basin of South America and Zaire basin of Africa.

Question 20.
What is the impact of migration?

Answer:
Migration changes the size of population of an area by either addition (due to immigration) or subtraction (due to emigration) in the number of people.