Human Resource
• People are a nation’s greatest resource. This is people with their demands and abilities that turn them into ‘resources’. Hence, human resource is ultimate resource. Healthy, educated & motivated people develop resources as per their requirements.
• Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojna [PKVY] – It was started in 2015 aiming to train one crore Indian youth from 2016 to 2020. objective of scheme is to encourage aptitude towards employable skills by giving quality training to probable and existing wage earners.
Distribution of Population
• way in which people are spread across Earth’s surface is called pattern of population distribution. More than 90 % of world’s population lives on about 30 % of land surface. distribution of population in world is extremely uneven.
• crowded areas are south and south east Asia, Europe & north eastern North America.
• Very few people live in high latitude areas, tropical deserts, high mountains and areas of equatorial forests.
• Many more people live north of Equator than south of Equator. Almost three-quarters of world’s people live in two continents Asia and Africa.
Density of Population
• Population density is number of people living in a unit area of earth’s surface. This is normally expressed as per square km. average density of population in whole world is 51 persons / km2. South Central Asia has highest density of population followed by East and South East Asia.
• As per census 2011, Average density of population in India is 382 persons per square km.
Factors Affecting Distribution of Population Geographical Factors:
• Topography: People always prefer to live on plains rather than mountains and plateaus because these areas are suitable for farming, manufacturing and service activities. Thus Ganga plains are most densely populated areas of world while mountains like Andes, Alps & Himalayas are less populated.
• Climate: People generally avoid extreme climates that are very hot or very cold like Sahara desert, Polar regions of Russia, Canada & Antarctica.
• Soil: Fertile soils provide suitable land for agriculture. For E.g. fertile plains such as Ganga and Brahmaputra in India, Hwang-He, Chang Jiang in China and Nile in Egypt are densely populated.
• Minerals: Areas with mineral deposits are more populated. For E.g. Diamond mines of South Africa and discovery of oil in Middle east lead to settling of people in these areas.
• Water: People prefer to live in areas where fresh water is easily available. river valleys of world are densely populated while deserts have less population.
Social, Cultural & Economic Factors:
• Social: Areas of better housing, education & health facilities are more densely populated For E.g., Pune.
• Cultural: Places with religion or cultural significance attract people. For E.g. Varanasi, Jerusalem & Vatican city.
• Economic: Industrial areas provide employment opportunities. So a large number of people are attracted to these areas. Osaka in Japan and Mumbai in India are two densely populated areas.
Population change
• population change refers to a change in number of people during a specific time. world population has not been stable. It is actually due to changes in number of births and deaths.
• Births are generally measured using birth rate i.e. number of live births per 1,000 people.
• Deaths are generally measured using death rate i.e. number of deaths per 1,000 people.
• Births and deaths are natural causes of population change. difference between birth rate and death rate of a country is known as natural growth rate. population increase in world is mainly due to rapid increase in natural growth rate.
• Migration is another way by which population size changes. Migration is movement of people in and out of an area.
• Emigrants are people who leave a country.
• Immigrants are those who arrive in a country.
• Countries like United States of America and Australia have gained in-numbers by in-migration or immigration.
• general trend of international migrations is from less developed nations to more developed nations in search of better employment opportunities. Within countries a large number of people may move from rural to urban areas in search of employment, education & health facilities.
• Life expectancy: This is number of years that an average person can expect to live.
Patterns of Population Change
• Rates of population growth vary across world. Although, world’s total population is rising rapidly, not all countries are experiencing this growth. Countries like Kenya have high population growth rates. They had both high birth rates and death rates. With improving health care, death rates have fallen, but birth rates still remain high leading to high growth rates. In other countries like United Kingdom, population growth is slowing because of both low death and low birth rates.
Population Composition
• How crowded a country is, has little to do with its level of economic development. For example, both Bangladesh and Japan are very densely populated but Japan is far more economically developed than Bangladesh.
• Population composition refers to structure of population. composition of population helps us to know how many are males and females, which age group they belong to, how educated they are and what type of occupations they are employed in, and what their income levels and health conditions are. To study population composition of a country is by looking at population pyramid, called an age-sex pyramid. Percent
• A population pyramid shows:
(1) total population is divided into various age groups, for example, 5 to 9 years, 10 to 14 years.
(2) percentage of total population, subdivided into males and females, in each of those groups.
• shape of population pyramid tells story of people living in that particular country. numbers of children [below 15 years] are shown at bottom and reflect level of births.
• size of top shows numbers of aged people [above 65 years] and reflects number of deaths.
• population pyramid tells us how many dependents there are in a country. There are two groups of dependents – young dependents [aged below 15 years] and elderly dependents [aged over 65 years].
• Those of working age are economically active.
• A country with both a high birth rate and a high death rate has a population pyramid that is wide at bottom and narrows quickly as it goes up. It is because even though there are a lot of babies, a lot of them die when they are young, not many grow up, and there aren’t many old people. E.g. Kenya
• In countries where death rates are going down, especially among young people, pyramid is widest in youngest age groups because more babies live to be adults. E.g. India. There are a lot of young people in these groups, which means they have a strong and growing human resource.
• Low birth rates in places like Japan make base of pyramid narrow. When death rates go down, more people can live to be old. Young people with skills, spirit, hope, and a positive outlook are future of any country.