World Population Distribuition
by In 2001, the Earth was inhabited by about six billion people. However, although we find people in almost the entire surface of the globe, its distribution is very uneven. Areas of high concentration population, called population concentrations preclude extensive uninhabited spaces or where the population is so scarce that, therefore, are commonly known as wilderness areas.
If we analyze carefully a map of population distribution, we can easily check the following:
• About 90% of world population lives in the northern hemisphere, where is located also the majority of its land area;• Approximately 70% of the population is concentrated in the area temperate northern hemisphere, between latitudes 20 ° N and 0 ° N;• More than 2/3 of the population lives along the coast or in areas less than 500 km of the coast;• More than half of the world’s only concentrated less than 10% of its land area;• In 1/4 of its land area, the population is so scarce that they are true empty humans. These lands are home to only 2% of the world population.
The uneven distribution of population on Earth’s surface, allows us to distinguish the globe areas with very different densities. On average, the population density round at 40 inhabitants per square km. However, this value tells us nothing about the actual distribution of the population on our planet. Below and above this average, we find both territories densities very low (between 0 and 2 inhabitants per square km) or very high in the order of 200 to 500 inhabitants per square km, or even some situations than 1000 inhabitants per square km.
Thus, countries with higher population densities are Bangladesh, India, South Korea and the Netherlands, not considering ‘microstates’ as Singapore, Malta and Monaco (with more than 1000 inhabitants per square km).In turn, the lowest values occur in countries such as Mongolia, Namibia and Botswana, which has values below three inhabitants per square km.
Major population concentrations
In Asia, the regions of South and Southeast are the two largest concentrations of population in the world. These include populations of countries like India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and China. These ancient civilizations developed around the basins of major rivers like the Ganges, the Indus, Yang Tse and the Yellow River. There are also large population concentrations Japan and the archipelagos of Indonesia and the Philippines.
Ganges River by JM Suarez
In Europe, the region with the highest concentration population is Western Europe: the southern United Kingdom, Northern Italy, northern Germany, France and the Benelux countries. There is also population density along the major plain of the Danube (the Czech Republic, Hungary and region of former Yugoslavia).
In North America, the largest concentrations are located in the North, along the Atlantic coast, because it was there that started the first settled communities of European settlers. In the second half of the twentieth century, there was a strong population growth in the U.S. west coast, particularly in California, with significant growth in the cities of Los Angeles and San Francisco.
In Central America there are several major population concentrations, which include Mexico City (one of the largest in the world).
South America have high population densities around cities as Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Buenos Aires. The higher densities also appear along the coast.
Rio de Janeiro by Mariordo
Africa is a continent with low population density. The exceptions are the Guinea Gulf, along the Nile river in Egypt and the Mediterranean coast.
Oceania record low population density, the exception occurs on the coast (Sydney).
Antarctica is uninhabited.
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