Population Distribution

What Does Population Distribution Mean?

Population Distribution is the how people are spread out over an area.

In geography, we look at Population distribution to study how and where people live in Canada

Look at Geography Now, p88

Factors that Affect Population Distribution

1) Natural Resources• Things that can be used and/or sold for

money from nature• Examples include forests, mines and water2) History• What does this area look like? How long

has it been here? Is it safe?

Factors that Affect Population Distribution

3) Landforms• The way the earth is shaped that

makes it good or bad for people to live there

• Ex. Mountains, hills, lakes, etc.4) Soils• Is the land good for farming? Can I

grow crops here?

Factors that Affect Population Distribution

4) Economic Activities• What kind of industry or business is

here? Can I get a job?• Does the area have the services

that I need (stores, doctors, etc.)5) Transportation• How easy is it to get to this area? • Can I get from place to place easily?

Population Density

POPULATION DENSITY is how many people there are in an area.

We look at this by looking at how many people there are for every square kilometer (an area of 1kmX1km)

Population Density changes very much from country to country

There is a big difference in population density between one province in Canada and another

Percentage Change

PERCENTAGE CHANGE is the amount that a population has changed in a period of time

Look at p54 of your worksheets We can calculate how much the

population has changed so we can see how our country is changing

Percentage Change

Calculating Percentage Change is quite simple. Here is how we do it:

Year One Pop. – Year Two Pop. X 100 Year One Pop

Let’s find the change from 1991 to 2005 in Ontario.

Percentage Change

(pop 1991- pop 2005) = Change10 428 000 – 12 541 000 = 2 113 000

2 113 000 ÷ 10 428 000 x 100 = 20.3%

Calculating Population Density

Population Density is calucluated as people per square km.

Pop density= population ÷ areaFor Newfoundland…516 000 ÷ 405 000 = 1.3 people/km2