Very Short Answer Type Questions
1. In what respects do different human beings differ?
Answer: Human beings differ from each other in age, sex, education, ethnicity, culture, physical and mental strength, etc.
2. With the help of figures, describe how population varies across continents.
Answer: Around 61% of the world’s population lives in Asia, 12% in Europe, 13% in Africa, 8% in Central/South America, 5% in North America and 1% in Oceania.
3. If 600 people live in your colony, and the area of your colony is 2 sq km, what is the population density of your colony?
Answer: If 600 people live in a 2 sq km area, on an average, 300 people live in 1 sq km. So density of population is 300 persons per sq km.
4. Compare the population density of the world with that of India.
Answer: The population density of the world is around 45 persons per sq km, whereas that of India is over 320 persons per sq km.
5. How does climate affect the population distribution of an area?
Answer: People prefer to live in regions with a moderate climate, and not places of extreme cold and hot climate. So moderate climate regions are densely populated.
6. What is life expectancy?
Answer: Life expectancy is the number of years an average person can expect to live, based on data.
7. What is the general trend of migrations from one country to another? Why is it so?
Answer: Generally, people migrate from less developed countries to more developed ones. This is done for better employment opportunities and other facilities.
8. What is an age-sex pyramid?
Answer: An age-sex pyramid is a graph showing the number of males and females under certain defined age groups.
9. Which of these countries is more densely populated: one with a small population in a large area, or one with a large population in a large area?
Answer: A country with a large population in a small area is more densely populated out of the two.
Short Answer Type Questions
1. Describe how various factors affect population distribution.
Answer: Topography, favourable climate, fertility of soils, availability of fresh water, minerals are major geographical factors affecting population density of a region.
People prefer to live on plains more than mountains or plateaus and they live more in moderate climates than extreme hot or cold. From the agriculture point of view, fertile lands are preferred. Areas with mineral deposits are more populated. Some social factors that boost the density of population in a region are better housing, education and health facilities. Places with cultural or historical significance are usually populated. Employment opportunities are another attraction for large chunks of population.
2. Describe how the population of the world has grown in history. What has caused the population explosion?
Answer: The world population grew steadily initially. It reached a billion in the year 1820. But the next two billion were added in just a hundred and fifty years. By 1970 the population was 3 billion. In the next 29 years, i.e. by the year 1999, the population had
doubled to 6 billion. The population explosion has been mainly caused by the growth in medical facilities, which has decreased the death rate by a large extent.
3. What are the factors affecting the population change in a region? [Imp.]
Answer: Factors affecting the population change in a region are birth rate, death rate and migrations. Birth rate is a statistic that measures the number of live births per 1000 people. Death rate is a statistic that measures the number of deaths per 1000 people. Along with birth and death rate, another factor affecting population change is migration. Migration refers to the movement of people from one area to another. People leaving a country are called emigrants and the phenomenon is called emigration. People arriving in a country are called immigrants and the phenomenon is called immigration.
Long Answer Type Questions
1. What is a population pyramid? What is its significance and what information can it give?
Answer: A population pyramid is a pictorial way to describe the population composition. An age-sex pyramid gives information about the distribution of different age groups of people based on gender. The shape of the age-sex pyramid of a country is indicative of a lot of information about the country. The size towards the bottom may be used to estimate the birth rate, while the size towards the top to estimate the death rate.
A population pyramid in which the base is broad and the top part is narrow means that although a large amount of births take place, not all grow up to be adults and old; it means many die before reaching these ages. This indicates a large death rate and Kenya shows such a pyramid. This means a high population growth rate.
In countries like India, the death rate is decreasing, so the pyramid is broad in the younger age groups, and the size of the pyramid decreases steadily.
