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By the end of these notes, you should be able to:
Population distribution means where people live across the world — which areas are crowded with people, and which areas are almost empty.
People are not spread out evenly across the Earth. Some places have huge numbers of people packed into a small area. Other places are almost completely empty, with almost nobody living there at all.
Think of it like this: if you poured a bag of rice onto a table and shook it, the grains would not land in a perfectly even spread. Some spots would have lots of rice piled up, and other spots would have almost none. That is what population distribution looks like on a world map.
Population density tells us how many people live in a given area of land. It gives us a number we can use to compare different places fairly.
The formula for population density is:
Population Density = Total Population ÷ Total Land Area (in km²)
The answer is given in people per km² (people per square kilometre).
Example: If a country has 50,000,000 people (50 million) and a land area of 500,000 km², then:
50,000,000 ÷ 500,000 = 100 people per km²
This means that, on average, every square kilometre of that country has 100 people living in it.
We use two key words to describe population density:
Some parts of the world are very densely populated (lots of people), while others are very sparsely populated (very few people).
These are areas where millions and millions of people are packed into relatively small areas:
South Asia — Countries like India and Bangladesh have some of the highest population densities in the world. Bangladesh, for example, has over 1,000 people per km² on average. These areas have fertile river plains, warm climates, and long histories of farming, which allowed large populations to grow and be fed.
East Asia — China, Japan, and South Korea are home to enormous numbers of people. China alone has over 1.4 billion people. Eastern China, especially along rivers and coasts, is extremely densely populated.
Southeast Asia — Countries like Indonesia, Vietnam, and the Philippines have very high population densities, especially on islands with fertile volcanic soils.
Western Europe — Countries like the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Germany are densely populated. These areas have mild climates, good farmland, strong economies, and well-developed industries that attract people.
Northeast USA — The northeastern coast of the United States, including cities like New York, is one of the most densely populated areas in North America.
These are areas where very few people live, even though the land area may be huge:
The Sahara Desert (North Africa) — extreme heat, lack of water, and infertile land make it almost impossible to live here.
The Amazon Rainforest (South America) — thick jungle, disease, and difficulty growing food make permanent settlement very hard.
Antarctica — the coldest continent on Earth. No permanent human population lives here at all.
Central Australia — hot, dry desert. Very few people live in the interior of Australia. Most Australians live along the coasts.
Northern Canada, Alaska, and Siberia (Russia) — extremely cold, frozen land (called tundra). Farming is impossible, and the harsh climate makes life very difficult.
Greenland — almost entirely covered in ice. One of the most sparsely populated places on Earth.
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