CHS World Studies 2014-15

Unit 2 Population & Migration Vocabulary

Population
Age distribution: the number of persons in a country or region organized by
age. (Shown in population pyramids)
Age Structure: distribution of ages of individuals of a population.
Population Composition: refers to the demographic makeup of persons
within a geographic area. (used in projecting the incidence of disease and
death)
Carrying capacity: the largest number of people that the environment of a
particular area can support. (the carrying capacity of cities such as NYC)
Challenges of highly-concentrated populations in certain areas of the
world:
Poverty
Sustainability
Unemployment
Space availability
Child Mortality Rate: under 5 mortality rate; probability of a child born in a
specific year dying before reaching the age of five. (countries are working
towards decreasing the child mortality rates with the help of advancements in
technology and development)
Cohort: a population group thats distinguished by a certain characteristic.
Crude Birth Rate: number of live births occurring among the population of a
given geographical area during a given year, per 1,000 mid-year total
population of the given geographical area during the same year.
Crude Death Rate: number of deaths occurring among the population of a
given geographical area during a given year, per 1,000 mid-year population of a
given geographical area during the same year.
Demographic equation: a mathematical determination for changes in the
population. (Use for recording deaths, births, immigration, emigration)
Demographic momentum: the tendency for growing population to continue
growing after a fertility decline because one this happens a country moves to a
different stage in the demographic transition model. (European countries)
Demographic Transition model: model that shows the transition to high birth
and death rates to low birth and death rates as a country develops from a preindustrial to an industrialized economic system.
Stage I: high fluctuation, high birth rates and death rates, low population
growth.
Stage II: high birth rate but falling death rate. The total population begins to
expand rapidly.
Stage III: falling birth rate, continuing falling death rate. The population growth
slows down.
Stage IV: low fluctuating, low birth rate and death rate. The population growth is
small, and fertility continues to fall. There are changes in personal lifestyles, and
more women are in the work force, therefore less couples having kids.
Stage V: death rate slightly exceeds the birth rate, this causes the population to
decline.
Dependency ratio: measure showing the number of dependents to the total
population.

CHS World Studies 2014-15

Unit 2 Population & Migration Vocabulary

Doubling time: period of time required for a quantity to double in size.

formula, consequences
Ecumene: inhabited land.
Expansive policy: policy to increase the population.
Restrictive policy: policy to limit the increase in population. (One Child Policy
in China)
Infant mortality rate: estimate of the number of infant deaths per live 1000
births.
J-curve: population projection shows exponential growth as the shape of a J.
Location and Characteristics of major population clusters
China, Japan, Europe, East Coast United States
Highly urbanized
Large cities, lots of businesses and corporations
Location and characteristics of emerging population clusters
North East US, SE Canada, West Africa
Usually near cities and water
Locations of high and low
Total Fertility Rate (TFR)
High- Niger
Low-Singapore
Crude Birth Rate (CBR)
High-Niger
Low-Monaco
Crude Death Rate (CDR)
High-South Africa
Low-Qatar
Natural Increase Rate (NIR)
Indicators of Development
Economic: Gross Domestic Product total value of goods and services
produced by a country a year. Gross National Product measures the total
economic output of a country, including earning from foreign investments.
Health: lower death rates, infant/child mortality rates, increased access to
healthcare and technology.
Demographic: life expectancy, literacy, infant mortality rates, standard of
living, human development index.
Social: child labor numbers, number of refugees, asylum seeker numbers,
gender issues, jobs.
Malthus, Thomas: He believed that the human ability to multiply far exceeds
our ability to increase food production. He maintained that "a strong and
constantly operating check on population" will necessarily act as a natural
control on numbers. He regarded famine, disease, and war as the inevitable
outcome of the human population's outstripping the food supply.
Natality
Anti-natalist policies: policies opposing birth and the value of it. (China is a
anti natalist country)
vs. Pro-natalist policies: policy or practice of encouraging the bearing of
children. (France is a pro natalist country)

CHS World Studies 2014-15

Unit 2 Population & Migration Vocabulary

Neo-Malthusian: people with the same basic concerns as Malthus, who

advocate for population control programs, to ensure resources for current and
future populations.
Overpopulation: function of the number of individuals compared to the
relevant resources, such as water and essential nutrients they need to survive. It
can results from increase in births, a decline in mortality rates, and increase in
immigration, or unsustainable biome and depletion of resources.
Population Density - Agricultural, Arithmetic, Physiological
Population distributions: the arrangement or spread of people living in a
given area. How the population of an area is arranged according to variables
such as age, race, or sex.
Population projection: estimate of the future population of a region or
country.
Population pyramid: age pyramid or age picture diagram showing the
distribution of population of a country or region.
Rate of natural increase: the percentage growth of a population in a year,
computed as the CBR minus the CDR.
S-curve: traces the cyclical movement upwards and downwards in the graph,
shape of S
Sex ratio: male to female ratio in a country or region
Zero population growth: when the total fertility rate is at 2.1 which is a
stabilized population, one that does not increase or decrease.
Migration
Activity space: space within which daily activity occurs (everyone has their
own activity space depending on their stage in life)
Asylum: protection granted by a nation to someone who has left their native
country as a political refugee.
Brain Drain: emigration of highly trained or intelligent people from a particular
country.
Chain Migration: refers to the endless chains of foreign nationals who are
allowed to immigrate because citizens and lawful permanent residents are
allowed to bring their non-nuclear family members.
Colonization: act of setting up a colony away from ones place of origin.
Distance decay: geographical term which describes the effect of distance on
cultural or spatial interactions.
Forced migration: refers to coerced movements of a person or persons away
from their home or home region. (war refugees)
Gravity model: model of urban geography derived from Newtons law of
gravity, and used to predict the degree of interaction between two places.
Guest Worker: a person with temporary permission to work in another country.
Internal migration: human migration usually within a nation. (moving state to
state in the united states)
Internally displaced person (IDP): someone who is forced to flee his or her home
but who remains within his or her countrys borders. (referred to as refugees)
Intervening opportunity: theory that attempts to describe the likelihood of
migration. Influenced most by opportunities to settle.
Migration patterns

CHS World Studies 2014-15

Unit 2 Population & Migration Vocabulary

Intercontinental: traveling between continents

Interregional: traveling between regions
Rural-urban: traveling from rural areas to urban areas, usually within same
nation, region, area.
Push-pull factors:
Push factors: war, no job opportunities, and political corruption
Pull factors: job opportunities, climate, and government policies
Ravensteins 5 Laws of Migration
1. Most migrants move only a short distance, and then typically to major cities.
2. Rapidly growing cities are populated by migrants from nearby rural areas; in
turn, the gaps left in the rural population are filled by migrants from more
distant areas.
3. The process of dispersion is the inverse of the process of absorption and
exhibits similar features.
4. Each main current of migration produces a compensating counter current.
5. Long-distance migrants tend to move to major cities.
6. Rural people have a higher propensity to migrate than urban people.
7. Women have a higher propensity to migrate than men
Refugee: a person who has been forced to leave their country in order to
escape war, persecution, or natural disaster. (middle eastern refugees)
Remittances: sum of money sent, especially by mail, in payment for goods or
services or as a gift.
Step migration: A series of shorter, less extreme migrations from a person's
place of origin to final destinationsuch as moving from a farm, to a village, to a
town, and finally to a city.
Voluntary migration: choosing to move or migrate.