Population Geography: Definition and

Development

By
Md. Humayun Kabir, PhD
Professor
Department of Geography and Environment
University of Dhaka
 Definition of Population Geography

•Population geography as an independent sub-field of

human geography is a comparatively recent
phenomenon. In the expression ‘population
geography’, the term ‘population’ signifies the subject
matter and ‘geography’ refers to the perspective
of investigation. Thus, population geography
can be interpreted as the study of population in
spatial perspective.
 Evolution of Population Geography

• Population geography is a subdiscipline of

Human geography and studies the distribution,
concentration and density of population over
the terrestrial surface, as well as differences in
population size, changes and characteristics,
like structures, migrations, activity etc., among
some places present compared to others.
 Definition of Population Geography

Population geography is concerned with the

understanding of the regional differences in the earth’s
covering of people “Just as area differentiation is the
theme of geography in general, so is of population
geography, in particular (Trewartha, 1953). Trewartha
proposed a very comprehensive outline of the content
of the sub-discipline, which many subsequent
geographers seem to have adhered to.
 Definition of Population Geography

Population geography is mainly concerned with

demonstrating how spatial variation in population
and its various attributes like composition,
migration and growth are related to the spatial
variation in the nature of places (Clarke, 1965).
 Definition of Population Geography

“A science that deals with the ways in which

geographic character of places is formed by and, in
turn, reacts upon a set of population phenomena
that vary within it through both space and time as
they follow their own behavioural laws, interacting
one with another, and with numerous non-
demographic phenomena” (Zelinsky, 1966).
 Definition of Population Geography

Daniel Noin in 1979, in his book Geographie de la

population, while agreeing with the scheme of
Trewartha, expressed that distribution of population,
components of its growth and characteristics are the
main concerns of population geography.
 Definition of Population Geography

More recently, while discussing the methodological

problems in population geography, R.J. Proyer
suggested that population geography deals with the
analysis and explanation of interrelationship between
population phenomena and the geographical
character of places as they both vary over space
and time.
 Development of Population Geography

•Population geography is a sub-discipline of Human

geography and studies the distribution,
concentration and density of population over the
terrestrial surface, as well as differences in
population size, changes and characteristics, like
structures, migrations, activity etc, among some
places present compared to others. First modern
scientific development of population in geography
was the F. Ratzel’s book Antropogeography in 1882.
 Development of Population Geography
th
During the first half of the 20 century, French
geographer Vidal de la Blanche gave a capital
importance of population studies in his work
Principes de Geographie Humaine. In interwar years,
various aspects of population were studied. After
The Second World War started the renovating
movement of geography and new tendencies appear
in human geography and, consequently in
population geography. Attempts were made to define
population geography as a separate sub-discipline.
 Development of Population Geography

The early works of George (1951) and the influential

statement of Trewartha before the annual meeting
of the Association of American Geographers in
1953 are often considered as the turning point in
the emergence of population geography as a
separate field within geographical studies. Growing
availability of population statistics has played a
crucial role in the emergence of population
geography. The UN agencies began publishing
demographic statistics on a regular basis soon
after the end of the Second World War.
 Development of Population Geography

The UN also played a significant role in making

the census data uniform and comparable across
different countries by issuing guidelines and
principles for census taking.

The political and societal conditions, both

during and after the wars, necessitated a
geographical study of the ethnic composition of
population of different regions.
 Development of Population Geography
The need for a more detailed account of other
demographic characteristics resulted in a switch over
from macro to micro level studies, which, in turn,
facilitated population mapping. Population mapping
has a long tradition in geography. In the earlier
periods such maps were largely confined to
distribution and density aspects. The growing
availability of population data after the Second World
War facilitated mapping of the other demographic
attributes pertaining to different regions of the world.
Development of Population Geography
 Development of Population Geography

Further, increasing use of quantification,

aided by access to computers helped
geographers handle large data sets.
 Contributors of Population Geography

The most significant authors who worked on defining

population geography were French geographers P. George
(1951, 1959), Beaujen-Garnier (1965, 1966); North-american
geographers: G. Trewarta (1953, 1969), W. Bunge (1962), J.
Clance (1965, 1971), W. Zelinski (1966); Those authors and
their works had the significant influence on the
development of population science in the world.
 Contributors of Population Geography
Although the development of population geography
was different in different countries and scientific
research centers, we can clearly defined four stages.

First stage lasted until 1960s and was characterised

by works of G.Trewarta, H. Doerres Ju.G. Sauškin,
D.N. Anučin, J. Beaujeu-Gariner. G. Trewarta argued
that the population is the point of reference from
which all other elements are observed and from
which all derive significance and meaning. This view
was adopted and shared by authors dealing with
population items, explicitly or implicitly.
 Contributors of Population Geography

Second stage lasted from 1960s till 1970s and the

most significant authors dealing with population
problems were W. Zelinsky, W. Bunge; H.Bobek, W.
Hartke, K.Ruppert, F.Schaffer; D.I. Valentej, K.Korčak.
This phase was characterized by the application of
quantitative methods and efforts for understanding
the spatial structure of the population.
 Contributors of Population Geography

Many scientists see this development phase as a

particularly prosperous period, because it carried
more intensive relations of geography and
demography through the introduction of statistical,
mathematical and demographic methods and
techniques in studies of population geography.
 Contributors of Population Geography

Third phase lasted from 1970s to 1980s, and was

characterized by close relations between population
geography and formal demography. Development
and application of GIS and computer data, have made
population studies more complex and applicable in
practice, through population policy and population
projections. The most significant authors in this
period were L. Kosinski, A. Jagelski, Hägerstrand.
 Contributors of Population Geography

And at last, fourth stage started in 1980s and in many

countries lasts until present days. In population
geography appeared new tendencies associated with
the critique of positivism, the establishment of
humanistic approaches and modifications of general
geographic concepts. In this period, spatial analysis
and quantitative scientific methods were reaffirmed,
and because of that some population studies were
redefined in spatial demography, a time dimension
advocated in historical demography.
 Contributors of Population Geography

In this context, we emphasize the work of D. Plane and P.

Rogerson. Population geography is viewed differently from
one country to another. Its definition differs from too narrow
to overly broad. But two research areas were of particular
interest to geographers - population distribution and
migration. Both items acquired an international dimension.
 Contributors of Population Geography

Recently, eminent population geographers exchanged

various view points in an attempt to provoke new thinking
on subject and define the answers of new fields research
in population geography. Population geography in the XXI
Century is no longer a field comprised of spatial
applications of fertility, mortality and migration only.
 Contributors of Population Geography

Contemporary population geography is theoretically

sophisticated, integrating spatial analysis, GIS and
geo-referenced data. Future progress in the field of
population geography will derive from more research
at the intersections of population processes and
societal issues and concerns.
 Conclusion

•Major themes of future empirical research

in population geography should be: global
population growth, studies of migration,
transnationalism, human security issues,
population-health-environment nexus,
human-environment sustainability,
economic development and poverty issues.
 Subject matter of Population Geography

• Population geography is a division of human geography.

It is the study of the ways in which spatial variations in the
distribution, composition, migration, and growth of
populations are related to the nature of places.
• It focuses on the characteristics of population
distributions that change in a spatial context.
Population geography receives important primary
data from demography, which reveals the geographic
aspects of natural and migration population change.
 Subject matter of Population Geography

•Population geography also uses field teams for

observation and investigation. It studies the physical forms
of inhabitance (types of residences according to spatial
differences, the nature of planning and engineering for
populated points, and so on), because all of these features
are reflected in the regional characteristics of the physical
makeup of cities and rural settlements.
 Subject matter of Population Geography

Population geography studies systems and structures—

the forms of settlement in relation to the spatial nature of
production, the characteristics of the geographical
environment, the economic-geographical condition of
population employment, and population migrations.
Together with differences in the natural growth of
population, migrations determine the course of territorial
redistribution of population. A prominent place is given
to the classification and typology of populated points.
 Subject matter of Population Geography

The concerns of population geography, according to

Trewartha, can be grouped into three categories:
(1) A historical (pre-historic and post-historic)
account of population;
(2) Dynamics of number, size, distribution and
growth patterns; and
(3) Qualities of population and their regional distribution.
 Subject matter of Population Geography

To conclude, the main concern of population geography

revolves round the following three aspects of human population:
1. Size and distribution, including the rural-urban
distribution of population.
2. Population dynamics – past and present trends in growth
and its spatial manifestation; components of population
change, viz., fertility, mortality and migration.
3. Population composition and structure. They include a set of
demographic characteristics (such as age-sex structure, marital
status and average age at marriage etc.), social characteristics
(such as caste, racial/ethnic, religious and linguistic compo-
sition of population; literacy and levels of educational attainment
etc.), and economic characteristics (such as workforce
participation rate and workforce structure etc.).
 Subject matter of Population Geography

In addition to the above, as government policies and

measures in a country have significant bearings on
population and its various attributes, a population
geographers also concerns himself with policies and
programmes designed to regulate population size and
its attributes. There exists a very intimate association
between population size and economic development.
Expanding population is generally viewed as a
deterrent to economic progress in a country. Of late,
deteriorating environmental quality the world over is
also being attributed to rapid growth in population.
 Subject matter of Population Geography

However, the nature of the precise link between

population growth and environmental degradation, on
the one hand, and economic development and
environmental degradation, on the other, varies a great
deal from one part of the earth to another depending
upon various social and economic parameters. These
and similar other issues, therefore, also form part of the
overall concern of a population geographer.