Chapter 2 vocabulary

Question 1

demography

Answer 1

the scientific study of population characteristics

Question 2

demographic region

Answer 2

identifying a specific area for the purpose of studying population

Question 3

demographic equation

Answer 3

formula for calculating a region’s population change:

births - deaths) + (immigration - emigration

Question 4

overpopulation

Answer 4

when the number of people exceeds the capacity of the environment to support life at a decent standard of living

Question 5

underpopulation

Answer 5

situation in which a country (or other region) has a population which has declined too much to support its current economic situation (NOT simply the opposite of “overpopulation”)`

Question 6

census

Answer 6

a complete enumeration of a population

Question 7

ecumene

Answer 7

the portion of earth’s surface occupied by permanent human settlement

Question 8

carrying capacity

Answer 8

in comparison to available technology and resources at a given time, the maximum number of people that can live is a specified area without causing damage to overall productivity/sustainability

Question 9

standard of living

Answer 9

quality and quantity of goods and services available to people and the way they are distributed within a population

Question 10

arithmetic density

Answer 10

the total number of objects in an area

Question 11

physiological density

Answer 11

the number of people supported by a unit area of arable land

Question 12

agricultural density

Answer 12

the ratio of the number of farmers to the amount of arable land

Question 13

crude birth rate (CBR) (aka natality)

Answer 13

the total number of live births in a year for every 1,000 people alive in the society

Question 14

crude death rate (CDR)

Answer 14

the total number of deaths in a year for every 1,000 people alive in the society

Question 15

natural increase rate (NIR)

Answer 15

the percentage by which a population grows in a year

Question 16

doubling time

Answer 16

the number of years needed to double a population, assuming a constant rate of natural

Question 17

total fertility rate

Answer 17

the average number of children a woman will have throughout her childbearing years

Question 18

population pyramid (Age-sex diagrams)

Answer 18

a bar graph that displays the percentage of a places population for each age and gender

Question 19

age distribution

Answer 19

percentage of the total population, or of each gender specifically, at each age level

Question 20

cohort

Answer 20

a group of individuals who share a common demographic experience: on a population pyramid the cohorts are shown by common age ranges

Question 21

dependency ratio

Answer 21

the number of people who are too young or too old to work, compared to the number of people in their productive years

Question 22

sex ratio

Answer 22

the number of males per 100 females in the population

Question 23

gendered space

Answer 23

those places into which only one gender can go or in which only one is expected to go

Question 24

demographic transition

Answer 24

a process of change in a society’s population from high crude birth and death rates and low rate of natural increase to a condition of low crude birth and death rates, low rate of natural increase, and higher total population

Question 25

demographic transition model: stage two

Answer 25

rapidly declining death rates and very high birth rates produced very high natural increase

Question 26

population explosion

Answer 26

sudden increase or burst in the population; can be a regional or more global change

Question 27

industrial revolution

Answer 27

a series of improvements in industrial technology that transformed the process of manufacturing goods

Question 28

medical revolution

Answer 28

medical technology invented in Europe and North America that has diffused to the poorer countries in Latin America, Asia, and Africa

Question 29

demographic transition model: stage three

Answer 29

CDR continues to fall but at a much slower rate, the population continues to grow because the CBR is still greater than the CDR

Question 30

demographic transition model: stage four

Answer 30

the CBR declines to the point where it equals the CDR and the NIR approaches zero

Question 31

zero population growth

Answer 31

a decline of the total fertility rate to the point where the natural increase rate equals zero

Question 32

thomas malthus

Answer 32

the first to argue that the world's rate of population increase was outrunning the development of food supplies

Question 33

neo-malthusians

Answer 33

argue that characteristics of recent population growth makes Malthus' thesis frightening

Question 34

demographic transition model: stage five

Answer 34

low CBR, increasing CDR, and a negative NIR

Question 35

one child policy

Answer 35

a couple needs a permit to have a child. couples received financial subsidies, a long maternity leave, better housing and (in rural areas) more land if they agreed to have just one child

Question 36

demographic momentum

Answer 36

phenomenon in which the overall population continues to grow despite declining crude birth and total fertility rates

Question 37

epidemiologic transition

Answer 37

focuses on distinctive health threats in each stage of the demographic transition

Question 38

epidemiology

Answer 38

the branch of medical science concerned with the incidence, distribution, and control of diseases that are prevalent among a population at a particular time and are produced by some special causes not generally present in the affected place

Question 39

epidemiologic transition model: stage one

Answer 39

infectious and parasitic diseases were principal causes of human deaths, along with accidents and attacks by animals and other humans

Question 40

epidemiologic transition model: stage two

Answer 40

receding pandemics because improved sanitation, nutrition, and medicine during the industrial revolution reduced the spread of infectious diseases

Question 41

pandemic

Answer 41

a disease that occurs over a wide geographic area and affects a very high proportion of the population

Question 42

Dr. John Snow

Answer 42

a british physician who created a handmade GIS

Question 43

epidemiologic transition model: stage three

Answer 43

characterized by a decrease in deaths from infectious diseases and an increase in chronic disorders associated with aging

Question 44

life expectancy (aka mortality)

Answer 44

the average number of years an individual can be expected to live, given current social, economic, and medical conditions

Question 45

epidemiologic transition model: stage four

Answer 45

the stage of delayed degenerative diseases

Question 46

epidemiologic transition model: stage five

Answer 46

CDR rises because more of the population is elderly

Question 47

infant mortality rate (IMR)

Answer 47

the annual number of deaths of infants under 1 year of age, compared with total live births