Patterns of population and economic development
● Physical and human factors affecting population distribution at the global scale
Population distribution: the way people are spread across the surface of the earth
○ Human factors
■ Agriculture → food accessibility/crop yields attract people
■ Manufacturing → provides employment
■ Communication infrastructure → transportation, social media, globalisation
■ Political factors → development, conflict, immigration encouragement
○ Physical factors
■ Landforms, soil, climate, vegetation, pets and natural resources
○ World’s population distribution is uneven and changing (78% live in the northern
hemisphere, 50% live on 5% of land)
● Global patterns and classification of economic development:
○ Low income countries: focused in Africa, slow development, lack of infrastructure, US$
1025 and under
○ Middle income countries and emerging economies: US$ 1026-12475, restructuring the
economy through expansion of manufacturing and service sectors, focused on Asia, upper
south america
○ High income countries: focused on Australia, North America, Europe
○ HDI
■ high HDI concentrated in north america, europe, australasia
■ uses adult literacy rate, life expectancy, GDP per capita
○ PGLI (physical quality of life index)
■ uses adult literacy rate, life expectancy, infant mortality rate
○ MPI (multidimensional poverty index)
■ Health, educatoni, living standards
○ Quantitative index: GDP, GNP, GNI → can’t measure happiness, distribution of wealth,
excludes informal sectors
■ GNP (Purchasing power parity) : not affected by exchange rates or inflation
● Population distribution and economic development at the national scale, including voluntary
internal migration, core-periphery patterns and megacity growth
○ Internal factors affecting economic development
■ Infrastructure and transportation, political systems, availability of natural
resources, internal capital reformation, rapid population growth
○ External factors
■ Culture contact (colonisation allows countries to benefit from infrastructure but
not from cheap exports), trade, financial aid
■ Transnational companies
● Advantage, technological advancement: introducing new but labour
intensive (resource endowment)
, ● Disadvantage, new-colonialism: economically developed countries
oppressing the less developed by tax and overdeveloped technology
○ Voluntary internal migration: comes from a person's choice to relocate to an opportunity
○ Megacity growth: un urban area that has at least 10 million people
■ Consequences: crime rates, homelessness, slums, traffic, urban sprawl (city
spreads horizontally across large distances to cover more land), pollution (visual,
air, noise), burden on government budget
■ Recent future of world urbanisation
■ Megacities are glorified but has a huge wealth gap
○ Core-periphery patterns
● Two detailed and contrasting examples of uneven population distribution
○ China - internal rural-urban migration leading to uneven distribution
○ Push factors
■ oversupply of farmers, lack of education and employment, infrastructure
○ Pull factors
■ longer life expectancy, less children are malnourished, high literacy rate, high
income, employment opportunities, ownership of cars
○ Densely populated: north-east (manufacturing, rich mineral resources), central eastern
(fertile land with river), south east (manufacturing, fertile soil) China
○ Sparsely population: north-west (lack of resources), south-west (mountainous) China
○ Papua New Guinea - internal rural-urban migration
○ Push factors
■ Increased population and pressure on land
■ Avoidance of traditional obligations
● Physical and human factors affecting population distribution at the global scale
Population distribution: the way people are spread across the surface of the earth
○ Human factors
■ Agriculture → food accessibility/crop yields attract people
■ Manufacturing → provides employment
■ Communication infrastructure → transportation, social media, globalisation
■ Political factors → development, conflict, immigration encouragement
○ Physical factors
■ Landforms, soil, climate, vegetation, pets and natural resources
○ World’s population distribution is uneven and changing (78% live in the northern
hemisphere, 50% live on 5% of land)
● Global patterns and classification of economic development:
○ Low income countries: focused in Africa, slow development, lack of infrastructure, US$
1025 and under
○ Middle income countries and emerging economies: US$ 1026-12475, restructuring the
economy through expansion of manufacturing and service sectors, focused on Asia, upper
south america
○ High income countries: focused on Australia, North America, Europe
○ HDI
■ high HDI concentrated in north america, europe, australasia
■ uses adult literacy rate, life expectancy, GDP per capita
○ PGLI (physical quality of life index)
■ uses adult literacy rate, life expectancy, infant mortality rate
○ MPI (multidimensional poverty index)
■ Health, educatoni, living standards
○ Quantitative index: GDP, GNP, GNI → can’t measure happiness, distribution of wealth,
excludes informal sectors
■ GNP (Purchasing power parity) : not affected by exchange rates or inflation
● Population distribution and economic development at the national scale, including voluntary
internal migration, core-periphery patterns and megacity growth
○ Internal factors affecting economic development
■ Infrastructure and transportation, political systems, availability of natural
resources, internal capital reformation, rapid population growth
○ External factors
■ Culture contact (colonisation allows countries to benefit from infrastructure but
not from cheap exports), trade, financial aid
■ Transnational companies
● Advantage, technological advancement: introducing new but labour
intensive (resource endowment)
, ● Disadvantage, new-colonialism: economically developed countries
oppressing the less developed by tax and overdeveloped technology
○ Voluntary internal migration: comes from a person's choice to relocate to an opportunity
○ Megacity growth: un urban area that has at least 10 million people
■ Consequences: crime rates, homelessness, slums, traffic, urban sprawl (city
spreads horizontally across large distances to cover more land), pollution (visual,
air, noise), burden on government budget
■ Recent future of world urbanisation
■ Megacities are glorified but has a huge wealth gap
○ Core-periphery patterns
● Two detailed and contrasting examples of uneven population distribution
○ China - internal rural-urban migration leading to uneven distribution
○ Push factors
■ oversupply of farmers, lack of education and employment, infrastructure
○ Pull factors
■ longer life expectancy, less children are malnourished, high literacy rate, high
income, employment opportunities, ownership of cars
○ Densely populated: north-east (manufacturing, rich mineral resources), central eastern
(fertile land with river), south east (manufacturing, fertile soil) China
○ Sparsely population: north-west (lack of resources), south-west (mountainous) China
○ Papua New Guinea - internal rural-urban migration
○ Push factors
■ Increased population and pressure on land
■ Avoidance of traditional obligations
