Factors Influencing Distribution (College Board AP® Human Geography)

Summary

This unit addresses changes in populations over time. It looks at how and why populations change in composition over time, as well as why groups and individuals move and settle where they do.

Physical & Human Factors Affecting Population Distribution

• Population distribution refers to the spatial distribution of people on Earth’s surface

• Population density measures the number of people living in a particular area

  • This is typically expressed as the number of people per square mile or the number of people per square kilometre

• Demography is the study of population characteristics

  • Examples include age, sex ratio, size, birth rate, and death rate

• People are distributed unevenly across the Earth’s surface

• There are both physical and human factors that influence the distribution of the population
  

• People tend to:

  • live in areas which are hospitable, such as river valleys, near fertile agricultural land, along the coast, in temperate climates, and at low elevation

  • avoid areas that are too dry, wet, cold, or at high elevations

  • live in areas with access to social goods and services, such as education, health care, and entertainment

  • live where human societies have historically been sustainable

• Ecumene refers to the portion of the Earth’s surface occupied by permanent human settlement 

Factors Illustrating Patterns of Population Distribution

• As the scale of analysis changes, the relevance of certain factors affecting population distribution also changes:

  • For example, most people within a country might live near the coast. However, the majority of people in a particular city within that country might live away from the coast

  • Similarly, the majority of people at a national scale of analysis may live in cities; but in a particular region within the country, most people might live in rural areas