Population Geography (Goe Che Leong+NCERT+Majid Hussain)

1. Growth and distribution of world population

o Goe Che Leong + Majid Hussain
2. Demographic attributes
o Goe Che leong + Majid Hussain
3. Causes and consequences of migration
o Goe Che Leong Box + Majid Hussain + NCERT
4. Concepts of over-under-and optimum population
5. Population theories
6. World population problems and policies
7. Social well-being and quality of life
8. Population as social capital

1. History of Population Growth :

o During the last 10,000 years, the growth of world population

accelerated at two distinct phases
o Agricultural revolution
o Industrial revolution
o Both the above mentioned developments in the human history
had the profound impact on growth and spatial distribution
of world population as they altered the population attributes:
o These are also important ecologically because population
densities and numbers are at the heart of man-environment
relationship. (Population attributes up to large extent
determine land use pattern, settlements, forest use etc)

o Population prior to Agriculture Revolution:

o No documentary evidence to know the population
growth, population, density etc.
o Based only on circumstantial evidence
o Agriculture unknown before 8000/10000 BC, therefore
mainly hunting and gathering done.
o Obtained food from large areas without expending much
labour per unit of land. Population density hence very
 low as economies of bands based on a form of extensive
land use
o Number estimated from the current densities of the
hunting and gathering tribes, spread over the whole
habitable area.
o Hazardous climatic condition coupled with migratory
character of hunter and gatherers and poor
nourishment, health factors etc kept low population
growth
o Period of high birth and death rate and population kept
under control through various means to ensure that
population does not exceed the carrying capacity of the
area occupied. Might also done to keep the spread of
disease under check.
o Areas: Only old continents. By 8000 BC, tribes had
migrated from Africa to Europe to Asia through Bering
strait to America . Antarctica remained unoccupied.
o The other theory proposes simultaneous evolution and
occupation by humans in all continents.
o Examples:
 Bushmen of Kalahari :
o Mothers ability to carry child, soft food for
babies is only mother’s milk -> Practice child
spacing, infanticide for unwanted.
 Polynesians who live in Pacific island:
o Practice infanticide, polyandry, non-marriage
of landless younger sons, abstention from
sexual activity after child birth, coitus
interruption and abortion.

o Population post Agricultural revolution (10,000 BC):

o Estimates: 5 million in 10,000 BC, 200 million -300
million in 1AD
o Assured food supplies from agriculture and settled life
provided better nourishment -> greater resistance to
disease ->increased longevity -> population growth (high
density, settled life)
o Also joint ventures, specialization of labour, development
of crafts and social stratification.
o Social stratification :
  Elite : controlled food resources and land <-
Growth development of irrigation & influence of
urban centres
 Peasants and labourers: who produced the food
and worked on land
o Factors which kept the population growth under check
(Civilisations rose, flourished and disintegrated):
 Close communities -> epidemics spread faster
 Period of good and bad weather,
 Famines and wars
o Death rate might have increased due to close packed
nature of communities compared to isolated hunting and
gathering bands.
o Agriculture -> labour intensive -> need of labour rules
and sanctions on population control (as in hunters and
gatherers) relaxed.
o Due to discovery of wheel and domestication of animals,
human effort decreased.
o Effects of Industrial revolution:
 Due to steam engines discovery

Medieval Period

 More emphasis on commerce and trade -> development

of towns and cities -> high agriculture and consumer
good demand -> agriculture became business
 Attributes during this time:
o High birth and death rate, high fluctuations in the
same
o Life expectancy < 35 years, doubling time : 1000
years
o High IMR
o Periodic epidemic and famines
 Sharp periods of decline followed by short term revival -
> slow long term increase in population

Industrial Revolution:
  Systematization of production with the help of power
driven machines -> high output per capita -> high
wealth
 Fossil fuels replaced animal muscles, wind or water
power as energy source -> increased productivity
sharply
 New societies -> primary activities declined, secondary
and tertiary rise, Science and tech advancement ->
control on vagaries of nature, secure and regular income
 Problems during IR:
o High rural to urban migration and rapid growth of
population, congested cities,
o overcrowded and unsanitary urban settings ->
disease like cholera flourished
o Land, water air pollution increased
o Uneducated peasantry migrating to urban centres -
> socio economic and cultural problems.
 Characteristics of urban population:
o Education undeveloped -> low literacy rate
o Poor medical facilities
o Poor per capita income, low standard of life

o Although world population increased greatly in last few

centuries but it grew very quickly after 1900 especially after
WWII.

2. Growth of world population

o Total number of people living in the world: around 7 Billion
o Some Data
o UNFP 2011: 7 billion mark crossed.
o World population has experienced continuous growth
since 1350, when it was 370 million (Black
death(European pandemic(75-200 million, may have
been plague, originated from Central Asia)) great
famine(European, had many consequences for church
and state))
o world population to be more than 7.5 billion
o Pop growth rates during different periods
 1.8% briefly during 1950s , for longer 60s, 70s
  It peaked to 2.2 % in 1963
 Declined to 1.1 % in 2011
o UNFP: world pop will continue to increase with a steady
decline in growth rate.
o It is expected to reach anywhere between 8.5 to 10
billion in 2050.
o NCERT: Although the annual rate of population change
(1.3-1.3 per cent) seems to be low it is actually not so. This
is because:
 When a small annual rate is applied to a very large
population, it will lead to a large population change.
 Even if the growth rate continues to decline, the total
population grows each year. The infant mortality rate
may have increased as has the death rate during child
birth

o Population grows in GP rather in AP.

o Population growth is not in itself a problem rather to feed,
educate, cloth, house and employ becomes a challenge and
needs meticulous planning and development.
o Population composition of developed and developing countries
differs. In developed countries ~20% is under 15, ~20% above
60 while in developing countries 32-46% population is under
15 and 8% above 60. Thus improving health care, coupled with
high fertility rate and a large proportion of people entering
reproductive years provide an inbuilt momentum for future
high population growth even if fertility rates decline. (fig 3.6
Majid Hussain)
o Some observations regarding population growth : (Diagram
on page 72, 78, 79 , Majid Hussain)
o From 2.5 billion in 1950, it increased to 6 billion in 1999
(more than double in just 48 years)
o Estimates: 8 billion by 2025, 9 billion 2050
o Population growth rate : Asia> Africa> Latin America;
Marginal increase in US, Canada, Oceania; Decrease in
Europe (hence respective population policies)
o China> India> US> Indonesia> Brazil> Pakistan, Russia>
Bangladesh
o Doubling periods:
  30 of Iran, 32 of Pakistan, 36 of India , 33 of
Bangladesh compared to 300 years of UK, 350 of
Japan, 200 of France and 120 of US
 Russia and Germany may not double even in 500
years; may be depopulated if negative growth rate
continues
 European countries incentivising policies and
liberal immigration policies.

o Milestones of Billion:
o Antiquity:
o Curve
o Make notes from wiki
o Role of industrial revolution
o Vaccine, hygiene and nutrition: reduce IMR particularly
(drastically reduced after MDG)
o How Science and Technology helped Population Growth?
 The steam engine replaced human and animal
energy and also provided mechanised energy of
water and wind. This increased agricultural and
industrial production.
 Inoculation against epidemics and other
communicable diseases, improvement in medical
facilities and sanitation contributed to a rapid
decline in death rates throughout the world.

o Write about doubling time and how it is decreasing:

3. Distribution of world population
o Human and economic geography is concerned with man and
his use of natural resources.
o The different way in which these resources will be put to use
depends upon
o Human population
 Rapid growth of the population is one of the most
imp factor and not only a prob.
 Uneven distributions (less areas of high density
and large areas of extremely low density), conflicts
emerging from racial, cultural, religious, social and
political diversity are sometimes even more grave
concerns.
o Human types
o Stage of development of the human groups
o The broad features of world population distribution are
clearly related to climate, soil and other physical factors.
This is because such factors govern the type and amount of
crops which can be grown, determining both negative and
positive areas for economic development.
o But physical factors are not the only ones which affect
population distribution. In many parts of the world, the basic
pattern of population is modified by social, historical and
ethnic factors.
o Concentration of linguistic, racial, religious groups in
certain areas  affecting the economic and population
attributes in a certain way.
o The way of life a particular group of people  like some
groups require large areas per family  large resources
but low population.
o History of settlement: NE of US
o History of colonialization.  Population of coastal
tropical islands. (Migration)
o Moreover, modern development such as
 New farming techniques
 Industrialization
 The drift to the towns
 Changes in the standard of living.

o Population highly unevenly distributed (Ghon che)

o Asia: 60%:20% pop/area(4.4 billion)
o Americas: 14%:25% pop/area (1billion, 1/7th)
  North America: 530 million
 South America: 387 million
 Central America: 42 million
o Europe: 11%: 4 % pop/area (800 million, 1/9th)
o Even within continents, population density is highly
uneven
 East coast of US
 Asia: Indian subcontinent, East China are
extremely dense (2.5 billion)
 Europe: Southern and western are more dense
than Northern and eastern.
 Africa and America: large stretches are very
sparsely populated like Northern Canada, South
West US, Sahara Desert and Amazon forest. While
north east US and south of Africa are relatively
densely populated.
o Population density distribution
o World average density 47 persons/Km sq
o Varies widely throughout the world
o Asia (110) >> Europe (102)>> Latin America (20) >>
Africa (21) >> Anglo America (14) >> Oceania (3)

o Factors influencing distribution

o 5% of the land contains more than half of the world
population.
o 33% of the land lies uninhabited.
o ¾th of the worlds total population is concentrated
between tropic of cancer and 70 degree north.
o Factors which lead to high population density are often
complex, but those which restrict population are clear
cut (usually climatic despite enhancement in technology).
o Already populated areas see the greatest increase, mainly
from natural reproduction, They also attract migrants.
o Areas of sparse population suffer rural depopulation.
o Factors affecting distribution of settlements:

Geographical factors:

 Climate
o Extremes lead to sparse population
o Areas where there is not much seasonal
variation attract more people
o Areas with v heavy rainfall or extreme or
harsh climate have low population
o Mediterranean region are inhabited from
early period in history due to pleasant
climate
o Drought
 Most imp factor for life (fresh water 
household purposes, cattle, crops,
industries and navigation)
 Eg: river valleys are the most
populated regions of the world for ex:
Ganga-Brahmaputra and Nile river
civilization
 Droughts:
 Aridity and not heat is the
restricting factor
  Aridity  no vegetation 
no/less animals  only nomadic
herding sustainable
 Oasis  densely populated (El-
Wahat el-Bahariya in Egypt)
 Mid latitude deserts (Gobi) 
Aridity + cold
 If mineral and energy resources
rich than miners and scientists
go there, establish small
settlements where needed
materials need to be transported.

o Cold :
 Tundra:
 Near the poles or high mountain
regions
 Temperature v low throughout
the year -> permanent snow and
ice -> Sub soil frozen
 Summers  thawing  soil
remains waterlogged  soil
useless for agriculture
 Growing period v short i.e.
favourable climatic conditions
remain for a v short time
 Hunting, fishing the only
possibility for indigenous people
o Fishes numerous but
difficult to catch in ice
covered seas
o Hunting restricted due to
not many animals
 All the above factors contribute
low population to prevent
exhaustibility of resources
 Temporarily settled by
scientists and miners etc but
they bring their resources along.
Living here like other places id
prohibitively expensive
 Coniferous forest:
  Snow persists for many months
and
 Soil is permanently frozen or
waterlogged or highly
podzolised  unsuitable for
agriculture
 Lumbering and mining chief
occupations  settlements
dependent on resources ,
therefore they move along with
resources (like forests)
 Where from the bordering areas
of coniferous forest areas, we
begin to see permanent
settlements for agriculture
(hardy cereals and livestock)
 Ex: clay belt of Canadian Shield,
Siberia.
o Heat and humidity:
 Problems with equatorial lowlands
(Zaire basin, Amazon basin, SE Asia)
 High temp, High humidity,
rainfall throughout the year 
enervating climate
 Huge exertion in intolerable
weather (Bengal type)
 High prevalence of tropical
diseases
 Abundant wildlife but thick
vegetation makes travel and
hunting difficult
 Poor soils (heavily leached) 
difficult agriculture
 Habitation can be increased if forest
cleared and disease controlled
 V important ecological areas, virgin
forest , hence needed to be preserved
and yeld from other areas shld be
increased

 Landforms
 o People prefer flat and undulating lands 
agriculture, laying down of transport system,
industrial development easy
o Mountain areas difficult agriculture, difficult
to establish industries early, hence they
remain less developed
o Example Ganga valley vs Himalayas
o Altitude:
 Cold weather
 Rugged terrain  no plains, thin soil
(agri difficult), thinness of atmosphere
above 4000m (lack of oxygen)
 Settlements:
 Only plateaus where farming and
communication are relatively
easy
 Elsewhere in valleys (like in
Kashmir valley, Kathmandu
valley)
o Accessibility:
 A major determinant of population
density
 Good communication leads to increase
in accessibility and hence high
population
 Critical for manufacturing and trading
areas.
 Economic advantage of locations:
Kolkata, Tokyo, Mumbai, Delhi,
Chennai, Karachi, Rotterdam, London,
Chicago, Paris, Rome , Beijing etc
 Centres of dense population grow both
by natural demographic increase and
by producing the market which further
increase economic opportunities for
additional population
 Other factors combine to make them
inaccessible
 Soils:
o Imp for agriculture and allied activities
o Therefore people live on fertile loamy soils
which can support intensive agriculture
 o Despite favourable climate, poor soils which
inhibit growth of crops, restrict agriculture
and hence settlement
 Describe cat-clays Bangladesh,
Myanmar and Thailand.(page 6 Ghon
chen)
o Peaty, podzolite, sandy, laterite: explain each
of these in fertility etc.

 Arable Land:
o Fn(fertile soil, climate, topography)
o 50% of world population dependent on
agriculture, therefore critical in determining
density
o Intensive agriculture areas of world , most
densely populated . For eg : river valleys of
China and India
o Arable does not mean plain areas with good
climate and excellent soil always. Example:
 Angami tribe of Nagaland (terrace
farming)
 Greenhouse agriculture (Netherlands,
Germany, France, Russia, Sweden)
 Irrigating deserts (Indira Gandhi Canal,
Ganganagr, Bikaneetc)

Economic Factors:

 Minerals:
o High minerals deposits --. Attract industries
 employment generated due to mining and
industrial activities  migration of skilled
and semi skilled workers into these areas
and hence high density
o Katanaga Zambia copper belt of Africa
o Dhanbad and Jamshedpur
 Urbanization:
o Cities offer better employment opportunities,
better transport and communication
 o Good civic amenities and other attractions of
cities further attract people
o Hence rural to urban migration and growth
of cities in size
o Therefore mega cities grow at a very fast
pace
 Industrialization;
o Industrial belts provide job opportunities
and attract a lot of people
o No only workers but people in service sector
o Eg : Kobe Osaka region of Japan is thickly
populated because of large number of
industries

Social Cultural and Political factors:

 Areas of religious and cultural significance attract

more people
 People move away from places of social and
political unrest: Ex Syria, Iraq, Yougoslavia and war
torn Africa.
 Govt gives incentives to people to move to sparse
areas and move them from overcrowded places.
 Age of Civilisation:
o Longer the occupation of a place, greater the
population
o Example: Ganga Valley of India , Eastern
China plains are ancient civilisations
compared to Mississippi in USA, Pamapas in
Argentina, Downs in Australia and New
Zealand, Velds of Africa have less population
even though they are equally productive
because they were settled from 17th century
onwards
 International Boundaries:
o It restricts unhindered movement of people
from highly dense areas to less populated
countries.
o The immigration is highly regulated by
developed countries which are high on land
as well as natural resources with low
 population to support. They allow only
highly specialised or educated immigrants
which can boost their economy.
o Most govts control immigration but some
also check emigration .
o Control of migration makes other factors
more imp in affecting world population
distribution.

o Sparsely Populated regions of the world

 They have irregular and sporadic type of settlement.

 Large regions remain uninhabited with little areas
swarming with population.
 Best examples of densely populated areas include oasis of
Africa and west Asia, islands of Java and Philippines,
isolated towns of Congo and Amazon basin etc Himalaya
also have some of the largest towns…
 They can be classified into the following categories:

o Desert and Arid

 Rate of evaporation >> rate of precipitation
 Main problem is deficiency and non availability of
water
 Scarce water + hostile climate = deliberate check
on number of births through celibacy and
monogamy as in Tibet as well barbarians customs
as in Somalia tribes.
 Emergence of towns due to economic reasons:
o They in general do not form a self supporting
community.
o Gold and oil mining have led to settlement of
many towns where means of subsistence
(water to food) has to be perpetually brought
along. Kalgoorlie and Coolgardie gold mines
in Australia and cripple creep in US.
o Oil and natural gas exploration in the
Arabian peninsula and Lybia has led to the
settlement of workers, engineers and
scientists in the region.
  Where water is available, agriculture is successful
because of high mineral content of soil.
o Nile valley, Indus Valley, Sonara desert in
Mexico and US, Scattered Oasis in Central
Asia.
 Regions:
o Deserts along tropics on western margins are
most sparse (less than 1 person/sq Km)
 People:
o Nomadic herders, hunters and gatherers.
Bushmen of Kalahari, Nomads, Badawin of
Arabian Sahara.

o Ice Caps and cold

 Areas of extreme colds located in both

hemispheres.
 Short growing season and long distance from
existing commercial regions of the word probably
have limited potential for both agriculture and
industry.
 People:
o Tundra region of Arctic (Hunting and fishing
people), only a few Seal hunting Eskimos
have been able to penetrate up to 82 degree.
o Due to economic significance (oil and
mineral exploration and scientific pursuit)
areas in Sibaria and Asiatic Tundra have
been settled (Gold, oil, slat). Iron ore in
Sweden (Gallivare), Gold in Yukon valley of
Canada, Fair Banks and Forte Yukon in
Alaska.

o Mountainous regions

 Rugged terrain + low Temperature at high altitude

 Himalayan, Alps, Rockys and Andes are
uninhabited above 3 km of altitude.
 Areas of economic significance as exceptions
o Precious metals in Peru and Bolivia mined at
4 km
 o Kishtwar for precious stone at 5.5km
o Gold mines at source of Indus river at 5 km
(Tok)
 In tropical and equatorial areas, people generally
settle in areas of altitude higher than 2 km, if
highlands are available. For Ex: Addis Ababa
(Ethiopia), Nairobi (Kenya), Kampala (Uganda)
 Through out the interior of west Asia clusters of
town are found in heart of mountaineous regions.
For ex Tehran in Iran, Pahalgam, Leh and Gulmarg
in India , Saana in Yemen.

o Tropical rain forest

 Lower lying areas on both sides of equator where

rainfall and humidity remains high and mean T is
greater than 30 degree C throughout the year.
 Problems with equatorial lowlands (Zaire basin,
amazon basin, SE Asia)
o High temp, High humidity, rainfall
throughout the year  enervating climate
o Huge exertion in intolerable weather (Bengal
type)
o High prevalence of tropical diseases
o Abundant wildlife, thick vegetation makes
travel and hunting difficult
o Poor soils (heavily leached)  difficult
agriculture
o Difficult to form settlements.
 It is predicted that increase in population in these
areas will lead to deterioration in earth’s resources
(like soil erosion, increased run off, siltation of
rivers). Also it would affect world climate by
returning less moisture to the atmosphere by
transpiration (Amazon forest, the lungs of earth
being destroyed, less oxygen output).
Encroachment in these areas may also affect the
lives of the primitive tribes living there like in
Brazil.
o Moderately populated regions of the world

o Around the margins of sparsely populated regions of the

world: density gradually rises.
o There is always a transition zone of Moderate pop
density, except in cases of
 desert land adjacent to fertile valley
 Mountainous terrain adjacent to fertile valley.
o Areas:
 Tropical Savannah:
o Climate: seasonal climate, summer rainfall.
o Vegetation: Natural vegetation of grass and
scattered trees which are adapted to winter
drought
o Different types of extensive farming
practiced ranching; shifting agriculture
provides food crops for scattered pop, while
some areas grow cash crops also.
o None of these areas support dense
population.
 Temperate grasslands:
o Broad stretches of grasslands,
o Climate relatively dries with most of the
rains in summers.
o High in summers and very low in winters.
o Growing season long enough for cereal
cultivation (ranching dominant in areas of
insufficient areas)
o Large flat undulated lands are ideal for large
scale extensive grain farming.
o Both the above mentioned occupations do
not support large population.
o Both Savannah and temperate grassland are
continental in location lack of
communication and remoteness
o Settlements have followed railway links and
other transport links. Ex; trans Siberian links.
 Tropical coastlands:
 o They are more populated than continental
interiors because of favourable climate and
also better communication and market.
o Tropical coastlands:
 Coastal areas are preferred due to
accessibility to sea.
o Temperate coastlands:
 Moderate climate with moderate
climates and adequate rainfall.
 No extremes T
 Wide variety of crops can be grown
along with farming.
 North western and southern US,
Central and Eastern Europe.
o Transformation to densely populated regions: where
intensive farming and development of industries allow
more prople to get living.

o Densely populated areas of the world (>> 100 persons/sq

Km)

o They have all the favourable geographical, economical

factors as mentioned above.
o Regions:
 East Asia (China, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan)
 South Asia (Indian subcontinent)
 North west Europe
 East North America (North east US and South East
Canada)
o They fall into two main categories
 Dependent mainly on agriculture
o Industry has been developed but agricultural
employs maximum population.
o Ex:
 Nile valley of Egypt: Mediterranean
climate suitable for many crops, Nile
water for irrigation.
 Ring of settlement around Lake
Victoria. Coastal Nigeria.
  River valleys and plains of China:
Yangtezekiang, Hawang Ho, Sikiang.
warm summer, monsoon rainfall,
irrigation, constant manuring of the
soil, careful management of The land
 Indo Gangetic plains, Indus plains and
Punjab and coastal plains of Indian
subcontinent: fertile alluvial soil,
availability of water for irrigation,
regular rhythm of monsoon, High T all
the year round allowing several
types of crops to be grown each year.
 Deltas of Mekong, Chao-Phraya, Menan
and Irrawaddy river.
 Island of Java in Indonesia: warm
climate, heavy rainfall, rich volcanic
soil.
 Nile, Indus and Hwang ho valets were
the centres of ancient civilisation as
well.
 Problems:
 High population: capacity of the
land to produce land has been
outstripped Small land
holdings low capital
investment low
productionlow incomes low
standard of living and
indebtness less inputs:: this
continues.
 Mainly food crops grown fir
sustenance.
 Rice is the main food crops and
supplemented by vegetable,
poultry
 Lack of alternative employment
opportunities disguised
employment in Agriculture.
 Hence development of industry
is critical.
o Around 1000-2000 people/sq Km
 Dependent mainly on Industries
o Western Europe, north East US, Japan
o The three areas of high urban populations
differ from each other due to historical
reasons.
 Britain
 First IR
 Coincided with rural
depopulation due to changes in
land tenure which provided
Mjboor majdoor
 Medical advances and its
concomitant effects 
availability of labour throughout.
 Availability of mineral resources
like coal and iron.
 Colonialism: Ensured supplied
raw material and good markets.
 IR spread to Belgium and France
as well but, agri reforms did not
take place hence still large agri
population there.
 US
 Offshoot of European region.
 Immigrants brought knowledge
and skill
 Huge mineral resources.
 Large industrial towns in cities
established well before the
whole country could be settle.
 Japan
 Traditionally an agriculturally.
 Isolated from other countries.
 Many cincumstances aided the
growth of Industries in Japan
and its large agricultural
population transformed to
urban.
 HEP resources, indented
coastline, existing raw material,
ready market, large population,
 educational system, generous aid
from US.
o Less densely populated then Ar.
o High urbanisation (more urban pop)
 Highest urban densities in Singapore
(100%), Kuwait (98%), Belgium
(97%), Netherlands (92%), UK (91%)
o Food not produced locally
o Areas dependent more on industry, trade
and commerce.
o Large urban areas attract more people,
advance techniques obviates human
labour more people are free to migrate to
cities.
o High standard of living and in contrast to Ar,
increasing population does not leads to low
standards as new areas of employment
develop regularly.
o Although inequality is very high in these
regions. (especially among migrated and
African American communities)
o Problems:
 Traffic, Noise, pollution, disposal of
waste, provision of water supplies.
 As standard of living rises facilities
and services become more and more
expensive.

Future distribution of population

 Expected to remain same in next few decades:

o International law does not allow free migration of people 
uneven population distribution and hence density contrast will
be maintained.
o Sparsely populated areas have harsh climates and are expected
to remain depopulated with current level of advancement.
 Cold region
 Arid and desert areas
 Equatorial areas
Demographic Attributes:

 Crude Birth Rate/ Natality:

o No. of live births/1000 population per year
o Birth rate of developed countries << Birth rates of developing
or underdeveloped countries.
o Highest CBR in Niger (>50) and least in Monaco (~6)
o Avg glovbal birth rate ~19.15 (2012)
o High birth rate Issues:
 May stress government welfare and family programs.
 educating a growing number of children,
 creating jobs for these children when they enter the
workforce, and
 dealing with the environmental impact of a large
population
 Low birth rate problems:
o Low birth rates:
 may stress the government to provide adequate senior
welfare systems and
 Stress families who must support the elders themselves.
 There will be fewer children (and a working age
population) to support an aging population.)
 Pro-Natalist policy adoption by govt. and liberal
immigration policies (which might lead to other
problems) to be followed
o Factors affecting birth rate
 Government policies:
 Population policy, such as pro-natalist (European,
Japanese, for instance, a tax on Childlessness )or
antinatalist policies (one child policy in China,
family welfare programme India)
 Availability of family planning services, such as
birth control and sex education
 Availability and safety of abortion and the safety of
childbirth (Abortion laws).
 Pension availability
 Infant mortality rate: A family may have more children if
a country's infant mortality rate is high, since it is likely
some of those children will die.
  Existing age-sex structure
 Social (Typical age of marriage) and religious beliefs,
especially in relation to contraception and abortion
 Economic factors:
 Industrialization: In a preindustrial agrarian
economy, unskilled (or semiskilled) manual labor
was needed for production; children can be viewed
as an economic resource in developing countries,
since they can earn money. As people require more
training, parents tend to have fewer children and
invest more resources in each child; the higher the
level of technology, the lower the birth rate (the
demographiceconomic paradox).
 Economic prosperity or economic difficulty: In
difficult economic times, couples delay (or
decrease) childbearing.
 Poverty levels, Illiteracy and unemployment.
 Urbanization
 Political factors:
 War and Conflict

 Mortality Rate:
o No, of deaths per thousand population per unit time.
o Different from:
 Morbidity rate
 a vague term sometimes used to refer to either the
prevalence or incidence of a disease
 Incidence rate
 the number of newly appearing cases of the disease
per unit of time
o As of 2014 the crude death rate for the whole world is 7.89 per
1,000 (down from 8.37 per 1,000 in 2009).
o South Africa highest at ~17.
o CDR is a misleading term:
 Age specific mortality rates more informative and
relevant.
 For eg : CDR can be high in developed countries bcoz
most of their population is old aged due to high life
expectancy and better medical facilities.
 o Better ratios/rates: Perinatal, Maternal mortality ratio & rate,
Age specific mortality rate, cause specific mortality rate, case
specific mortality rate, IMR, Child Mortality rate etc..
o Causes of death vary greatly between first and third world
countries (malnutrition and others in developing, age related in
developed)
o Public health in industrialized countries was transformed
when mortality rate as a function of age, sex and
socioeconomic status emerged in the late 19th and 20th
centuries. This track record has led to the argument that
inexpensive recording of vital statistics in developing
countries may become the most effective means to improve
global health.

 Life Expectancy:
o Life expectancy equals the average number of years a person
born in a given country would live if mortality rates at each age
were to remain constant in the future. The life expectancy is
shown separately for males and females, as well as a combined
figure. Several non-sovereign entities are also included in this
list.
o The figures reflect the quality of healthcare in the countries
listed as well as other factors including ongoing wars, obesity,
and HIV infections.
 o

 Age sex Structure:

o The composition of population according to Age and sex
proportions.
o Age composition may be summarized in age groups
 0-15
 15-64
  64 and above
o The age composition has profound effects on social and
economic conditions
o Three determinants of Age composition
 Birth rate or fertility
 It is the fertility rate that determines the
proportion of population in different age
categories.
 Latin America, Asia, Africa have high fertility, low
longevity and life expectancy  lower proportion
of people in old age group
 Developed countries have low proportion of young
population an high proportion of older people (low
fertility high life expectancy)
 Mortality
 Age specific mortality determines the shape of age
sex structure
 Reduction in child mortality results in sharp
increase in younger population. As is the case with
most developeing countries. Because extension of
primary health care, vaccination and hygiene have
reduced IMR immediately.
 Reduction in old age mortality will lead to high life
expectancy and hence higher population of elders
in the population. As is the case with most
developed countries. This is difficult to achieve as
it requires much higher investments.
 Mobility
 Migration tends to be age selective, generally
younger people migrate.
 Origin country: proportion of people belonging to
middle age decreases.
 Destination: proportion of people in young age
increases.
 Which are dependent on each other
 It is through this variable that socio-economic conditions
influence age structure.

o Age Groups:
 Proportion of population in any these age groups is
determined by the stage of Demographic transition the
country is in.
  Young:
 When the country is passing through first or
second stage of DT. Then starts to decline as
country progresses.
 Minimum in case of final stages.
o World: 30% (less than 18% in Europe to
nearly 43% in Africa and about 36% in Asia
and Latin America)
o Developed: 20%
o Developing: 36%
o India: 33%
 Economically unproductive group and most
expensive as it is to be provided with food,
clothing, education, recreation, health and medical.
 Adults:
 Generally 15-65 years of age in developed.
 Biologically the most reproductive, economically
the most productive and demographically the most
mobile (migratory)
 Supports the bulk of other age groups. (Taking care
of old and feeding, educating young)
 Old:
 The proportion of this age group increases as the
country develops.
 Number of females in this age groups is higher than
the number of females. (Female mortality<< Male
mortality)
 This age group needs a lot of care, protection
(Social Security provisions)

 Literacy Rate:
o A person aged 7 and above who can both read and write in any
language is treated as literate.
o It reflects the socio economic and cultural setup of a nation,
ethnic group or community.
o Essential for eradication of poverty, friendly international
relations and free play of demographic processes
o If the population is illiterate it will resist new ideas and
innovations.
o Variations:
 Regional: developed (approx 100%) – non developed
(60%-70%)
 Economic
 Social
o Determinants of literacy:
 Cost of education
 Govt. Intervention/availability of education
institution/public policy
 Standard of living
 Very poor families prefer their children to help
them in their work than in schools.
 Degree of development of economy
 Literacy skills are a prerequisite for Non
agriculture economy.
 Technological advancement
 Religious background
 Status of women (Female mobility)
 Political system (very poor in ex-colonies)
 Imparting education mother tongue (very effective)
o World pattern of literacy
  Infant Mortality Rate:
 Growth rate

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Causes and consequences of migration

Migration

 Homo Sapiens has always migrated: give historical examples from

India and the world (Aryans, Muslim-Turkish immigration, Mongols
etc)
 Humans have the tendency to leave “unfavourable areas” and migrate
to “favourable ones”.
 Migration has been defined differently in different contexts but: It is
permanent or semi permanent change of residence of an individual
or group of people over a significant distance.
 Migration together with fertility and mortality is a fundamental
element determining the population growth and the population
structure. (Ex: Sex selective and age selective economic migration as
compared to migration due to war or persecution)
 Types of migration:
o International/Within country
o Intra regional/Interregional
o Rural – urban, Urban-Rural, Urban-Urban, Rural-Rural
o Time period: Permanent/Semi permanent/temporary
o Social organization:
Individual/mass/family/clan/race/religion

Migration (NCERT)

 Apart from birth and death there is another way by which the
population size changes.
  When people move from one place to another, the place they move
from is called the Place of Origin and the place they move to is called
the Place of Destination.
 The place of origin shows a decrease in population while the
population increases in the place of destination.
 Migration may be interpreted as a spontaneous effort to achieve
a better balance between population and resources.
 Migration may be permanent, temporary or seasonal. It may take
place from rural to rural areas, rural to urban areas, urban to urban
areas and urban to rural areas.
 Do you realize that the same person is both an immigrant and an
emigrant?
o Immigration: Migrants who move into a new place are called
Immigrants.
o Emigration: Migrants who move out of a place are called
Emigrants.
 Can you think of reasons why people migrate?
 People migrate for a better economic and social life. There are two
sets of factors that influence migration.
o The Push factors make the place of origin seem less attractive
for reasons like unemployment, poor living conditions, political
turmoil, unpleasant climate, natural disasters, epidemics and
socio-economic backwardness.
o The Pull factors make the place of destination seem more
attractive than the place of origin for reasons like better job
opportunities and living conditions, peace and stability,
security of life and property and pleasant climate.

Causes of Migration (Al-Majid)

 Economic causes
o In general people tend to migrate from poor, overpopulated,
technologically under developed to wealthy, under populated
and advanced destinations. (Provided the migration is not
hindered)
o Availability of land
 Ex: Invasion of Mongols, Population of US, Australia
o Employment opportunities
 Indian migrating to Middle east and USA
  Landless labourers  migrated to Mauritius and Fiji. And
From Bihar and UP to Punjab and Haryana
o Level of technological development
 High level of technological advancement  higher
economic activity  higher immigration (US and west
from Asia and Africa)
 Low level 
 Overpopulation
o An excess of population in an area in relation to available
resources and technological development is called
overpopulation.
 Climatic causes
 Social and religious causes
o Humans desire to stay, work and enjoy life with the people of
his ethnic, social and religious groups.
o But religious, racial, lingual and ethnic causes often crate social
divisions leading to persecutions which are followed by
migration.
o Ex: Jews from Europe, Hindus from Kashmir, Rohingyan
Muslims from Myanmar, Tamils from Sri-Lanka.
 Political causes
o Political hostility towards opponents: Communists regimes of
Russia and China
o Nationalism: Serbian
o Partition: India and Pakistan
 Diffusion of information
o The availability of information through education, cultural
contacts and spatial interaction also increases the chances of
population migration.
o The communities that are ruled by orthodoxy, conservatism,
traditions, customs and string communal ties are less mobile
than those which are socially awakened, progressive and have
more contacts and exposure with the outside world.
o The information network and cultural contact increase the
horizons of job opportunity.
o Thus, migration generates more migration. (Sikhs and
Gujaratis)
 General rise in level of aspiration
 Wars
 Government policy
o ON INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION
 o ON INTERNAL POPULATION REDISTRIBUTION.

Consequences of migration on both origin and destination

 Demographic attributes
o Will depend upon the characteristics of migrating population
and their attributes and every aspect from mortality rate,
fertility rate, density of population, education status, sex ratio
will change.
o Ex: compare the effect of family migration of young couples Vs
single labour population working in Arab country (family at
origin).
o Fast rate of migration has also resulted in developing many
pandemics which were earlier quite localised. (HIV/AIDS)
 Economic
o Will depend upon the skill status of migrating population.
o Increase of population density in an under populated area may
enhance the capacity of resource utilization and hence increase
production.
o Ex: compare Bay area engineer to a construction worker in
Dubai or plantation labour
 Social
o Migrants always try to re-create something similar to their
source region in midst of the new environment and
consequently change the destination. (Indian and Pakistani
settlements in US and UK)
o Food (Biryani and dosa in US and UK are common), tradition
and ethnic ties.
 Religious
o Might enrich the overall cultural tradition but may also cause
friction
o Ex: France with Muslim migrants from Algeria.
o Tamil-Sinhalese friction
 Environment/Ecology
o Over population  over utilization of resources.

Internal and External Migration:

 Internal migration
o Long term
  Rural –Urban
 Urban rural
o Short term
 External Migration

Theories of migration:
 EG Ravenstein:
o The majority of migrants go only short distance
o Migrants proceed step by sep
o Migrants going to long distance migrate to one of the preferred
global destinations for trade and industry
o Each current of migration produces a counter current of lesser
strength
o Natives of towns are less migratory than those of rural areas.
o Most migrants are adults, family rarely migrates along with.
o Large towns grow more by migration than by natural increase.
o The main causes of migration are economi

 Lee’s model of migration

 Zelinsky’s mobilty transition model

 o

Read ghon chen boxen and Al-Majid-e-Hussain al geographia.

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Population theories

Confucius was the first one who gave the theory of optimum population.

Greece:
 Earlier thinkers in Greece favoured expansion of population, but
Plato advocated absolute limit of population.
 Aristotle attributed fall of hllenic civilization to decline in population
growth.
Rome
 Characterized by fertility cult.
 Growth necessary for military and political expansion (Soldiers and
citizen production for the state).
 Augustus introduced legislation to encourage population growth.
 Many people attribute the fall of roman empire to decline in
population because of which it could hold the Barbaric attacks.
Malthus and overpopulation
 Clergyman, 1798
 Published An Essay on Principle of Population in 1978
 The Theory:
o Assumptions:
 Two characteristics essential to sustenance of life were:
 Need for food
 Passion between the sexes (This is mainly
responsible for marriage at early age and results in
large number of births which would result in
doubling of population in 25 years if unchecked by
misery and vice).
o Postulates:
 Population growth: GP(1,2,4,8,16), Resources Growth:
AP (1,2,3,4,5)
 Power of population >> power of earth to produce
subsistence for man.
 Population doubles at every 25 years.
 Link with capitalism and how population growth leads to
poverty:
o Widening gap between population and
subsistence increases stress on resources.
o Society divided into rich (Haves) and poor
(Haves not)  Capitalist setup  No income
distribution otherwise it will lead to loss of
investment.
o Rich do not increase population fear of
decline in standard of living Rich more
richer and poor more poorer.
 Because population growth always outstrips growth in
production of subsistence resources, the only way to
increase prosperity is by controlling the growth of
population.
 Two ways to restrict population growth:
 Preventive checks:
o Humanity has only a limited ability to
voluntarily reduce the growth of its
population (through ‘preventive checks’ such
as postponing marriage or practicing sexual
abstinence or celibacy/moral restraint).
 Positive Checks:
 o Malthus believed that ‘positive checks’ to
population growth –
o Since preventive checks had limited
applicability and they can only mitigate
positive checks for a short while, positive
checks in the form of famines and diseases –
were inevitable because they were nature’s
way of dealing with the imbalance between
food supply and increasing population.
o Balance can be made only if famine, disease
or war periodically increased death rates and
reduced pop growth.
o Malthus background to give this theory:
 Many people supported this view in France and England
in 19th Century and even today.
 It is important to realize that Malthus only observed
contemporary England and that too 250 years ago.
 Limited agricultural land (End of commons-> rural
depopulation->urban migration)
 Overcrowded, dirty and unhealthy urban slums
and factory areas-> low resistance to disease.
 If food decreased or population increased-> rapid
depopulation (Epidemics, starvation)
o Black death (14th)
o Great plague (17th)
 During his time, great advancements were being made in
the control and treatment of disease (Cholera, Typhoid,
Small pox)  Huge decrease in death rate  calculated
doubling of population every 25 years but no
corresponding rise in food production. Hence the theory.
 Critics:
o Population has rarely grown in GP. The doubling time of one of
the fastest growing countries now is around 35-40 years.
 India-36, Iran-32, Nigeria-36.
o Overemphasized positive checks and did not realize the role of
preventive checks like family planning.
o No causal relationship between overpopulation and positive
checks. Least populated countries with most abundant natural
resources are as commonly struck by natural calamities as
overpopulated. Eartquakes and Tsunamis in Japan, Icelands
volcanos, Hurricanes in US.
 o Most significant critic came from the development pattern of
Western countries. Standard of living grew as population rose
drastically, Birth rate declined due to birth control, many
disease were controlled.
o Another critique came from Marxist, who refuted Malthus for
suggesting that the main cause of poverty was population
rather than unequal distribution of wealth and resources
(Capitalism)
o He could not foresee the role of changing technology and
consequent transformation in socio economic setup.
 He could not forsee the following change which were to take
place:
o Great improvement in agricultural production. (Fertilizer,
pesticide, seeds, livestock breeds)  yield increased manifold
to support the increasing population.
o New agricultural region in America, Africa, and Australia
opened up. Large scale plantation agriculture established in
tropical countries. Increase in transportation allowed
migration of new laborers for production as well as transport
of food grains to Europe to supplement local food supplies.
o Rate of increase of population declined.
 Improved standard of living
 Cost of maintaining large family rose, Difficulties of
depression and 2 world war  smaller families.
 Why Malthusian prediction fails in case of even underdeveloped
countries:
o Rapid and efficient means of transportation help reaches
immediately so “positive checks” fail
o No real food shortage on world scale  Inequality the only
inhibitor (poor countries less foreign exchanges)
o Tremendous advances in agriculture in terms of high
yielding (many new and improved seed varieties, techniques of
production, preservation, stocking and govt interventions like
subsidies have dramatically increased the production even in
poor countries. EX green revolution India and Philippines (Net
importer to exporter))
o Education: reaching more and more people in underdeveloped
world. Improvements in levels of education show direst effect
on agricultural production, industrial growth and family
planning.
 o Real test of the Malthusian theory will lie in the growth rate of
underdeveloped countries.
 Although it failed for Europe, but still applied by some people for
underdeveloped countries where population growth is very rapid
and advances in agriculture are very slow.
o He highlighted the urgency to maintain a balanced relationship
between population and means of subsistence.
o It is due the fear of Malthusian fear that people feel the urgency
to resort to preventive checks.
o Brought the study of population into the fold of Social Science.
o It made it possible to view dynamics of population growth as
Man’s welfare.

Marxian Theory
 Karl Marx (1818-1883)
 General backdrop:
o Second scientific theory of population.
o Population growth was a byproduct of his theory n
communism and scientific interpretation on history.
o Change in modes of production is the essence of history
 Hunters and nomads settled living  Urban culture
(Diversity of occasions)  increase in population,
inhibiting factors weakened, private property emerged
 Formation of economic classes Capitalism in
Industrial revolution  Classes of haves and haves not.
o Second,
 The Theory
o Dialectical materialism: Division of people into classes  class
struggle because class interests were mutually hostile and
irreconcilable. (Exploiters  Exploited)
o There could be no one universal law of population growth,
growth pattern and dynamics of population change with
change in mode of production (labor, capital). Each mode of
production had its own economic and demographic laws for ex:
growth pattern of population of nomadic society will be
different from settled cultivators and demographic attribute of
industrial urban society will be different from agrarian rural
society.
 o A reaction to the capitalist mode of production and governance.
o Economic class and private property are principle twin evils of
the society.
o He explained the poverty, misery and rapid growth in
population as effects of capitalism rather than inevitable gifts
of nature. Problem is the inability of the capitalist system to
create jobs equal to the requirement.
o He has full faith in the capacity of the communism to offer
employment to everyone with the growth in population.
o They all can disappear if capitalism is replaced by
communism private property hurts the general good of the
community at large  Primary means of production (land,
mines, factories) should be owned by community.
o Two types of people rich and poor
 Rich: governs the mode of production, earns profit by
exploiting laborers and environment. Dictate all the
terms of employment and law is usually in his favor.
Earned profit leads to immense capital accumulation.
 Poor: try to accumulate labor, the only commodity they
posses through rapid population growth.
 Improvement in technology of production ++ rapid
growth of population  Surplus labor and
unemployment Demand of labor (opportunities of
employment) <<< Supply of labor  misery,
undernourishment, poverty
 Class struggle and poverty are seen as main drivers of
population growth among poor workers.
 Criticism:
o Though this theory exposed the weaknesses of the capitalist
society, the theory has been criticized on several counts:
 Unprecedented Growth of the economically sections of
the society was due to medical advancement which
reduced the death rate substantially without arresting
birth rate.
 Increase in population does not automatically lead to
decline in wages which is a function of many socio
political and economic factors. (employment level falls to
unprecedented levels during recession in most advanced
countries with low population).
 There is no correlation between wages and rate of
population growth. Faith and religion are also important.
some affluent, ethnic and religious groups in both
 developed and developing countries have a very high
fertility.
 He overemphasized private property as the main cause
of social evil. (Social norms, education level,
technological advancement all play a role).
 The theory may be of some relevance to capitalist
societies but would not operate in feudalistic, socialistic,
primitive hunting and food gathering societies.
 Communism was subsequently one of the most prevalent
system of organizing society, economy and governance
through out the major part of 20th Century. But the high
level of corruption, unemployment, insufficient
production of food grains and consumer goods has led to
a widespread disenchantment towards communism
(State capitalism). Most prominently visible in falloff
USSR.

Demographic Transition Theory:

 Put forward by W S Thomson (1929) and Frank W Notestien (1945)

 Economic growth related population growth
 Based on Observations in fertility and mortality being experienced in
North America, Europe and Australia
 The Theory
o It postulates a particular pattern of demographic change from
high fertility high mortality to low fertility and low mortality
when society progresses from a largely rural agrarian and
illiterate society to a dominantly urban, industrial, literate and
modern society.
o Three Hypothesis involved in the process are
1. Decline in mortality before decline in mortality
2. Fertility eventually declines to match mortality
3. Socio-economic transformation takes place
simultaneously with demographic transition
o Trewartha’s opinion:
1. Dual nature of man  different countries at different
stages if DT.
2. There is diff between Biological (Same every where) and
cultural behavior (Different which creates the diversity)
of man.
o Different stages of DT:
 3 stages according to Thompson and Notestein, 4
according to Sax.
 Stage 1
 Pre modern and pre industrial stage
 Low growth period (high and fluctuating death
rate, high birth rate, Typically 35)
 It is difficult to find a solitary example of a country
which may still be be unaffected by mortality
decline and hence belongs to this stage.
o Highly unlikely that medical advancements
have not reached any place.
o If it is true, then data collection in such an
area is difficult.
 Underdeveloped and technologically backward,
Agricultural country, illiterate, low productivity
levels, religious orthodoxy, High IMR, poor health
care. Epidemics and variable food supply
 Around 200 years ago, all the countries were at this
stage.
 Stage 2
 Early expanding
  Transition period (High and gradually declining
birth rate, very sharp declining death rate)
typically 35,15
 Population begins to expand rapidly at an
increasing rate.
 Improvement in health and sanitation sharp
decline in mortality
o Vaccination, primary health care, high health
investment
o Food handling, water supply, sewage, and
personal hygiene IMR is the first to
decline.
o Rise in literacy typically female.
o Food supply (selective breeding, improved
farm techniques,)increase resistance
 Consequences of all the above life expectancy
improves industrialization, urbanization and
modernization becomes prominent, large families
no longer an asset.
 Ex: Most of less developed countries like, India,
Pakistan, Bangladesh, Indonesia.
 Stage 3
 Late Expanding
 Transition period (Sharply declining birth rate,
Low and stabilized death rate) typically 35,15
 Reasons:
o Due to access to family planning methods
(contraception) associated with growth of an
educated urban/industrial society with low
infant mortality, increase standard of living
and changing status of women.
 Stage 4
 Low growth rate (low and fluctuating birth rate,
low death rate)
 Population stable or grows very slowly.
 Reasons:
o Population is highly industrialized and
urbanized high technical knowhow;
deliberate control on family size is common.
o Literacy and education level is high and
degree of labor specialization also high.
 Developed and technologically advanced
  Anglo America, West European countries,
Australia, Hong Kong, Japan.
o Criticism:
 Based upon empirical observations in Europe, America
and Australia.
 Loschky and Wild cose asserted that theory is neither
predictive and nor its stages are sequential and un-
inevitable for ex. China entered the third stage of DT
owing to one child policy of the govt. and not naturally.
 Role of man in technical advancements cannot be
underrated and innovations can further reduce the
mortality.
o This theory does provide an effective portrayal of worlds
demographic history at macro level of generalization. We
should not expect that there would be a typical period of time
for transition, typical sequence of fertility and mortality
pattern and typical socio economic fabric of each stage.
o It helps in understanding the transition process provided that
situational context is properly understood.
o It would be unfair to expect all countries of the world to follow
the same pattern as experienced by European countries
because present context is a significant departure from 19th
century European context.

Population Structure:

 Some common terms:

o Birth rate : No. of live births/1000 per year
o Death rate : No. of deaths/1000 per year
o IMR: no. of deaths of children below 1 yr age/1000
o Life expectancy: The avg no. of years a person is expected to
live when he/she is born
o Natural Increase: Excess of births over deaths/1000 of
population. This does not include increases in population due
to migration
o Actual Increase : Births In migration-Deaths-Out migration
o Total Fertility rate
o Maternal mortality rate:
  Mainly age and sex

Optimum population:

The Theory:
 In every country there is an optimum level of population which
gives the max income per head (best standard of living).
 A country is said to have an optimum population when the number of
people is in balance with the available resources
 The pressure of population on the resource base and the
available technology determines whether the region is
overpopulated or under populated.
 Optimum conditions can only be maintained if the exploitation of
new resources or the development of other forms of employment
keeps pace with population.
 Size, distribution and structure of the population within a country
must be viewed in relation to its natural resource and the techniques
of production used by its people
 Overpopulated:
o Increase in population -> increases productivity until optimum
population reached -> with increase in population,
productivity does not increase proportionally (law of
diminishing returns ) and per capita availability of resources
decreases -> people become poorer.
 Under population:
o Low population-> not enough people to develop all the
resources -> standard of living lower than it could be ->
example: Central Asia, Kazakhstan, Brazil
o Brazil : 22 people per square km , considered under developed
today. Yet before it was colonized by Europeans, it may not
have been under populated even though there were even fewer
people bcoz the range of resources utilized and technological
know how of indigenous population was v lowas compared to
today.
o Central Asia: It is considered under populated in terms of
present day technology. CIS states are extremely rich in
mineral resources. In the past these areas these occupied by
pastoralists who knew nothing of modern technology. The
resources which tthey were capable of utilizing were often over
strained. Consequently during the medieval period, waves of
 central asian people out migrated and invaded the
neighbouring nd distant areas in search of food and
land( eastern Europe, SW Asia, South Asia and China.
 Since these concepts are also related to technical know how and not
population only, therefore under populated and overpopulated has
no meaning for tribal areas. For eg: Tribals in Amazon forest,
pastoralists in central Asia

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World population problems and policies

Population problem of underdeveloped/developing countries:

 Level of technological development inhibits agricultural efficiencies

and establishment of industry even though resources exist.
 Modern industrial economy has been grafted on to tradiotnal
agricultural one and the two have not been properly balance in case
of overpopulated countries in case of China and India.
 The under populated countries like Brazil, Columbia, Peru etc
although have tremendous resources but they cant be fully
developed because of lack of population. There problems increase
due to adverse climatic conditions.

 Problem of overpopulation
o Rapid population growth: High birth rate low family
planning large young population  extra strain on social
services especially health and education
o Unemployment: Industry not well developed few
employment opportunities for unskilled shortage of skilled
workers (few facilities for training)  Overpopulated rural
areas (underemployment or unemployment)migration to
towns, urban problems
o Housing and health: low standard of living + low income
poor housing and sanitation, mal nutrition prone to diseases
  prevention and cure of disease hampered by insanitary
condition, ignorance of people, lack of financial
resources, sheer number of people involved.
o Underutilization of agriculture resources: Agriculture
production much lower than its potential because
 Traditional methods, outdated or inadequate
equipments, lack of financial resources, non use of
fertilizer, misuse of marginal lands.
 Small farm sizes ensure difficulty of rationalsation of
farm techniques
o Slow growth of industry:
 Very slow growth of industries
 Lack of local capitalexploitation of resources and
setting up factories difficult
 Lack of skilled labour force no background of
industrial emplyment.
 Lack of market despite large population due to
poverty.
 Mechanized production desirable keeping in mind
low incomes but not suitable for employment
situation.
o Traditional attitude:
 Religious and traditional attitudes hinder progressive
changes
 Rural populations have stubborn attitude towards
traditional farming methods and approches
 For eg:
 Family planning: church
 Caste system in India
 Polio in Islamic
 Awareness and education programmes help.

 Population problem of under-population

o Uneven distribution of population
 Imbalance between town and countryside: slow increase
despite high growth rate due to very small starting
population  inmigration an important source of people
but that is mainly concentrate in towns leads to further
imbalance.
o Remoteness
  Low pop + low amentias  migration  rural
depopulation  even less desire to develop
infrastructure  further remoteness
o Underutilization
 Lack of population difficult to extract mineral
resources  only high return minerals (oil and
petroleum)
 Agricultural resources difficult to develop require
more hands ready to work in rural setting new people
are more and more interested inurban lifestyle.
o Slow growth of industries
 Shortage of labour especially skilled.
 Ex: South Amrica and Africa.
 Import of skilled labourers increases coast of
development.
 Small population and not adequate market.
o Climatic problems:
 These have hostile climates settlements difficult 
very low migration

 Solution:
o Infusion of capital likely foreign aid.
o Decline in birth rate in overpopulated countries and increase in
population in under-population countries only if they posses
right skills. It is very difficult to settle under populated areas.

Population problem of advanced countries

 Ageing population:
o Low birth ratesmall proportion of young people low death
ratehigh life expectancyhigher proportion of older
people pose financial problems
 Small workforce:
o High education standsrds more years of schooling
workforce highly skilled high wages
o Low birth rate + long years of schooling=shortage of workforce
(specially unskilled)
o Germany and Switzerland receive migrants from PIGS and
African countires.
 Rural depopulation:
 o Pull factors of urban centres increase migration towards
cities
o Difficult to provide services to fewer people in country side
increase disparity between town and country.
o Increase mechanization an rationalization can increase income
in country districts.
 Urbanization:
o Assocated uran problems:
 Pollution. Over capcity,
 Extension of urban sprawls put pressure on agricultural
land and thus reduce self sufficiency/
o

Common problems of Underdeveloped and developed countries:

 Uneven development
o Most developed countries have areas where agriculture and
industry could be developed or where population is too large
and dense.
o Similarly, developing countries have large towns where
problems are similar to those of urbanized societies every
where.
 Inequality in wealth distribution exists
 Cultural, religious, racial, lingual, caste problems.

European dilemma and its solution:

o Salient features:
 Older than of any other continent.
 Population of many countries (Germany, Russia, Ukraine)
stagnating or declining
 Fertility rates in most countries below replacement levels
(Except Bosnia, Lithunia) through natural increase.
 Europe’s population has begun to decline since 1990.
o Zero population growth
 Birth + immigration = Death + Emigration
 Exact equation of birth and death means increasing
proportion of older citizen, fewer young people and rise in
median age.
  Zero growth rate of population has created many socio
economical problems:
 Closing down of many primary and secondary
education facilities.
 Shortage of workers (PIGS , Germany, Belgium)
 Increasing expenditure on social security, pensions.
 Consequences can be very grave if this is not arrested.
 Demographer of Europe emphasized on this during last
three decades.

Population policies:

 The size, structure, composition and growth rate of population as

well as the migration pattern in a country are closely influenced by
the population of the respective govt.
 Population policies in different countries have been formulated to
aceive either of the following objectives:
o To reduce the population growth, not necessarily to zero.
o To stabilize the population by achieving the 0 growth rate.
o To achieve the negative growth rate.

 Policies discouraging population growth:

o Economic incentives
 For small families in South Korea and Philippines
 Financial rewards for sterilization in India, Pak,
Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka
o Preferential treatment for mother of small families in govt.
hospitals in Singapore.
o Free abortion facilities in Tunisia, India, China, Indonesia,
Singapore.
o Legalization of abortion on legal grounds in most of developed
countries.
o Supplying contraceptives, promotion and family planning
awareness creation,
o Most of the countries have come out with variety of policies for
Motility control, fertility control, family and individual
well being because it is believed that rate of natural increase
can be reduced only if standard of living is improved.
o Almost all countries of this group have set a time bound target
population for themselves.
o Some country specific example:
 Singapore: coercive methods adopted (financial penalties
for more than two)+reward for sterilization. Guranteed
education and employment. Growth rate has gone below
replacement level.
 Indonesia: UN + WHO + World Bank helped programs
like building more clinics, use of mass media etc. to
promote acceptance of small family norms and draw
people to clinic.
 India: National family planning program since 1952.
Though sterilization measures in 1975-77. Program
changed to family welfare program and coercive
methods stopped. Education and awareness programs,
rewards and incentives, distribution of contraceptives by
govt. India has observed dramatic decrease in Birth rates,
but achievements vary from region to region.
 China: One child policy.
 Defied Marxian concept in 1970, Considered
population growth as an obstacle in growth.
 2 child policy in 1970, 1 child policy in 1980.
 Policy includes:
o High marriageable age 22 for men, 20
women
o Freely available contraceptives and
abortions. Better health services.
o Social and institutional changes: High
literacy of women among females. Changing
of role of women from working to profession.
o Necessity to raise many kids for old age has
decreased with state providing care.
o Penalties for more than one child (Economic
and social sacrifices)
o Result:
 China rapidly moving into the fourth
stage of the demographic transition
despite being a largely rural and
agrarian society. Unlike other
developed countries.
 China has created a social climate in
which people do not see them as
 private individual but identify with the
state.
 A high degree of political organization
as well high level of social control,
economic incentives and public
motivation is a prerequisite for this
kind of problem.
o Merits: Fast curb on population growth,
better standard of living, World well being is
directly connected with China’s future,
flexible enough to allow exemptions in areas
where manual labour is required and for
minorities.
o Demerits: reduced adults in next generation
will affect quality of life and economic
development in future due to shortage of
military personnel and worker, 4-2-1
problem. Changed population will affect
market scenario. Aging population and its
consequences.

30th Oct, 2015:

As workforce ages, China ends its one-child

policy
 China has dropped its controversial one-
child policy, allowing all couples to have
two children for the first time in more than
three decades amid pressure from an
ageing society and a growing shortfall in
the workforce. The decision was taken by
the Communist Party of China (CPC) on
Thursday.
 The policy change is an advance over the
2013 ruling, which allowed couples, where
one of the parents was a single child, to
have two children.
 Pressure was mounting on the authorities
to ease the family-size norms after it
became evident that the one-child policy,
meant to restrain a burgeoning population
in the 1970s, was leading to severe labour
shortages and an ageing population.
 According to U.N. estimates, nearly 440
million people in China would be over 60 by
 2050, signalling a sharp decline in the
labour pool. Last year, the working
population between the ages 15 and 59 slid
by 3.71 million.
 Following its findings last year, the Chinese
Academy of Social Sciences said the
mainland should, without delay, permit all
couples to have a second child because the
total fertility rate had dropped to 1.4,
signifying the average number of children
to be born of a woman in her entire
lifespan. This was well short of the 2.1-
mark that should be reached to ensure a
balanced population profile.
 The state-run Xinhua news agency, quoting
a communiqué issued at the end of the fifth
plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central
Committee, said the change is intended to
balance population development and
address the challenge of an ageing
population.
 The latest ruling notwithstanding, it was
unclear whether spiralling living costs
would allow couples to avail themselves of
the two-child option. Many couples decided
against another child under the 2013 rules
because of the high cost of raising children,
especially in urban areas.

China faces demographic strain

 The Chinese Community Party’s decision on
Thursday to drop its decades-old one-child
policy comes at a time when the country is
facing demographic strains on its economy.
 According to UN estimates, nearly 440
million people in China would be over 60 by
2050, signalling a sharp decline in the
labour pool. Last year, the working
population between the ages 15 and 59 slid
by 3.71 million.
 Following its findings last year, the Chinese
Academy of Social Sciences said the
mainland should, without delay, permit all
couples to have a second child because the
total fertility rate had dropped to 1.4,
signifying the average number of children
to be born of a woman in her entire
lifespan. This was well short of the 2.1
 mark that should be reached to ensure a
balanced population profile.
The state-run Xinhua news agency quoting a
communiqué issued at the end of the fifth plenary
Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee, said
the change of policy is intended to balance
population development and address the
challenge of an ageing population

China withdrew its one Child Policy in Oct, 2015

 After 35 years, China is set to change its one-child policy,

allowing all couples to have at most two children.
 Since its introduction in 1980 with the aim of slowing
population growth in the world’s most populous country,
an estimated 400 million births have been prevented in
China. From 5.5 births per woman in 1970, the country’s
fertility rate is now well below the replacement level of 2.1.
 The policy also led to countless forced abortions, maternal
and child deaths, untold trauma especially to mothers, and
one of the world’s most skewed sex ratios. Yet, it is
difficult to offer unqualified praise for China’s decision.
o For one, the limit on family size has simply moved
from one child to two children, and coercive
restrictions on what should be a private decision
remain.
o Second, the decision has been taken in response to
the decline in China’s working population relative
to its elderly population. China’s dependancy
ratio — the ratio of children and elderly to its
working age population — has declined from 63.4
in 1950 to 34.5 in 2010, as against 56.3 for India,
meaning far fewer working people support a far
larger number of dependants.
 All countries will move through cycles of demographic
dividends followed by rapid ageing, and must plan for their
own unique challenges without intervening in family lives
to engineer change.

India

 India too has had its experiments with state coercion in

limiting family size. Undoubtedly the worst of these were
the horrific violations during the Emergency, when Sanjay
Gandhi spearheaded a sterilisation campaign that included
carting off thousands of men against their wishes to camps,
where many died.
 In the late-1990s and early-2000s, 11 States enacted laws
restricting eligibility in local body elections to persons with
two or fewer children; research shows that this move did
 have the impact of lowering family sizes in the general
population, but it also worsened the sex ratio.
 India’s push for female sterilisation as the preferred means
of family planning, with “targets” set for field workers,
financial incentives and limited information for the
impoverished women undergoing these surgical
procedures, often nudges sterilisation drives from
voluntary into coercive territory.
 None of these methods will work without high human
costs, that the poorest should not be paying.
 Every country in the world, and India’s southern States,
lowered fertility rates without state coercion but as an
immediate effect of education for women, better access
to health, and rising incomes.

 Policies encouraging population growth:

o Development is the best contraceptive : low population growth
in developed countries of Europe and America
o France : Child rearing benefits by govt
o Eastern Europe: three child per family has become the adopted
goal with parental subsidies, housing priorities and generous
maternity benefits
o Romania: Contraceptives banned and abortions permitted only
on doctor’s recommendation in hope dat future birth rates will
nt be affected.
o Soviet Union: in 1950s and 60s birth rate decreased
drastically -> adopted pro natalist policies (mother lenin
award, 12 children ;))
o Germany: Birth rate = death rate -> generous maternity
benefits
o USA: Birth rate is 1 % higher than European countries, tax
allowance for each child
o West European countries: In general pro natalist policy
otherwise no policy
o Latin America: Being catholic, have been very reluctant to
accept population growth measures. At present many latin
American countries are propagating family planning mainly on
health and welfare grounds and as a means for reducing illegal
abortions. Brazil and argentina still have policies encouraging
 population growth. Chile, cloumbia, carribeans and central
American countries have now adopted anti natalaist policies.
o Africa: In African countries (Congo, Guinea, Ivory coast,
Cameroon, gabbon, gambia, Mali), the govt has adopted the
policy to increase the population. This policy is based on the
belief that continued population growth is the key to economic
development. In the opinion of the formulators of this policy, a
youthful population is necessary to develop the countries of
Africa, Asia and latin America. Some African countries do not
advocate birth control because poor living conditions adversely
affect both infant mortality and fertility. In many areas, fertility
is low because of poor nutrition and disease and it is a
considered to be a greater problem than high fertility.
o

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Human diversity

Race:

 Facial feature and hair type are the best guides to distinguish.
 The shape of the eyes, nose and overall shape of the head are very
important and used with minor factor like skin color and other
invisible characterstics like Blood groups.
 Three major racial types:
o Caucasoid
 Semetic (Arab and Jew), European and Indo Aryan.
 Skin Color: very Fair in North European to Brown in
India and South West Asia
 Straight or wavy hair of varying color.
 Long and narrow nose
o Mongoloid
 Northern, Eastern and South Eastern Asia and original
inhabitants of America
 Features:
 Eye: characteristic fold of skin on the upper lid
 Straight or lanky Hair
  Short stature is a less distinguishing feture
 Exmples:
 Mongols of central asia, also Chinese, Japanese,
Vietnamese, Thais, Burmese, Kampucheans, Malays
 Eskimos and similar people of northern Siberia like
Yakuts and Samoyeds
 Red Indians of North America
 Amerindians of South America
 Some groups have evolved in isolation like people of
Tierra del Fuego in South America look exactly like
Chinese, the Indians (tall, bronze skinned and hooked
nose) of great plains have less in common with Asian
mongoloid groups
o Negroid
 South of Sahara
 Nelotic and Hametic of Eastern Africa
 Bantus of Central and Soutern Africa
 Variuos other groups of West Africa
 Features:
 India, maleniseia in Pacific, Bushmen, Pigmies,
 Crinkly or frizzy hair
 Broad rather flat noses
 Long headed,
 Skin Color black, brown and yellowish
 Stature: Very varied from tallest people in Sudan and
central Africa to Pygmies of central Asia who are
shortest.
o Australoid
 Combined facial characteristics of negroid with wavy
hair.
 Height, weight and color no criterion.
o Chinese and Japanese are generally short in height: But US born
and brought up are healthy.
o Every race has every color people and every color people are
found in every race

Societies and Ways of Life

 Human groups can be divided according to the way they live.

 Primitive societies usually found in remote and inhospitable regions
like desert and tropical forests.
 Areas with better natural resource and more people have better
development usually.
Simple society: mono activities (like hunters and gatherers,
shifting cultivation, nomadic herding)
Settled agriculture: Specialization starts, other activities like
blacksmiths, craftsmen begin because they can afford not to
produce grains.
Advanced Societies: greater specialization with small number
of people in food production.
 Societies can be classified by their principal activities (within such
groups all people have not reached the same stage of development)
Collectors, Hunter and Gatherers
 Found in least hospitable areas
 Polar, deserts or tropical forests.
 They are source advanced traditional knowledge about
uses of plants and animals.
 They have specialized in collection of particular objects
and their trade (Kurumbas of the Nilgiris who trade in
Honey)
 Ex:
 Eskimos of Canada an Greenland and similar
people of northern Siberia
 Amer Indian people of Amazon basin, Central
Brazil and Southern Chile.
 Pigmies and Bushmen of Africa
 Many aboriginals of India, Malaysia, Indonesia,
Philippines, New Guinea and Australia
Pastoralists
 Its essentially occupation of grasslands and semi arid
semi desert areas because pasture is often difficult to
find and more abundant in certain season therefore they
tend to herd like nomads.
 Subsistence economy. Is they stay for longer period at a
location they start to cultivate.
 Trade with neighboring settled people extremely
important.
 They are forced to settle down and practice ranching in
almost every country by making laws.
  Their traditional routes have been curbed or changed up
to great extent because of drawing of international
borders.
 Ex:
 Tundra herds of reindeer and Caribou
 Cattle, sheep, goat, horse, camel, yalk
 Lapps of northern Scandinvaia
 Alaskan People Aleuts
 Mongolian and Buriytas, Kyrghyz, Tibetans an
other central Asian people.
 Bidowins of Middle east
 Berber of north Africa
 Massai of Eastern and Central Africa.
Subsistence cultivators
 Cultivation mainly for meeting family food requirements.
 Dependent mainly on human labour and use of simple
tools
 Divided into two groups
 Shifting
o Small groups in forest or Savanna
o Explain Jhum Cultivation
o Strict and rigidly defined territorial
boundaries in which the migrate
o Depend on fishing and hunting upto some
extent
o They are encouraged to settle down and
adapt intensive farming methods.
o Ex: Amer Indian of Amazon forest and some
people of Columbia and other areas of South
East Asia, Congo basin people.
 Sedentary cultivators:
o Large proportion of world population
o Methods and crops grown vary from place to
place depending upon density of population
natural condition and stage of development.
o Crop rotation, addition of fertilizer, irrigation
and other techniques are practiced to make
intensive use of plant.
o Tree crops are planted with field crops and
several crops grown in an year, which is vital
for the survival of large population.
 o The farmers are encouraged to produce
surpluses by the govt. to support large and
ever increasing urban population.
o Subsistencecommercial farming.
o China, Japan and India
Commercial farmers:
 Specialize in few crops or single products and rely on the
proceeds of sales to buy foods and other necessities.
 Influenced by worldwide trends and demands due to
reliance on trade.
 Plantation, modern dairy farms etc
 Have higher income and use capital intensive methods
for modernizing improving farms.
 Need for competitiveness in world or regional market
has led to streamlining of production, introduction of
mechanization and use of most economic method of
farming.
 This movement towards industrialization of agriculture
has gone farthest in North America and Europe where
land available are huge and urban markets are large.
(Factory farming of live-stocks, market gardening and
truck farming.).
 Low but highly skilled labor required  more and more
mechanization  they are more like industrial workers
than traditional workers.
Industrial workers:
 Major industrial regions of the world.
 More employed in services than in factories.
 People least dependent on land or on other natural
condition.

Population as a Social capital

What is Social Capital?

 Conventionally, physical capital (tools, for instance) and human capital
(education) have been considered important for increasing productivity of
 individuals and groups. So too, it is believed, social networks and contacts
improve productivity.
 Social capital is “the aggregate of the actual or potential resources which are
linked to possession of a durable network of more or less institutionalized
relationships of mutual acquaintance and recognition”.
 Social capital is a neutral resource and is to be found in any sort of social
relation that provides a resource for action.
 Putnam’s social capital:
 Social capital “refers to the collective value of all ‘social networks’ and the
inclinations that arise from these networks to do things for each other.
 Social capital is a key component to building and maintaining democracy.
 Putnam speaks of two main components of the concept: bonding social
capital and bridging social capital.
o ‘Bonding’ refers to the value assigned to social networks between
homogeneous groups of people and
o ‘bridging refers to that of social networks between socially
heterogeneous groups.
o Bridging social capital is argued to have several benefits for societies,
governments, individuals, and communities; Putnam likes to note that
joining an organization cuts in half an individual’s chance of dying
within the next year.
o The distinction is useful in highlighting how social capital may not
always have positive connotations for society as a whole (though it is
always an asset for those individuals and groups involved). Horizontal
networks of individual citizens and groups that enhance community
productivity and cohesion are said to be positive social capital assets
whereas self-serving exclusive gangs and hierarchical patronage
systems that operate at cross purposes to interests of society can be
thought of as negative social capital burdens on society.
 Social capital in short refers to social connections and the attendant norms
and trust. There is strong correlation between social trust and civic
 engagements. A civic engagement has been conceived by people’s connections
with the life of their communities, not merely with politics.
 We consider ‘civic engagement’ as individual’s activities aiming towards
welfare of others, and not for his/her own self. In short, it is individual’s
concern for others. Voluntarily organizing for public good is the essence of
social capital. Further, while organising for collective actions, individuals are
regulated by informal norms which they commonly share, along with the
written codes. Such norms, as we have already indicated, form an integral
part of social capital.
 Social capital refers to features of social organisation, such as trust, norms
and networks that can improve the efficiency of society by facilitating
coordinated actions. “Social capital refers to the institutions, relationships,
and norms that shape the quality and quantity of a society’s social
interactions.Social capital is not just the sum of the institutions which
underpin a society— it is the glue that holds them together.” It facilitates
spontaneous cooperation in the society.
 It is significant to note that no individual member of the society should be
able to manipulate the forms of social capital to his or her private profit and
advantage as against the greater need or interest of the community as a
whole. In the case of material resources like the conventional capital, there
might arise a case when it can be manipulated or misused for the private gain
of people or a few individuals taken together.
 Whereas physical capital refers to physical objects and human capital refers
to the properties of individuals, social capital refers to connections “among
individuals—social networks and the norms of reciprocity and
trustworthiness that arise from them.
 In that sense, social capital is closely related to what some have called ‘civic
virtue.’ The difference is that ‘social capital’ calls attention to the fact that
civic virtue is most powerful when embedded in a network of reciprocal
social relations. A society of many virtuous but isolated individuals is not
necessarily rich in social capital.
Social Capital and Civil Society:

 It is through civil society, or more accurately, the third sector, that individuals
are able to establish and maintain relational networks. Now the third sector
may be defined as “private organizations that are formed and sustained by
groups of people acting voluntarily and without seeking personal profit to
provide benefits for themselves or for others”. The voluntary associations
connect people with each other, build trust and reciprocity though informal,
loosely structured associations and benefit society through unconditional
altruism.
 According to Lyons, civil society is “the space for free association, where
people could meet and form groups to pursue their enthusiasm, express their
values and assist others”. This is a “vibrant space, full of argument and
disputation about matters of greatest import to its citizens”. This also implies
elements of the enlightened use of the term ‘civil society including decency,
respect, good manners and kindness to fellow beings.
 So far as the civic values and virtues in the context of social capital are
concerned, these imply a number of ideas, concepts and activities such as
honesty, truthfulness and being law abiding; and the link of these aspects to
the civil society.
 Here, a reference may be made to the nature of democratic movements,
protest movements and electoral participation and the like. Civic engagement
can be measured through newspaper readership and voting in referendum
and associational structures that enrich the civic community which can be
measured through the density of the voluntary associations.
 Social capital has a structural as well as normative dimension. People who
have a dense network of civil engagements not only trust each other but also
produce good government, democratic government, and, most importantly,
good democratic government.
 Norms are historically rooted; consciously inculcated; and socially sustained.
The majority of norms are born out of tradition, traditional values, customs,
 conventions, family relationships and the bulk of unwritten codes of
individuals, group as well as social behaviour. Norms are not only meant to
prescribe a standard of social behaviour but are also quite forthright in
compelling the deviant to fall in line.
 So far as interpersonal networks are concerned, these are the constitutive
features of all types of societies, viz., authoritarian or democratic, feudal or
capitalist, and traditional or modern. These networks are expressed and
manifested in terms of communications and exchanges. Some networks are
vertical in nature: in these cases, people belonging to various social strata are
vertically linked to each other, may be in the form the traditional patron-
client relationship.
 But on the other hand, there are horizontal networks which combine the
members of the same social stratum or the individuals belonging to equal
status and power structure. Here, it is to be noted that these types of
networks are merely generic in nature and are like the ideal types in the
Weberian sense of the term. But in the real life situation, actual interpersonal
networks combine individuals belonging to various social strata and status
groups—both vertical and horizontal. Because by networks, we mostly mean
the bulk of informal rules of the game; and not necessarily the formal
relationships and institutional arrangements.
 When people get together, consciously or even accidentally, they share
their ideas and aspirations among themselves. A number of positive
results are the natural outcome of such networks. On many occasions,
interpersonal networks help the individuals in matching with their
aspirations.
 For instance, if in an Indian village, an entire. group of people has been left
out during the preparation of the electoral rolls by the election authorities or
from the public distribution system (the issue of ration cards), and if these
deprived people group together and approach the appropriate
authorities .and get the things right, we would call it positive networking.
 In the instance, in India, a number of villages, not far away from the district
headquarters, did not have any approach road to come to the main district
 road. One day, the representatives of the villages consisting of all sections
including women, scheduled castes and the landless poor decided to lend
physical labour. And with very little monetary and material input from the
authorities, a village approach road could be constructed. This particular act
may be termed as a positive outcome of the network that exists among
different strata of the rural society.

Population as Social Capital:

 A population to be considered as social capital must thus be
characterized by:
o Civic engagement
o Political equality
o Solidarity, trust and tolerance, and
o A strong associational life.
 These features could make a population cohesive and economically
productive and empowered. But social capital may have some negative
features as well. Without ‘bridging’ social capital, ‘bonding’ groups can
become isolated and disenfranchised from the rest of society and, most
importantly, from groups with which bridging must occur in order to denote
an ‘increase’ in social capital. Bonding social capital is a necessary antecedent
for the development of the more powerful form of bridging social capital.
Bonding and bridging social can work together productively if in balance, or
they may work against each other.
 As social capital bonds and stronger homogeneous groups form, the
likelihood of bridging social capital is attenuated. Bonding social capital can
also perpetuate sentiments of a certain group, allowing for the bonding of
certain individuals together upon a common radical ideal. The strengthening
of insular ties can lead to a variety of effects such as: ethnic marginalization
or social isolation. In extreme cases, ethnic cleansing may result if the
relationship between different groups is so strongly negative.
 Social capital may also lead to bad outcomes if the political institution and
democracy in a specific country is not strong enough and is therefore
overpowered by the social capital groups.
 Furthermore, if consensus rules and induces collective action, and the
societies with large stock of social capital are devoid of conflict and
contestation—an ideal situation which may not exist in reality—such
societies would become rather static and lifeless. As A. Amin points out,
societies should aspire to fostering “a new civic politics… as an arena of social
contestation”, enabling the civic sphere to function dynamically “as a source
of democratic change”.

 Social capital and health:

o Research has shown that higher social capital and social cohesion leads to
improvements in health conditions. Trust combined with formal and
informal social networks help people to: access health education and
information, design better health care delivery systems, act collectively to
build and improve infrastructure, advance prevention efforts, and address
cultural norms which may be detrimental to health. Prevention is critical
in improving health, standards of communities and nations but it can only
be effective if it is supported by formal and informal networks through
which people receive information and medicine, such as vaccines.
 Social capital helps prevent crime and violence:
o the relationship between poverty and violence is mediated positively or
negatively through social institutions, ranging from the family to informal
local associations such as sports clubs and dance halls to formal
organisations such as the Church, schools, and police”.
o Through shared values and norms, the level of community violence can be
reduced or kept low. People who have informal relations with their
neighbours can look out for each other and ‘police’ their neighborhoods.
o But if state action is lacking or ineffective, social capital can become a
substitute for state action. We have seen many instances of late in India of
 informal justice systems developing within communities as a response to
the lack of law and order: people cheer as a thief is caught and beaten up
before being handed over to the authorities.
o This is social capital becoming a security system. But this could lead to
‘perverse’ social capital. Community-based organisations which threaten
the status quo of violence and crime are frequently forced out of operation
by mafia and gang leaders who are reaping the benefits of the current
system of weak law and order enforcement by the state.
o Rubio (1997) discusses ‘perverse’ social capital as the trust and
reciprocity among members in anti-social activities such as corruption
and terrorism. He explains that perverse social capital breaks down
efficiency within society, rather than enhancing it by stimulating rent-
seeking activities (e.g., corruption) and criminal behaviors which
furthermore contribute to the strengthening of organisations which
perpetuate this situation.
 Social capital and education:
o The educational attainments of a population are linked to levels of
economic development. Finances alone do not help in increasing
educational levels of a population: family, community and state
involvement helps to increase the relevance and quality of education by
improving ownership, building consensus, reaching remote and
disadvantaged groups, mobilizing additional resources, and strengthening
institutional capacity.
o However, successful public education systems require a unique
combination of financial, human and social capital that reflects the
particular needs of the communities they serve. Financial resources are
necessary for maintenance of materials, and salaries.
o Social capital is not just an input for education, but is also an important
byproduct of education.
 Social capital is produced through education in three fundamental ways:
o Students practice social capital skills, such as participation and
reciprocity;
 o Schools provide forums for community activity;
o Through civil education students learn how to participate responsibly in
their society.
o Education can also promote societal cohesion and strengthen citizenship
when children of all socio-economic backgrounds are enrolled in the
public education system.
o Unfortunately, if the population is characterised by inequality and there is
strong social capital among elites, public education can be impaired if
those wealthy families opt out of the public school system and choose
private schools. This strips communities of financial resources, local
leadership and students who are well-prepared to learn. The result is a
school system with little political influence to demand public resources
and fewer parents who have the time and money to join voluntary school
associations.
o Similarly family and community social capital can negatively impact
youth’s attitudes towards education if, for example, communities do not
value education and see it as irrelevant because it does not lead to formal
employment or improved standards of living.
 Social capital and environment:
o Sustaining resources for the benefit of all the members of a population
calls for cooperation in the management of common property
resources. Community-based organisations preserve the environment
and local livelihoods when they band together to protect local natural
resources such as, lakes, rivers and forests, from pollution and
destruction through teaching environmentally-friendly practices
locally and publicising cases of corporate irresponsibility globally.
 Social capital and water use and sanitation:
o In many developing countries, disease is mainly spread because of lack of
clean water and sanitation. Social capital contributes to the sharing of
information about sanitation as well as the building of community
infrastructure. Synergy between the state and civil society can improve
 infrastructure design and maintenance by securing financial resources
and ensuring that projects respond to community needs.
 Social capital and economic development:
o “For any two countries with the same level of income, the one with
more social capital tends to have more schooling, a more expensive
financial system, better fiscal policy and a wider telephone network.
Causation could run in both directions, but the results are suggestive.”
(Temple, 1998)
o Increasing evidence is appearing at the macro level which identifies
trust, civic norms, and other factors of social capital as a key condition
for economic development.
o Says Fukuyama, “It is clear that both the need for an industrial policy
and the ability to implement one effectively are dependent on cultural
factors like social capital.” Trade at the macro level has been found to
be influenced by social capital. While most work on social capital is
microeconomic, social capital has implications for the effect of trade
and migration, economic reform, regional integration, new
technologies which affect how people interact, security, and more.
o It has also been found out that neighbouring states that have not
been friendly with each other may benefit from a regional integration
agreement which raises trade and therefore trust between them, raises
each country’s stake in the other’s welfare, and thus raises security.
o As opposed to the classical notion that the social and economic welfare
impact of regional integration is ambiguous, regional integration can
be an optimal way to improve the standard of living when there are
security problems between neighbouring countries, says Schiff.
o Rodrick points out that economic growth which benefits a small
section of population (as in the case of open trade yielding benefits to
nations but which are not evenly distributed among the populace)
increases inequality and can lead to social disintegration.
o Social capital is important for societies to prosper economically and for
development to be sustainable. Virtually all economic behaviour, says
 Granovetter (1995), is embedded in networks of social relations.
According to Dasgupta (1988), social capital and trust can make
economic transactions more efficient by giving parties access to more
information, enabling them to coordinate activities for mutual benefit,
and reducing opportunistic behaviour through repeated transactions.
Social capital plays a significant part in shaping the outcomes of
economic action at both micro and macro levels, as Rodrick (1998)
points out.
o At the micro level, social capital is used by the poor to protect
themselves against unexpected events such as bad health, bad
weather, and to pool their resources. Informal relationships could help
the poor set up small enterprises to augment their income and could
often mean the difference between survival and despair.
o In rural communities, social ties are often strong and longstanding.
Informal ties and social norms provide essential safety nets. These
safety nets are especially important because income and the
availability of food vary with seasons and depending on weather; in
many countries there are no formal social programmes or existing
safety nets do not reach people in villages.
o Also at micro level, social capital facilitates valuable information
exchange about products and markets and reduces the costs of
contracts and extensive regulations and enforcement. Repeated
transactions and business reputation provide the necessary incentives
for parties to act in mutually beneficial ways.
o Social capital has its importance at the macro level as well. For
constructive state participation in economic development there has to
be a delicate balance between external social ties and internal
cohesiveness. Ideally,” highly skilled and well- respected state
bureaucracy utilises its close working relationship with business
leaders to enhance the market performance of private and public
sector organisations. Rodrick points out that government
effectiveness, accountability and the ability to enforce rules fairly
 directly impact economic growth be enabling or disabling the
development of domestic firms and markets and encouraging or
discouraging foreign investment.
o Fukuyama (1995) found that more expansive social networks of the
United States and Germany generate a greater number of large
corporations than do society’s like- China, in which family networks
form the foundation of private enterprise.
o Simultaneously fostering economic development at micro and macro
levels is critical in order to promote growth and alleviate poverty in
ways that are sustainable.
o Reduction of rural poverty and sustaining the improvements are socio-
economic development goals in most countries. Rural communities
may be endowed with land and water (natural capital), but they often
do not have the skills (human ‘ capital) and organisations (social
capital) which are needed to turn the natural resources into physical
assets. Social capital helps groups to perform the following key
development tasks effectively and efficiently: plan and evaluate—
make decisions; mobilise resources and manage them; communicate
with each other and coordinate their activities; and resolve conflicts.
o Not only can social capital improve access to natural resources, it can
also improve access to physical capital. The Grameen (Rural) Bank of
Bangladesh provides access to credit to poor people in thousands of
villages. Members have developed rules to maximise repayment of
loans, but trust plays a critical role in the very high success rate,
particularly in the absence of collateral.
o Experience with rural water users associations in countries as diverse
as Pakistan, Cote d’ lvoire and the USA, indicate that maintenance is
more efficient and programmes more likely to be sustained if users are
empowered to play a substantial role in running the systems.
o There is, however, a negative side when group norms are enforced.
Individual growth and creativity is often stifled by traditions. Those
who do not conform are often ostracised or at least ridiculed.
o The world is seeing increasing urbanisation. Very soon more than 50
per cent of the world population will be living in urban areas. Urban
areas are not conducive to the development of societal cooperation. It
is difficult to develop and sustain social capital and trust in large
groups.
o Inequality is highly apparent in urban areas where the rich and poor
live and work in close proximity but seldom develop relationships.
Inequality can adversely affect cohesion. In most cities, housing
separates people by income (Van Weesep and Van Kempen, 1994).
Many urban poor live in slums or ghettos which are physically isolated
from business, health facilities and public transportation.
o The spatial isolation of the poor is compounded by social isolation. The
rich and the poor rarely participate in the same activities, groups and
associations. Lack of connections to those with resources, both
physical and otherwise, results in fewer opportunities for the poor.
Spatial and social isolation—a lack of bridging social capital—can lead
to a cycle of poverty, i.e., children of poor parents have few or no
opportunities to lift themselves out of poverty (Wilson 1987).
o Ethnic conflict and violence, fuelled by strong intra-group social capital
and weak inter-group social capital, may hinder economic growth and
the effectiveness of urban governments in areas where multiple ethnic
groups present. Many cities are troubled by crime and violence. Fear of
violence erodes stocks of social capital.
o Shared values and norms can reduce or keep low the level of
community violence. People who have informal relations with their
neighbours can look out for each other and their neighbourhoods.
Inter-family social capital provides support networks for family
members burdened by stress caused by poverty and unemployment.
This support can help to reduce drug abuse and violence within the
home-known precursors to patterns of violent behaviour.
o Many poor cannot secure formal work in cities. In such cases, informal
relations provide a crucial safety-net for the urban poor and improve
 their chances and quality of day-to-day survival. This is especially true
when formal safety nets, such as health care and unemployment
benefits, are not available or extend only to the participants in the
‘organised’ sector of the economy.
o In developing countries, increasing urbanisation and decentralisation
has led to new responsibilities being laid on city
administration/governments. Challenges include influx of people, most
of whom are low-skilled and lacking in capital resources and
connections to job opportunities and with no formal safety nets.
o Since most of the influx are poor people who may never work in the
formal economy, cities do not receive additional finances through tax
revenues comparative to their rising populations. When under-funded
city infrastructure breaks down, such as schools, transportation and
health facilities, there is increased potential for social disintegration.
o Poverty reduction requires effective financial organisations and
instruments at the national level as well as at the household level.
Social capital can affect both formal and informal financial systems.
o However, most of the world’s people are without access to equitable
sources of credit or reliable savings facilities. This is all the more so in
developing countries. Some poor communities have devised their own
mechanisms for pooling resources and lending money to those who
need it. Poor but closely-knit communities pledge their social capital in
lieu of the material assets that commercial banks require as collateral.
o The most common of these mechanisms are rotating savings and credit
associations which typically involve groups of five to twenty people
who trust each other. They have meetings once a week. There is a
requirement to contribute a small sum each week to a common pot.
This common pot is given to a single member each week. There is no
written or formal contract; all agreements are monitored and enforced
by group members.
o In the more organised sector, indigenous or “bottom-up’ approaches to
providing basic savings and credit are improved by group-based
 microfinance programmes, the most well-known being the Grameen
Bank of Bangladesh. Grameen also relies on the social capital among
the poor to form lending groups that monitor and enforce loan
agreements, but the groups do not form of their own accord; rather,
they are initiated and coordinated by ‘outsiders’, namely Grameen
staff.
o The formation and maintenance of social capital between staff and
borrowers is crucial to identify and train borrowers, select and
approve loan proposals, negotiate solutions when problems emerge
(e.g., crop failure following a cyclone, etc.), and fend off criticism—even
hostility—from moneylenders and some religious leaders.
o Many poor people have an abundance of local social capital but a
deficit of ‘bridging’ social capital links them to additional resources.
Microfinance programmes have to devise ways to draw on local social
capital as a basis for forging linkages into more extensive networks
and markets.
o Large commercial financial institutions also depend on social relations
to improve their performance. As Szreter observes, corporate
executives are fully aware of “the importance of exclusive informal
social inter-actions with their peers.
o It is at the clubs, parties, charity events, [private] school functions and
holiday visits of the wealthy and the super-wealthy that they do some
of their most important business. They know that establishing
friendship and relations of trust with a network of others who are in a
position to share and exchange the most valuable informal information
is one of the most efficient and reliable ways to make spectacular gains
in a market economy.
o In an economy that is increasingly globalised, the financial health of a
nation is influenced to a large extent by international capital flows. And
social cohesion is one indicator of fiscal stability and sound investment
climate.
 Social Capital and Information Technology:
o Ideally speaking, information technology has enormous potential for
impacting development. Theoretically, information technology directly
lessens the costs associated with imperfect information. In this way,
information technology has the potential to increase social capital—
and in particular bridging social capital which connects actors to
resources, relationships and information beyond their immediate
environment.
o People in remote areas or with limited resources now have the
potential to access information traditionally found only in major urban
libraries; however, this is possible only if they can locate a computer
and a phone line.
o Information technology allows firms to establish relationships with
suppliers and other contractors at a lower cost and at a wider range.
o Goods can now be sold via the internet which permits access to greater
markets which before could only be reached by those with enough
capital to afford transportation. Cooperatives of craftspeople are
beginning to sell their wares to consumers in industrialised nations via
the internet. This typically requires an internet- accessible non-
governmental organisation (NGO) to act as intermediary between the
producers and the consumers. This allows the producers to access new
markets and cut out the traditional high cost middle-man.
o Civic participation in politics and society in general can be solicited
through the internet. Government can decentralise while staying in
close ‘virtual’ contact to facilitate coordination. Volunteerism can be
generated by putting people in touch with the NGOs which speak to
their interests and values.
o However, with technological advances and globalisation come
unprecedented risks—that poor people and entire societies will be
excluded from global economic growth.
 Threats to Social Capital:
o The concept of ‘Population as a Social Capital’ has played a central role
in the recent global debate about the preconditions for democracy and
democratisation. In the newer democracies this phrase has properly
focused attention on the need to foster a vibrant civic life in soils
traditionally inimical to self-government.
o In the established democracies, ironically, growing numbers of citizens
are questioning the effectiveness of their public institutions at the very
moment when liberal democracy has swept the globe, both
ideologically and geopolitically. In America, at least, there is reason to
suspect that this democratic disarray may be linked to a broad and
continuing erosion of civic engagement that began a quarter of a
century ago. Is a comparable erosion of social capital under way in
other advanced democracies, perhaps in different institutional and
behavioural guises?
o The traditional base is, however, shifting and changing. Future of social
capital is bound to be influenced by new elements. Changes in family
structure (i.e., with more and more people living alone), are a possible
element as conventional avenues to civic involvement are not well-
designed for single and childless people. Suburban sprawl has
fractured the spatial integrity of people.
o They travel much further to work, shop and enjoy leisure
opportunities. As a result there is less time available (and less
inclination) to become involved in groups. Electronic entertainment,
especially television, has profoundly privatised leisure time. The time
we spend watching television is a direct drain upon involvement in
groups and social capital building activities. It may contribute up to 40
per cent of the decline in involvement in groups.
o Last but not least, the civic values and virtues of the people need to be
explored. In this case, there is the existence of a paradoxical situation.
Some of the basic civic virtues and values like law-abidingness,
honesty and truthfulness are very much present among the people.
 o But these positive qualities have become somewhat irrelevant for the
people in the sense that the government tends to take the people for
granted. So the law abiding and peace loving are conventionally
ignored by the powers that be.

From ethics

o 2.0. Social Capital

o What, exactly is social capital? For CEE states, especially those about to enter
the EU,
o building social capital may be even more valuable that investing merely in
physical,
o financial and human capital. Physical capital comprises the machinery, tools
and
o technology of production. Financial capital refers to money. The people who
produce
o goods and services are human capital. Social capital refers to the bonds of
mutual respect
o and care among members of a collective. Social capital allows for reducing the
o transaction costs of economic exchange (Wiegel, 1997).
o Human capital is invested in people. Social capital is invested in relationships
among
o people. When public administrators invest in social capital, government earns
a big return
o on investment. Public administrators earns currency in the form of increased
trust in
o governance:
o 4
o We can think of it as money in the “relationship bank.” As we work with
people
o over time, deposits are made. We learn when someone gives us their word that
we
o can count on it or that when they make commitment, these commitments are
kept.
o We learn through working with them that we can count on them for straight
talk
o and reliable action. When we have worked with someone over time and they
have
o built up a trust account with us, if they are suddenly less than candid or they
do not
o meet a commitment, we are likely to give them the benefit of the doubt.
However,
 o there is a point at which the balance in the relationship bank becomes depleted
and
o trust changes to mistrust. That is the point at which people begin to disengage
from
o the relationship (Axelrod, 2000, p. 168).
o When public administrators fail to invest in social capital, they lose
legitimacy, add to
o cynicism, and reduce the willingness of citizens, businesses and interest
groups to bear
o the costs of painful reforms.
o Without large investments in social capital, the tens of billions of dollars of
World Bank
o and other local taxpayer monies allocated to modernize the economies of CEE
and NIS
o states are liable to be wasted, deepening the chasm of mistrust and cynicism,
fostering
o more corruption and increasing citizen apathy. The currency of social capital
is trust
o (Rose, 1996; Fukuyama, 1995). The “cash value” of this currency is real. As
trust in
o government continues to plummet, CEE and NIS states will need a new
Marshall Plan to
o increase investment in social capital even more than they need infusions of
World Bank
o and other financial capital.
o Economists have compiled 30 years of multivariate statistical analysis to
demonstrate that
o earnings from social capital help lift trust in governance (Putnam, 1999).
Likewise,
o psychologists have compiled 30 years of multivariate statistical analysis to
demonstrate
o that the level of social capital in any human system is dependent on its
collective level of
o emotional intelligence (Goleman, 1997). The higher the level of group
emotional
o intelligence, the higher the level of social capital. Would it be too far-fetched,
therefore,
o to conclude that “social capital” is nothing more than an abstract name that the
discipline
o of economics gives to what neuroscientists call “emotional intelligence”?

Social well-being and quality of life

Settlement Geography

 Types and patterns of rural settlements;

 Environmental issues in rural settlements;
 Hierarchy of urban settlements;
 Urban morphology: Concepts of primate city and rank-size rule;
 Functional classification of towns;
 Sphere of urban influence;
 Rural - urban fringe;
 Satellite towns;
 Problems and remedies of urbanization;
 Sustainable development of cities.

 Since settlements grow over time scale, they give an indication of the
mans exploitation of surrounding.
o For ex: where each new technological innovation in agriculture
had its effect on settlement pattern.
o Nuba tribe  traditional settlements on fortified hill tops
where farming land was restricted  political stability 
moved down to plains and do agriculture.
 Settlement patterns are also changed by immigrants:
o European colonialists carried their styles to other places.
 o Kampung settlement in Malaysia which was loose group of
buildings has now changed to more compact villages with
miners settling in Tin areas and planters in rubber estates.
 Settlements also reflect religious and social customs of the society
o Temple, Mosques, Churches
o Community halls, haveli of local ruler, Weekly market place.
o Settlements where several different groups of people are
throwned together, the towns or village may be divided into
separate quarters, each distinguished by a particular building
style or house arrangement by different religious building.
 Indian sections in Africa
 Chinese sections in South east Asia
 European quarters in India
 Classification of settlements:
o On the basis of chief occupation of people
 Town: trade or industry
 Village: Agriculture
 This classification is not dependent upon the population.
 Some economic activity like mining, fishing or lumbering
are found in villages but they can be distinguished from
towns with similar occupation with small scale of
operation, lack of commercial shopping centre and lack
of industries.
o On the basis of pattern or shape
 Dispersed
 Farms and homes are scattered over large areas.
 Nucleated
 People prefer to live close together
 Square/Compact
 Star shaped
o This pattern is common to both villages and
towns. Houses spreading out in several
directions, caused by nes development along
major roads.
 Linear
 Houses are arranged along side road or along a
river bank or a levee, along the edge of a valley or a
long a coast.
o On the basis of site/position or situation
 Site: Actual piece of ground on which settlement is build
 Situation/position: location of village or town in relation
to surrounding areas.
  Village may be sighted at river bank and a town may be
sighted at a particular point on the course of river where
it may be easier to build a bridge.
 Settlements situated in centre of fertile agriculture areas
may grow into market towns and town situated at
contrasting of two border areas like mountain and plain
and may draw resourced from both.
 Size and pattern of settlement are related to site and
situation
 Island settlements compact
 River settlement linear
 Site and situation are also determined by the function:
 Mining town sighted near mineral resource
 Fishing ports must be sited near sheltered
anchorages.
 Industrial towns may be situated at nodal points
where all the raw material can be obtained.
o Functions of towns:
 Major functions of trade, transport, resource extraction,
industrial production, defense, administration, culture
and recreation.
 In many cases, tows may have more than one major
function  Diversified towns.
 Towns and villages may change their function with time
which may be very unrelated.
 Earlier fortified villages have developed into
industrial sites but fortification of the area is
unrelated to the function now being served. It
causes more traffic and congestion problems.

Why major classification on the basis of Urban and Rural:

 In the study of settlements, it is important to consider all the aspects

of size, pattern, shape, site, situation and function into
consideration because they are closely dependent upon one another.
This makes the classification difficult but division between urban and
rural is very clear.
  They differ in function for rural settlements are concerned mainly
with one activity, usually agriculture, while towns have a number of
occupations, usually including trade.
 Because of their different purposes they also differ in their
relationship with the environment, and most important factors of
site and situation are rather different for villages and towns.

It is therefore most convenient to treat rural and urban settlements

separately.

Rural Settlements:

In rural settlements, the most basic siting factors (like food, water, shelter
and protection) are at work (as all like shifting cultivators, nomads, herders
etc have dame requirements). If these needs are provided, other factors
like planning can come into play and affect the siting of settlements.

 Sitting factors of rural settlements:

o Water Supply:
 It is the most necessary of the human needs.
 Ex of settlements away from water are very rare
 defense (On hill tops)  Dew ponds, deep wells,
dams
 Economic factors (Mining)  pipelines
 Usually, settlements are found near lake, river, springs,
wells
 It is the need of water which drove people to settle in
otherwise disadvantageous sites like Islands surrounded
by swamps and low lying flood plains and river banks.
 Wet point settlements/water based settlements
 Water body makes these functions easy:: Drinking,
cooking, household purpose, irrigation, fishing,
defense, transport.
 Spring and wells allow settlements to survive in
areas where few rivers flow like deserts or
extensive limestone areas.
 Spring line settlements occur where a ridge
of permeable rock lies over impermeable rock and
 there will be a line of springs along the boundary
between the two layers. It sometimes happens that
a sequence of spring line (or springline)
settlements will arise around these springs,
becoming villages. In each case to build higher up
the hill would have meant difficulties with water
supply; to build lower would have taken the
settlement further away from useful grazing land
or nearer to the floodplain.

o Land
 Suited to the crops of the settlers.
 Early settlers in Europeans avoided swampy and
marshy low lying lands and settles in rolling
country
 When Mongoloids chose to settle in South East Asia
in low lying river valleys and coastal plains which
were suited to their wet rice cultivation.
 Suited to the tools and implements of the people.
 For example in India, progressive civilizations have
settled from Indus to Magadh because of the
transition from Bronze to Iron which made it
easier to plough and clear forests and clayey Ganga
plain.
 Most original rural settlements were self sufficient but
now they chose a site where they have access to variety
of types of land including pasture, arable land and
woodland.

o Dry land
 Where ever people have got water and land of their
choice, they chose dry lands which are not subject to
frequent flooding.
 Dry points
 Outside rivers bends (on the point bar side), on
terraces or on levees.
 On the foot of prominent hills
 On islands in marshes and lakes: Khadir Bet and
Bela Island in Rann of Kachch.
 On sandy beach ridges
  On man made mounds
 Houses on piles or stilts:
o Protection from floods and animal insects
and pests.
o In tropical countries it keeps them cool by
allowing air to circulate beneath them.
o Majuli Island.

o Shelter
 Availability of building material
 Most common building material is wood and stone
 most villages were built on forest clearings
 Cave dwellings in China formed by excavation of
soft limestone.
 In regions with few trees like African Savanna,
chief building material is earth clay, mud bricks.
(India)
 In polar regions, ice blocks are used for making
Igloo.
 Climatic conditions:
 In mountainous areas people chose sunny south
facing slopes in northern and in southern
hemisphere vice versa because they are warmer.
 People avoid wind swept heights, frost hollows and
areas prone to amp unhealthy mist.
 They have to protect houses with wind breaks of
trees in windy areas, coastal villages are sheltered
on bays or lagoons.
 Health:
 People generally do not settle in disease prone
areas like the low lying areas of Italy which were
malarial were not settled until malaria had been
brought under control.

o Defence
 Most villages were created in distant past when political
instability, hostility of neighbouring groups and other
causes of insecurity made a defensive site a great
advantage.
  Therefore villages were built on defensible hills, islands
or promontories.
 Inselberg in Nigeria
 All the forts in Rajasthan (Chittorgarh, Amber)
 Many villages though not actually built on hills were
located at foot so that people can retreat in to fortified
heights.
 Near monasteries or castles of powerful nobles which
offered some protection.

o Planned settlement
 When other necessities are fulfilled, then lanners can
arrange new settlements.
 In earliest times land lords conquerors or govts who
wished to impose greater order on their possession or to
streamline agricultural production.
 It is mostly associated with recent expansion in unsettled
land like in central and western Us and Canada. Where
grid iron pattern was rigidly applied.
 They do not resemble established villages.

 Rural settlement pattern

This can be approached in two ways:
o Size of settlements (in relation to environment):
 Isolated building or group of buildings
 Houses built on farms so as to minimise the
distance travelled every day to the farm.
 Ranches in US and cattle farms in Australia.
 Hamlet
 Found in remote areas where population is sparse
 They consist of only a few farms and houses and
also shops or post office which not only serve the
hamlet but also outlying farms and houses
 Pennines of Northern England
 Village
 Typical form of rural settlement
 Contains public buildings like Temple, church,
village halls, post office, apart from houses and
farms.
 Size of village is determined by number of factors.
  Absolute size of population
 Ability of the land to support population
(Similar concept like optimum size)
 Pre conceived Plan: govt. policy to control
settlement.
 Stage of development: changes in population
due to outside development
o Successive population and
depopulation due push and pull factors
(Industry will lead to an increase)
 Size may also be in terms of aerial dimensions:
 For ex: with same population, garden and
farms surrounding each house will lead to a
larger village as compared to a village where
all the houses are located at a place
surrounded by all the farms.
 Limiting factors such as hill and swamps
limit the growth of village in that direction.
 Island and hill top villages are restricted
from all the directions.

o Types of rural settlement patterns:

 Nucleated
 Most common of the settlements
 Human is a social animal dislike solitude
 They share tools and develop common lands
together
 Defence against animals or people
 Villages established by clearing forests or
other vegetation are small and compact.
 They take many shapes depending on number of
factors including original site, historical and social
factors and methods of farming.
 Limitations of site
o They govern farm or shape
o Valley with steep sides will have a
linear village spread along a valley
floor.
  For ex: villages in French and
swiss alps, South Wales
o Levee settlements
 Linear and parallel to river
o Settlements on Islands or hill tops are
square or circular
 Hill top villages of Italy
o Pattern in Desert areas is determined
by reach to water
o When no restrictions of site, pattern is
governed by other factors.
 Farming organization and land tenure
o Nucleated villages in centre of the
village lands
 Medieval Europe where owners
had scattered land holdings
o The shape of villages vary
 Square and compact
 Cross or star shaped with houses
arranged along several roads
leading from the village centres
to the field.
 Often a village would be linear.
 Along road in India
 Owner ship of land in large
estates or small land holdings
may also affect village
arrangements
 Centrally situated
settlements allow workers
to reach all the parts of the
estate.
 Transhumance:
 Valley villages nucleated
 Mountain houses scattered
because land is held
communally there.
 Restrictions imposed by
planning authority or planning
body
  Ex Aymara villages: where
village elders allocate the
land
 In India caste system (Two
nucleated settlements in
close associations)
 Tribal taboos and religious
significance also restrict
settlement
 Volta river scheme which
restricted settlememnts by
govt. interference
 Date of development
o Star shaped or large square villages
may be interspersed with linear
settlements which are probably the
new ones
 Changes in Pattern with time:
o Present day shape and size of th settle
emnt may be quite different from their
original patterns. This can be caused
due to several factors:
 Agricultural techniques
 With increase in
mechanisation, decrease in
size of village due to
dwindling population

 Massive emigration and

immigration
 Villages depopulated due
to emigration which might
be due to war, or famines,
or floods etc
 Villages may grow in
population. For eg city
dwellers prefer to stay in
villages and commute daily
to their work in towns.
They will form isolated
settlements like
 farmhouses along the
roads

 New villages
 Completely rebuilding the
villages which are set up
after a disaster or for a
special purpose
 Like in Sri Lanka (after
Eelam War IV) or
Malaysia(to protect from
communist forces)

o Dispersed

 Human instinctively prefers a closed knit family in which

it can find company and safety but sometimes other
demands dominates and hence dictates the Dispersed
settlement.
 Found in areas where farmer is required to live on his
land, livestock rearing is generally the main occupation.
Their farm sizes are large and population large and
scattered. For Ex: Central Australia and Northern Canada,
western USA. Suc Areas have difficulties of climate or
land quality that means farms are large but some areas
have rich farm land and good climate. Here the scattered
settlement is explained by social or historical factors.
 History of Nucleated to dispersed settlement in US:
 17th Century  traditional nucleated settlements of
European on New England and Southern states
( Because land similar to Europe, 1st settlements in
forest clearing and along the coast, defence against
Red Indians, dictated nucleated patterns,
distinctive religious groups of settlers therefore
closed community)
 Period of exploration and expansion along major
rivers  linear pattern along the river side (Loose
i.e. far away from each other parallel to the river).
  19th Century settlements move into the empty
prairie land  no forest to clear hence dispersed
(No red Indians).
 Empty western lands owned by US and Canada
more immigrants coming  fair distribution of
land required  Land divided by grids into
townships (Grid and iron system)Large areas
were assigned in the western areas because harsh
climate and less fertile land.
 Use of machinery in Mid west has made small
farms relatively unviable  people selling lands to
neighbours and moving to towns.
 As a result of this settlement policy, much of
this US and Canada west of Appalachians is
divided into regular rectangles almost
irrespective of the lie of the land. Roads follow
division between sections and thus are usually
straight running either east west or north
south.
 Homestead Act  settlements are evenly
dispersed all over the area.
 There is practically no village settlements
depend upon nearest towns for services.
 Changes in settlement pattern in recent time:
 It is now no longer mandatory for the former
to occupy his own land continuously and in
some part of US and Canada, people are
moving to new towns, only temporarily
occupying farms.
 This is also to overcome the problem of
isolation.
 Though villages can never be established in
such areas, a pattern of small towns and
fewer isolated farms has started emerging.
 These kind of settlements are not only restricted to new
land, but they are rarer in Asia and Africa than in Europe.
 Europe:
 Fencing of lands by individuals into separate farms
instead of old common fields  Enclosure took
place between 16th and 18th century.
 In England: Dispersed were formed after village
common system was abolished. People started
 fencing there lands or moved out of the village. 
Population decreased and dispersed settlements
were formed.
 Overpopulation also led to the formation of
dispersed settlement.
 There are some traditional dispersed settlements
also: northern Scotland.
 Almost always of relatively recent date.
 Disperse settlement of Prairies established in 19th
century
 Such settlements in Europe were established long after
older nucleated settlements were long settled.
 New techniques have made hitherto unusable areas
productive.
 Improved transportation and communication has
decreased isolation.
 Even in North America, people have started to move
towards urban centres.

 Function of settlements

o Agriculture: Isolated -> farms

o Village-> housing people
o Social centre-> shopping centre, halls, clubs
o Religious function
o Administrative -> Village council, panchayat, sabha
o Fishing villages -> river, lake or coast. Main occupation is
fishing but some agriculture also done
o Mining villages-> more common in past where mining was
more a small scale activity
o Lumbering villages -> not a true village because it is a
temporary settlement.

 Evolution of rural settlements

o Settlements evolve with time from one form to another.
o Revise Nucleated to dispersed evolution for US and Europe.
o In Europe where transhumance is practiced  no labour  hill
side settlements are now being abandoned.
 o Places which are undergoing rural reforms like Mexico and
India. Land is being redistributed and this leads to dispersed
settlement.
o Modern economic development (Dams, HEP, forest clearing,
mining, oil exploration)  rehabilitation and these settlements
tend to be very different.
o Hitherto unoccupied lands in the underdeveloped areas are
being opened for settlements.
o With time Not only pattern and size of settlement changes but
also their function.
 Discovery of mineral resource can turn village into
industrial towns
 Fishing villages can grow into a port or sea side resort.
 Influx or urban people can also lead to change. (Urban to
suburban migration takes away the uniqueness of rural
settlements.)

 Planned rural settlement

o Rural settlement pattern that we see today is either a result of

adjustment to environment which has been going on since
centuries or the result of govt. policy to settle new areas to
settle population.
o Some settlements are spontaneous but others are carefully
planned by the govt.
o Planed settlements in the past were not as expensive as they
are today because provisions of many facilities have to be
considered.
o Therefore merits and demerits have to be understood.
o Advantages and disadvantages of planned rural settlements.
Urban settlements

Distinction between rural and urban is on the basis of economic activities f

the people and not on the basis of population.
Like rural settlements, their location also depends on food, water supply,
dry lands and defensive possibilities etc. but towns rely much more on
situation in terms of other settlements and geography of the surrounding
areas.
For ex: Paris was an Island in the river Seine (Defensive site, good for
economic growth because Bridge construction, converging routes at this
location  centrality enhanced  Administrative and cultural centre of
France)
The advantages of a situation of a town are also governed by its function.
For ex: a port is to be build has to be sites on a coast, river, and estuary.
Also it has to be able to be reached by sea ships. It has to have a good
connectivity with well endowed Hinterland. New York. (Island, connected
to inland via Hudson valley, well connected to hinterland and productive
hinterland, trade and industry grew, pool of labour formed by immigrants,
grew into major industrial town)
Inertia is an important factor of town development. Even if the original
advantage is lost or new problems arise (flooding of some parts in London),
the town continues to grow. The frequently flooded areas of London have
been made safe by constructing a barrage. Exhaustion of mineral resource
in a mining town will not lead to decline of the town because of other
advantages in terms of labour availability, good transport links and other
advantages which allow other industries to grow.

Some towns may observe a fresh wave of growth if functions of the town
changes. For ex: Evolution of many fishing port towns into mainly a tourist
place.

Town Sites
 Although the basic requirements of sites of village and towns are the
same, but not every village can grow into a town because of different
functions they serve.
 In modern times, villages may develop into towns as a result of
residential and suburban development.
 First towns were trading centres at advantageous locations along
ancient route ways. Most often they were established by traders and
then local population migrated to these locations to earn living. For
Ex: Jews in Europe and Indian, Chinese and Arab traders helped
initiate town growth.
 Although situation is more important than site for towns but some
sites have certain advantages which leads to concentration of
population and growth of trade rather than trade attracting
population.
 Three main Sitting advantages:

o Resource Site
 Mining towns, fishing ports.
 Transport resources. Ex: Gaps in mountain ranges,
bridging points on rivers. But these are valuable if there
situation is also valuable and warrants town
development. See town situation for details.
 Mineral and power resources
 Growth very rapid and spectacular. Even in
inaccessible and inhospitable areas. Ex: Kalgooorlie
(Gold mining Australia), Copper mine and port
Radium in Canada and Norilsk in Northern Siberia
for Nickel.
 Mineral development does not always lead to
urban growth:
o Earliest coal mining villages
o Running water as power 
o HEP  Electricity easily transportable and
hence It is not the determining factor. HEP
plant does not itself warrants large
employment.
 Despite these exceptions mineral and power
resources have caused urban growth in many parts
of the world.
o CoalAll the industries which require coal
supplies get located near the coal fields
Industrial towns  when fuel exhausted,
industries can not change location 
continued even after coal exhausted or some
other fuel replaced the coal.
o Iron Ore Same as coal.
 o Some towns in coal field areas where other
advantages do not operate may decline if
coal has exhausted(Northern England,
Northern France, Appalachian coal field in
US). But others which have good transport
links, access to sea or other advantage are
less likely to decline for ex: Ruhr of germany
and midlands of England.
 Coastal sites are advantageous due to ExIm trade.
 Other resources.
 Which attract tourists.
 Hill station: Simla, Cameroon Highlands in Malaysia
 Watering places: spring sites, Cannes in France and
Miami in Florida.
 Sea side resorts: resorts in Singapre Vis-à-vis hotel
development in Puri,
 Sports facilities: Mountain villages grow into
towns, generally winter towns.
 Scenery: Paris, Vienna Rome Bangkok etc which
attract people for historical buildings and sceneries
 Religious or cultural factors: Jerusalem, Mecca,
Rome
 Educational factors: Oxford, Science town in
Siberia.
 Administrative towns:

o Defensive Site
 Most important factor in sitting early towns  roch
traders nd craftsmen needed protection against hostile
armies, in conflict situation, rural population also moved
inside the town.
 Hill top sites
 Give as a commanding position overlooking any
possible enemy advances. They are difficult to
approach especially if hill sides are steep. Ex:
Accropolis sites: Athens in Greece, Ibadan in
Nigeria, Edinburgh in Scotland, Fort towns in India
 Island sites
 They are easy to defend because they are difficult
to approach.
 Island in swamps: Hamburg.
  Riverine Islands Paris, Montreal.
 Offshore Islands New York, Venice, Bombay.
 Some locations are only partly surrounded by
water but they are easily defended because the
approach of the town is narrow. Ex: Gibraltor,
Durham in England.

o Sheltered Site
 Sheltered Bays and inlets like bays, estuaries, lagoons,
straits, rias, fiords between the mainland and offshore
islands are chosen as ports because they provide
protection against high winds and rough seas.
 They can also be easily defended in case of an attack. For
ex Plymouth is built on a ria.
 Singapore is sheltered offshore islands of Pulau Santossa
and Pulau Brani
 Ri de Jenerio on a bay.

Town Situations
 The situation of a town is its relationship with the surrounding
region.
 Most town situations can be classified in one of the three classes:
 Linear
o They are usually those whose main advantages are those of
trade and transport.
o Towns grow up at a specific points along lines of
communications.
o They may be at places where stops must be made or changes
must take place in the mode of transport or they may be at
point on a route where other routes cross or converge with it.
 Halts and Caravanserais
 Among the earliest and simplest types of towns
some of which are still important.
 They are generally points along an established
route where traders moving along the road,
habitually stopped because of food , water, shelter
etc (lodging, stable for animals, storage facilities
for goods etc)
 Scattered along routes between the cities at a
distance which can be traversed in a day’s journey.
  Ancient halts in central Asia (Azrak in Jordan,
Palmyra in Syria) -> made irrelevant due to
evolution of modern transport.
 Towns in Europe and north America in modern
times which cater to the passer bys..
 Ports of call:
o On rather inhospitable coast,
o Serve long distance shipping for food , water
and fuel
o Examples include cape town in south Africa
(built by Dutch, used by bristish and other
European coloniers)
o Aden on red sea for trade with India,
o Colombo in the route from west to Singapore
and east asia
o Ocean islands . Example : Hawaii, St Helena
o Gan airbase for air transport

 Constriction or obstruction of routes

 Towns often grow up where otherwise easy
routeways meet an obstacle such as:
o constricted flow in gorges or river
entering or leaving a large lake,
 Rhine gorge in Germany
 Ichang gorge town on Yangtze river in
China
 Ontario at the point where St Lawrence
river leaves lake ontario

o Mountain passes or gaps

 These are the locations where several
roads and railways converge to make
use of a single narrow gap through
highlands.
 Calgary in Canada (foot of rockies,
Kicking horse pass)
 Mendosa in Argentina (Andes ,
Uspallata)
 Kabul and Peshwar on either side of
Kyber pass
 o narrow straits on commanding locations:
 locals extract tolls for allowing trade
 Examples:
 Copenhagen on the narrow
Sound between Denmark and
Sweden at the entrance of Baltic
Sea;
 Istanbul on the Dardanelles
channel from the Mediterranean
to Black sea
 Penang, Malacca and Singapore
on the strait of Malacca
 Gibraltar and Tangier on either
side of strait of Gibraltar

o Oasis towns:
 They are necessary stages on a desert
journey, traders and travellers must
pass through them in order to obtain
fresh supply of water and food.

 Trans-shipment points
 At points where goods have to be transferred from
one type of vehicle to another, a town is very likely
to be built. The delay caused by the change over,
the need for warehouse facility, the provision of
the various type of transport required and the
provision of labour to load and unload cargoes, all
lead to the growth of towns in such positions.
 River crossings
o When there were no bridges earlier, goods
have to be ferried from one bank to another.
Hence there were towns on both the sides of
banks for uploading and unloading of cargo
and people. Their importance declines with
construction of bridges but they continue to
be crucial because of road and railway
likanges through them to other towns.
o Example: Until 1948, Changjiang (Yangtze
river)n in China had not been bridged at
 Nanjing and goods and passengers had to be
ferried across the river at this point.

 Mountain and desert crossing

o Many alpine towns owe their origination to
the fact that beyond a certain point in
mountains, wheeled vehicle cannot go and
further journey is to be carried out on mule,
horses. Eg : Pokhra and Nawakot in Nepal
o Similarly in deserts, a transition has to be
made from any other mode to camels.
o Example: Timbaktoo in Mali

 Heads of navigation
o At many points in river and canals , tans-
shipments from larger to smaller crafts is
necessary.
o For eg : in early days of European
settlements in N America. , large ships could
not go up St Lawrence river beyond Montreal
and from that point, goods were transported
inland by canoes which plied the great lakes
and wound their ways along rivers into
central Canada and Mid west in to USA. As
canlas improved, large ships were able to
penetrate further inland, so that today sea
going vessels can reach western end of Lake
Superior.
o For eg: west Bengal port pe saaman aata ahai
aur fir who river se andar transport kar diya
jaata hai .. khush !!!
o Changes in heads of navigation (deepest
the vessel can go into the river)
 due to silting of rivers, Malacca
reduced to small port, Chester in
Englad has lost its function
 development of larger and larger
vessels
 either ports evolved with
changing needs
 or ports declined in function due
to non evolution
 o

 Portages
o Falls and rapids cause obstruction in rivers
and though they sometimes mark the head of
the navigation, it is often possible to continue
by boat above the falls.
o For eg: before Welland and Soo canals were
made for bypassing Niagra fall portages
served the purpose.

 Ports
o The most important trans-shipments points
are those at which ocean navigation ends and
goods must be unloaded into smaller crafts
or onto land transport. AT these points ports
grow up.
o Ocean navigation may end at coast itself and
ports may be sited on bays or other sheltered
stretches of water.
o In some places, the heads of oceanic
navigation does not even reach the post or
the shore. For eg:
 Ships do not reach port in Persian Gulf,
oil is supplied to them via pipelines.
 Goods are supplied to ships via small
boats and they do not need (or can’t) to
come to ports.
o Ports are located on the lower reaches of
river or on major estuaries. In many cases
the head of ocean navigation is influenced by
tides which flowing up the rivers at certain
times of day allow shipping to penetrate
further inland. Many major ports grew up on
tidal estuaries including London, Bristol,
Quebec and Montreal.
o In many places the range of ocean navigation
has been extended inland by canals like Great
lakes in US.
o Most of the World’s great ports were little
affected because
  They deepend their channels
 Constructed deep water births nearer
the sea
 Created out ports to serve the main
ports
 Eg : Rotterdam: New-waterway was
constructed (like a canal) and europort
was constructe to divert the traffic on
the main port.
 London for example has many function
specific ports.
o New developments in shipping particularly
the construction of ever larger oil tankers
and bulk ore and grain transporters means
that new specialised ports are continuously
being developed at points where deep water
runs close to the shore.
o It is highly doubtful that these ports would
lead to development of towns as they are
very function specific and highly mechanised.
o New ports on deep water include oil
terminals.
o The importation of bulk cargoes will lead to
development of industry because this
minimizes the transport cost.

 Route convergence
 Development of towns where two or more route
cross or converge .
 There are many types of such routes:
o Similar routes convergence:
 Two valleys : Eg, Koblenz in Germany,
Innsbruck in Austria
 Two rivers: Kuala Lumpur (Kelang and
Gombak rivers)
 Two railway routes: Crewe and
Swindon in England, Mughal Sarai in
India
 Sea routes: Singapore
o Two or more Different route convergence:
 Lands route crossing rivers by ferries,
fords, bridges: London and Paris
  Land and sea routes: most obvious
convergence, one third of world’s large
towns are sea ports
 Sea and canals: Suez and Port Said
 Sea and River: Rotterdam which serves
as entry points to many European
countries
o Multiple route convergence
 When air route, sea route, river or
railway meet at one place, that position
is called nodal or focal position and
considered under central places than
linear places.

 Frontier
o They are those towns which are at border of two or more types
of land from which it can draw a variety of goods.
o This is an advantageous situation -> drawing different goods
from various areas -> acts as a trading centre
o Sometimes contrast in not in geography or economics but in
political and human factors.
o Different types of frontiers are as follows:
 Mountain and lowland contact
 This is marked by a line of towns which take
advantage of their situation to trade and exchange
the products of one region with those of the other.
 Concentration of variety of goods -> industrial
development
 Examples: Hannover, Leipzig and Dresden on the
southern border of north german plain
 These towns may have an added advantage of HEP
if rapids and waterfalls accompany the contact .
Examples: towns at foot of applacians like
Philadelphia, Baltimore, Richmond

 Desert and Savanna junction

 Advantage of transhipment
 Collect pdts from desert (dates, salts leather) and
savanna (wood, livestock, grains) and supply them
everywhere else.
  Examples: Timbaktoo in Mali, Zinder and Kano in
Nigeria

 Polder and Dryland contact

 Lowlying marshy polders contact with higher safer
and dryer lands
 Examples: Haarlem, Utrect and Hague in
Netherlands

 Coasts
 Imp for exim (goods from land as well as from
other nations through sea route)
 Can exploit marine resources.
 Numerous examples

 Frontier of settlement
 On contact of developed and underdeveloped land
 For eg: a series of towns grew up at rail heads as
settlement pushed west in USA
 In ussr too , many of the towns of Siberia can be
considered as frontier towns as they have been
establishd to encourage settlements in the empty
lands east of Europe.
 Brasilia is another town which has been
established to attract settlement in the under-
populated interior of Brazil.

 Peripheral and capital cities

 Political capitals may sometimes be situated on
borders or peripheries of the country which might
seem disadvantageous at first instant but has many
useful purposes:
o To strengthen hold over border area
especially disputed territories by increasing
the concentration of the population loyal to
the govt enabling better control of govt:
 Pakistan’s capital Islamabad
o Expansionist states may establish a capital
near the border as step towards further
expansion.
 o Advantages of defence-> population, military
strength an better infrastructure make it
hard to conquer
 Some border capitals owe their position to accident
rather than design:
o Washington DC switch from central to
border with expansion of US in west and
south
 New capital position at a neutral place between
two rival contending regions. For eh : Washington
DC between Northern and Southern US
 Central/focal
o Those at which because of their focal position are easily
reached from all directions and which in turn can exert their
influence over a wide radii.
o Those at the centre of areas with similar activities and products
or those at the focus of a large number of routes which radiate
in all direction.
o Resources centres
 Agricultural resource:
 They grow up at the centre of broad agricultural
areas.
 Act as trading centres, markets (providing services
and selling manufactured goods)
 Example: ALOR-STAR in Kedah plain of northern
Malaysia, Paris at the centre of fertile Paris Basin
 Towns located at the centres of plantation crops or
other such single crop where the produce can be
collected and processed and supplied to other
areas. For eg : Sao Paulo (coffee Brazil), Kuala
Lumpur (rubber, Malysia)
 Industrial/mining resource
 In South Africa Johannesburg is the centre of gold
mining . Ipoh in Malaysia (tin mining area) , Leeds
in England (woollen textile)
o Focal points
 towns are almost always situated at points where
routes converge
 where the lie of the land or central position of the
town favours the convergence of a large number of
routes
 Such towns are said to have nodal or focal situation
  Buenos Aires , central region of Pampas region (has
a tremendous rail, road, water, air connectivity
with the world)
 Singapore (convergence of multiple sea routes)

o Centrally located towns

 Central capital -> easy access to all the parts, good
administration and control
 Delhi (undivided India) which was preferred over
Calcutta as the capital
 Central location of older capital <- result of outward
expansion of state’s territorial possession and power
from the original capital (core area) Example: Rome,
Berlin

Functions of Towns:
 Besides site and situation, functions are also a very important
determinant of location of a town
 For eg; capitals may have a preferred location.
 As functions change, the advantages and disadvantages associated
with the town change. These have to be considered while analysing
sites and situations of a place.
 What do we look for when we study functions of a town:
o Only present day function
o How the site and situation affect the present day function
o How the function of the town affects its morphology
o All towns have trading functions of one sort or another but
they also have one other dominant function like
administration, defence, culture, religion.
 Classification of towns on the basis of dominant functions:
o Administrative
 Older established towns turned capitals
 These were major industrial centres or historically
important (like London)
 In some capitals trade and industry are well
established and the town has both administrative
and indusrial sectors unlike just administrative
capitals.
 These capitals have long and flourishing trade and
industry (hence large market and labour supply).
 New capitals formed just for the purpose
  For eg: Pakistan, Ottawa, Canberra etc
 Since newly formed, they are better planned and
built with administrative functions clearly in mind.
 Emphasis on open surrounding, gardens, parks
 New buildings often built in striking styles to make
the town as distinctive as possible.
 Especially in new capitals like Islamabad, and
Canberra, Industrial activity is strictly supervised
so that appearance of the town in not adversely
affected
 General points:
 Includes all administrative centres (dist hq, state
capital, national capital, etc) but administration
more visible in National capital (and also state
capitals like in India)
 Some gradually acquire the administrative function
by virtue of being the most prominent city of the
country and some are newly planned for historical,
political or strategic reasons. Hence the two
categories above
 Main function -> pubad -> all ministries, head
offices of PSUs, senior civil servants usually best
educational institutes, head offices of national
political parties etc
 Some industries are particularly associated with
administrative towns such as printing, publishing,
newspaper etc


o Defence
 Every town had a defensive function in the past but now
also countries continue to maintain armies, navy and
airforces, therefore some towns have evolved to fulfil this
specific function
 Some countries maintain Garrisons, air fields and naval
bases abroad. For eg : British and American yeh sab
everywhere on many islands in Pacific and Indian ocean.
 There is a clear dicision of land use in civil and military
authorities so that military installations are often at a
little distance from the town or are grouped together in
 one part of the town. This is necessary to maintain
security.

 Garrison
 Barracks, training facilities, air fields, special docks
and harbours
 They are less imp for other functions
 Example: Nova Scotia in Canada, Plymouth and
Portsmouth in England
 Naval
 Originally sheltered and easily defended harbours
and strategic positions
 They have a long tradition of naval function
 They usually develop commercial firms with naval
supplies, ship provisions etc

 Air base
 They are of recent origin
 Isolated because of large land requirements (air
fields, hanger, barracks, etc)
 Eg : Salisbury plain in southern England

o Cultural
 Many towns have cultural functions like education,
entertainment, art, religious centres etc but some have
culture as their major function
 Education :
 Cambridge in England; Cambridge Mass (Harvard
University), Heidelberg in Germany, Novosibirsk in
former Soviet Union, Oxford in UK etc
 Oxford was once based solely on education but
now it has also grown some industries
 Has all provision which cater to students besides
the university buildings.
 Newer university towns are often on the outskirts
of the town in separate grounds.
 Entertainment
 Stratford on Avon, Birthplace of Shakespeare;
Hollywood in California; Cannes in France
 Religious centres:
  May be the seat of religious leaders like Rome of
Pope; Lhasa, once the seat of Dalai Lama;
 Or the centres of pilgrimage like Jerusalem, Mecca,
Varanasi in India,

o Collection centres
 Raw materials are obtained and may be refined upto
some extent but where there are few if any oter
industries or major activities
 Mining centres :
 Some industry related to the minerals mined but
traders in th town may specialise in clothing for
miners, mining equipments,
 Fishing ports:
 Primary fishing activities (landing, cleaning, drying
storing, freezing plant etc)and other services which
cater to fishing communities like boat building, net
making and repairing, making of barrels, boxes etc
 Lumbering:
 Collect and partly process the logs of woods
collected.
 Pulp making and wood based manufacturing
industries can also be found
 Lumbering towns are found in almost all countries
with coniferous forest.
 These lumbering towns are also now also
important conservation centres.

o Production centres:
 Where manufacturing industry is the major function
 Type of industry affects the appearance of the town
(electronic goods dominated towns vs iron and steel
industry town)
 Use of coal as a source of power in old industries has an
effect on ascetics.
 Lepaited industrial township of small and ugly houses
common in Industrial revolution cities. In modern times,
more planned, clean cities townships are being built
 Transport lines are essential for such towns therefore
would be set up on lines of communication than in
 established towns. For eg : Tokyo-osaka region,
Neemrana industrial area between delhi and Mumbai
 Industries might be located very close by or scattered
 It may rely on a single company or multiple.
 Advantages of Urban allglomeration :They often tend to
specialise so that similar industries are located near by.
For eg textile manufacturing, woollen manufacturing,
automobile manufacturing (Detroit in USA)
 Vertical integration : raw material to final pdt

o Transfer and distribution centres

 These towns have trade as their major function
 Market towns
 Characterised by large markets, wide range of
shops and stores, large warehousing and
wholesaling districts.
 They have large number of financial organisations:
Banks or insurance organisations
 Towns of international market stature will
typically have stockmarkets as well as biggest
financial hubs or institutions
 Transport well developed because trade is the
chief function
 Large variety of goods available -> industrial
development (like availability in cotton lead to
development of Bombay)
 Ports
 The most imp trading and distribution centres.
Tokyo, Shanghai, London, NY, Hongkong,
Singapora, Sydney etc are all port towns.
 Major financial and insutrial centres because of
large available of goods and their importance for
trade.
 You can also export from here.
 Surrounding the port has large residential and
industrial centres.
 Not all ports have similar functions as described
below:
o General ports: no specialisation, generally
small
 o Passenger ports: specialise in passenger
handling, have hotels, resorts etc. the ports
have to be deep enough to allow these cruise
to dock on ports.
o Packet stations: terminals of ferries which
ply across shallow and narrow channels such
as English channels, Baltic and north sea (roll
on and roll off services)
o Outports: their chief function is to handle
ships which cannot reach the main port
because of silting or large ship.
o Entrepot ports: those ports which just
import for re-exporting rather than for
distribution within hinterland of the port.
Singapore and Rotterdam are entreport
ports.
 Import raw material and export
processed material.Both Singapore an
Rotterdam import crude oil, refine
them and export the refined pdts
 They have huge warehousing facilities
and other financial centres
 Some of them have well developed
industrial centres. Eg : Singapore
o Tidewater industrial towns
 Port function in these towns may be
less important tha port function
 They import very specific goods like
iron ore, coal etc which are processed
on the spot (like Jamnagar refinery in
India)

 Financial towns
 Here finance is major function than trade or
distribution.
 Like Zurich and Geneva in Switzerland, Amsterdam
in Netherlands
 In major towns, they have finance specific areas.
(for eg: Dalal street in Mumbai)

o Resorts
  Cater for the recreational needs of people in surrounding
areas or country
 Scenic, health purpose, mountain climbing or skiing
 Hotel, art and craft shops, sporting facilities,
entertainment facilities, residential complexes of the
people.
 they have clear sections for tourists and for the local
population
 Resorts are increasing in number due to revenues
associated with thems.

o Residential towns
 Chief function to house people
 Commercial centres may be small in comparison to
residential centres but large uncraese in population is
matched by some increase in commercial activity
 These include suburbs or dormitory towns (also new
towns or over spill towns)

o Towns of Diversified function :

 Since towns are classified according to major functions, it
might be difficult ot put towns like London, Paris, Delhi,
Mumbai etc in one of the above categories and hence
they are called Diversified towns.
 Also many towns have a number of subsidiary function
besides their main function

o Functional changes in towns:

 Like physical appearance, function of the town changes
 Like a port can change to capital which can further
change to a tourist city
 Old port towns because of silting have to abandon their
port operation
 Sometimes small towns shift their position because of
more advantages (like from hill top to plains)
 Disasters like flood or earthquake may also result in
relocation of towns. Disasters often affect internal
structure of towns far more than their actual site or their
position (Urban renewal. Town planning etc).
 Example: Like an Francisco was rebuilt after a
major earthquake in 1906 at the same place.
  Like Delhi comes in Earthquake zone IV and nobody is
thinking along the lines of relocating Delhi

URBAN MORPHOLOGY:
 The internal structure and arrangement of towns (function of site,
function, history of development)
o arrangement of roads and buildings,
o arrangement of different population or functional zones
 Two types towns:
o Old haphazard towns:
 Randomly arranged streets at different angles from one
another and of different widths.
 Might be due to restricted space (Defensive walls which
might turn into disadvantage as the town grwos)
 Newer sections reflect planning and are very different
from town centres.
 Re-planning difficult due to resistance from owners of
land, irregular plots and lack of agreement among
people.
 Urban renewal and re-planning is widely realized
because of present day needs (Motorways, recreation)
o Planned towns:
 Ancient planned towns:
 Greek, Roman Chinese, Indians
 Even they are congested because of enormous
population.
 These plans for ideal towns are based on two kinds
of patterns
o Grid iron
 Much of the US and Canada.
 It was meant for rural land but has
been also adopted for city woth blocks
of much smaller size.
 Streets N-S, E-W.
 Has also been used on colonial lands.
o Radial pattern
 Long straight streets ending in a
monument or palace.
 Also called vistas example, Versailles
in France, Washington DC, Brasilia and
many other South American capitals.
 o These employed from 17th century onwards
for new towns and rebuilding sections of old
towns after the invention of printing made
sharing of ideas
o Ideas put into practice in north and South
America. New towns in Europe built in 18th
and 17th centuries also employed both
modern and ancient plans.
o Both Vistas and grid iron have been rejected
by modern town planners because of new
emphasis on open space, greenery and trees
rather than country side. Therefore modern
towns often have curved streets with trees.
For Ex: Welwyn garden city in UK, Canberra
in Australia.
o Other factors like shopping centres and tall
skyscrapers and blocks of offices have also
affected the shape of towns.
o Tall skyscrapers replace older houses 
substantial areas for recreational use 
unfortunate social effects (DO not encourage
community spirit, use of high rise has often
been associated with increasing vandalism in
the youth)

 Zoning

o Urban Morphology is not only concerned with physical towns

and their history of development but also with variation of
lands use and function within town.
o There can be many causes for this zoning:

 Population zoning
 Causes by differences of population groups.
 Racial/linguistic groups
o For company of fellow country men,
traditional food, own language newspapers
o To escape prejudices against them in other
parts of the towns.
 o Ex: African American quarters like Harlem in
New York. Sections in British town where
West Indians or Pakistani live, European
quarters in colonial towns. Ex: Allahabad.
 Nationality:
o Chinese and Indian areas in Malaysia.
o China towns in South east Asia, US
o Greek, Italian or Irishmen in London.
o Jewish quarter in Europe and middle eastern
cities.
 Religious
o Ex: Important in areas like northern Ireland
(Belfast: distinct catholic and protestant
areas)
 Cultural
o Ex: Latin quarters in Paris where students,
architects and artists congregate.
 Income
o Suburbs mainly occupied by wealthier
citizens while the centre of the cities is home
to poorer people.
o Ex: High class district near the centre of the
town: Knightsbridge in London.
o Squater settlement or slums on the edge of
the towns as found in many Asian-Afrcan and
South American countries.
o Colored local people or immigrants in US or
Britain are usually less well of and live in
slum like houses.

 Functional Zoning
 Working of economic laws often results in
functional zoning of towns.
 Therefore shops, business place  located at the
centre of the town where all lines of transport
meet.
 Residential land use on the outskirts of the
towns streets are quiter and more pleasant and
land availability.
 Therefore cost Decreases from central to transition
area and then again increases on the outskirts.
 Functional zoning in new world:
o Central business district (CBD)
 Land value is often highest 
maximum extraction of cost through
building high rises and also
accommodates large working people
 Mainly used for shops, offices, business
enterprises.
 Chief focus for traffic in the town.
o Transition Zone
 Number of land uses (Older buildings,
Filling stations, Supermarkets,
boarding houses, some hotels and
some industrial activity)
 Above uses reflect the conflict between
the need for a central position and cost
of the land.
 Super markets, filling stations and car
sale business require a central position
from where they can serve maximum
number of customers but require a lot
of floor space and therefore on edge of
CBD where proceed are moderate.
 Some hotels built for centrality others
chose residential areas for pleasant
surroundings.
 Public buildings like courts and govt
office must chose moderately prizred
size and yeat be accessible to most
people.
o Working class housing and industry
 Once a better class housing but urban
growth lowered their status.
 Housing condition moderate to poor,
closely packed inhabited by working
class people with less income. And
those who prefer to stay near
industrial plants.
o Commuter belt
 The land values rise again not CBD
level
 Middle class to wealthy citizens.
  Named so because people travel each
day to offices in CBD.
 Suburbs interspersed with agricultural
land devoted to market gardening and
dairy farming poultry on the outer
margin truck farming and livestock
rearing.
 This belt interrupted by small towns or
enlarged villages which have
residential function, housing
commuters but which are not
continuous urban settlements like the
rue suburbs.
o The development of CBD most marked in
American towns, fairly advanced in
European cities and in Colonial towns like
Buenos Aires, Caracas

o Departure from CBD in different regions.

 Europe:
 Preservation of ancient buildings
 no tall skyscrapers in central
areas except some offices and
shops. Land value not very high
as no tall buildings allowed.
There fore two centres evolve, a
new centre with CBD and an
older centre.
 Asia and Africa:
 Same as in Europe + Traditional
institution of shop house  City
centre main commercial area as
well as most densely settled
residential area (in contrast to
deserted CBDs of American
CBD). Very few shopping centres
and department stores, few
office buildings but proliferation
of smaller shops and low
building.
 Functional zoning is poorly
developed so that broad
 commercial section in the centre
is usually surrounded by a broad
residential with some pockets of
commercial or industrial activity
along main roads. Modern
industrial activity usually on the
outskirts of the town.
Overcrowding in the central area
prevent building of large
factories. Slums may have
formed additional zone on
outskirts.
 This pattern is now being
changes partly by spontaneous
economic selection and partly by
deliberate planning. For ex: in
Singapore and Bangkok where
tourists are numerous moving
towards more western pattern
Kuala Lumpur  squatter areas
being replaced by low cost
housing and building of office in
town centres.
 In Many Asian and African towns
zones are not in concentric rings
at all. This is partly because of
different racial and national
groups concentration on
different activities Population
zones become functional
zones. For ex: Marwaris in
Kolkata. Chinese in South East
Asia. Indian and Syrians in
Africa.
 Certain Craftsmen occupy certain
specific parts of the towns.
 In many old town no room for
new buildings in centre,
therefore European
administrators chose a different
centre outside for Ex: Kuala
 Lumppur which have distinct
areas for administrative offices.
 In underdeveloped countries, the
need f industrialization is
fulfilled setting aside separate
industrial estates i.e. Industries
not distributed through out
towns but concentrated.
 All the factors combine to produce
pattern of xzones which is unrelated to
strictly economic factors but which
reflect piecemeal development and
expansion of town by different people
or for specific purpose. For Ex
medieval towns in Europe resemble
this pattern in some ways, with their
Jewish trading quarters, streets of
Smiths or Butchers, sub urban
settlements outside town walls and so
on but gradual development over
hundereds of years has changed the
old patterns. It is expected that Asian
and African towns will follow the same
path.

Special Topic 2: Hinterlands and Urban fields:

Functional zoning can extend the influence of town into

surrounding countryside by creating suburbs and agricultural
fields and also by their domination over a hinterland or an
urban field.

Hinterland:
 An area of influence for a port
 This is an area for which supplies are drawn for export
and to which imports are distributed
 The range of influence depends on many factors:
o Transport :
 most crucial
 if a port possess multiple transport links like
rail, road, river or canal links with
 surrounding areas, goods can easily move to
an fro over a wide area
 if communications interrupted by mountain
ranges, political boundaries, then the
hinterland may be small.
 If uninterrupted, the hinterland can extend
across countries like Rotterdam
 Hinterland shapes and sizes keep changing due to
various reasons:
o Political reasons : Example of Hamburg port
before and after WWII (communist regions seized
to be market as well as supplier)
o Growth of other ports: Penang and Kelnag port
has eaten into the hinterlands of many small ports
of Malaysia. This is because of improved
communications. Extensive development and east-
west and north south roads has enabled this.
 The importance of port is not only dependent on size of
its hinterland but on other factors also:
o Population: small hinterlands in densely
populated areas can enable port to carry brisk
trade like in India
o Quality of land range of products: Varied
hinterland with both uplands and lowlands,
agriculture and industrial etc would supply as well
as demand a variety of products and enable brisk
trade. This is contrast to homogenous hinterlands
supplying single products like tea, coffee, iron ore
etc. Example: those supplying cocoa , rubber,
coffee, oil pal, ground nut etc and processing of
each of them provide advantage to Nigeria, Ghana
or ivory coast compared to Mauritania where
hinterland in sparsely populated and only
unprocessed iron ore is exported.

Urban fields:
 The area around a town which it serves and from which
it draws customers for its hops and users of its various
services is called its field of influence. The town being
the “central place”.
 The field of a central place depends upon its size and the
kind of services it offers so that the towns which offer
the greatest facilities can serve people from wider areas.
 Urban hierarchy:
o Towns rank according to services they provide and
size of their field.
o Lowest ranking town : basic shops, newspaper,
perhaps a cinema.
o The next higher order have more shops , schools,
banks etc
o Large towns have several secondary schools and
offer more higher services
o Regional centres or largest towns have a range of
higher educational facilities, highest consumer
goods shops, publish newspapers , centres of bus.
They serve not only the country districts but also
the people living in lower ranking towns and
villages within their fields providing those services
which the smaller towns cannot support because
their fields are too small. Thus people visit these
towns for very specific needs like expensive
consumer goods, tertiary health care, higher
education etc
 The size of town’s field depends on several factors:
o Communication links
 May be affected by mountain barriers or
other obstacles to transport
 Field small in underdeveloped countries
because of bad transport infrastructure.
o Density of population
 High density -> closely spaced competing
towns -> small fields
 Sparse population -> lack of urban
development -> field of influence very large
o Presence and absence of administrative functions
 Some central locations may be preferable for
administrative purpose (and also hospitals
and schools etc) because of their central
position but they might not develop into a
commercial centre because of low
purchasing power of people. (towns in west
Bengal)
 Characteristics of Urban hierarchies:
o Central Place theory given by Walter Christaller
published in 1933 and tested on the towns of
southern Germany.
o Irrespective of services provided by a town of a
given rank, there are certain patterns which
emerge when towns are classified according to
their urban fields:
o First: towns of given rank are are usually at aboit
the same distance apart
 If they were too close together they would
not all be able to support the same range of
services because there would not be enough
people to use them
 Lrge towns are spread more widely
o Second: Towns of various ranks theoretically have
distinctively different population sizes, the actual
numbers depend on local factors
o Third: besides ideal distance between towns of
certain rank, there is also an ideal shape for all
urban fields, which is hexagon.
 It is caused by the adaptation of a circular
field of to fit the fields of neighbouring towns
of the same rank. The ideal pattern is hardly
ever attained because difference in
population density and communication
pattern can extend or dimish an urban field
in particular directions.

 Primate City concept:

o In many urban cities, there are numerous small
towns serving small areas but there are few very
large cities which provide a full range of services.
o Usually the capital city and one or more attain the
stature of highest rank and other people start
migrating here.
o This leads to the development of a city into a
Primate city which is much larger than the second
town in the country
  Use of Urban field studies:
o Can be useful to business enterprises which
wish to expand their business and use these
studies to gauge the potential of the market
o

 Rural urban fringe:

 Satellite towns:

 Problems and remedies of urbanization:

 Sustainable development of cities: