Key Points

The world population is unevenly distributed, with about 90 percent of people living in 10 percent of its land area. The 10 most populous countries account for about 60 percent of the world's population.

Population density is the ratio between the number of people and the size of the land, usually measured in persons per square kilometer. The formula is Population divided by Area.

Key geographical factors that attract population include the availability of water, flat landforms like plains, a comfortable climate with minimal variation, and fertile soils suitable for agriculture.

Economic factors like areas with mineral deposits, urbanization offering better employment and facilities, and industrial belts providing jobs are major drivers of population concentration.

Places with religious or cultural significance tend to attract more people. Conversely, people often move away from areas experiencing social and political unrest.

Population growth, or population change, refers to the change in the number of inhabitants of a territory during a specific period of time. This change can be positive or negative.

Natural growth is the population increase from the difference between births and deaths. Actual growth is calculated as (Births - Deaths) + (In-migration - Out-migration).

There are three primary components of population change: births (fertility), deaths (mortality), and migration.

The Crude Birth Rate (CBR) is the number of live births in a year per thousand people. The Crude Death Rate (CDR) is the number of deaths in a year per thousand people.

Migration is the movement of people from a Place of Origin to a Place of Destination. Immigrants are people moving into a new place, while emigrants are people moving out of a place.

Push factors are reasons that make people leave a place, like unemployment or natural disasters. Pull factors attract people to a destination, such as better job opportunities and political stability.

This theory describes how a population transitions from high birth and death rates to low birth and death rates as a society develops from a rural agrarian to an urban industrial one.

The first stage has high fertility and high mortality, leading to slow population growth. Society is typically agrarian with low life expectancy and limited technology.

In the second stage, fertility remains high but mortality declines due to better sanitation and health. This gap causes a rapid increase in population, known as a population explosion.

The final stage is characterized by low fertility and low mortality. The population becomes stable or grows slowly in an urbanized, literate, and technologically advanced society.

In his 1798 theory, Thomas Malthus stated that population would increase faster than the food supply. He warned this would result in a population crash from famine, disease, and war.

Family planning, which involves spacing or preventing births, is a key measure for population control. Methods include propaganda, free availability of contraceptives, and tax disincentives for large families.