Professional Documents
Culture Documents
s 2005
pages 4 and 5
1.1
Population density
Northern Canada
Too cold for people
Frozen ground makes settlement
and communications difficult
Poor, thin soil unsuitable for crops
Sparsely populated
Europe
Low-lying and gently sloping
Pleasant climate
Good water supply and soil for
farming
Easy communications and many
resources for industry
Densely populated
Himalayan mountains
Too cold for people
Steep slopes are bad for settlement
and communications
Poor, thin soil unsuitable for crops
Sparsely populated
Amazon rainforest
Too hot and wet for people
Dense forest makes settlement
and communications difficult
Sparsely populated
Bangladesh
Low-lying and flat
Hot and wet with rich, fertile soil
makes ideal farming conditions
Densely populated
Central Australia
Too hot and dry for people
Too dry and too little soil for
crops to grow
Sparsely populated
1 dot represents
100,000 people
On the map, colour the densely populated areas in red, and the sparsely
populated areas in green.
Compare the reasons for dense and sparse population. Complete a copy of
the table below, which has been started for you.
Worl d popul ati on di stri buti on
Places with
few people have a
low population density.
They are sparsely
populated.
Vast areas have
hardly any people living
in them whilst other
areas seem to be very
crowded.
Places that are
crowded have a
high population density.
These places are
densely populated.
Location Reason Sparse population Dense population
Amazon Climate Too hot and wet.
rainforest Terrain Dense forest makes
settlement and
communications difficult.
Q
1
Q
2
The map above shows how unevenly people are spread around the world.
pages 4 and 5
There are reasons why an area has a sparse or dense population. The reasons why
so many people live in densely populated places are called positive factors. There
are negative factors which have made other places sparsely populated.
These are all factors in population distribution. Shade the positive factors in red, and
the negative factors in green.
Some of these factors are opposites, e.g. Lack of investment is a negative factor and
Money available for investment is a positive factor. Find five other pairs of opposites
and complete the table.
1.2
Positive and negative factors
The New Wider World Foundation Edition (Second Edition) Teachers Resource CD-ROM, Grant Westoby, Nelson Thornes 2005
Pleasant climate
Lack of investment
Dense forest
Steep slopes