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Population Density

By: EconomyWatch Date: 30 June 2010

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Population density is the measurement of the exact number of population per unit area. It is most commonly used to measure the approximate range of human population inhabiting a unit area, usually per square kilometer.

Understanding Human Population Density

Human population density is calculated in terms of region, zone, county, city, nation or the entire world. The Earth's area is 510 million square kilometers, which remains constant but the world's population grows constantly. It is 6.7 billion, based on the data released by the US Census Bureau on 15 December, 2008. So, the world population density is 13.1 per square kilometer (total population divided by Earth's total area.) It is still not an accurate figure for human population, considering how many uninhabited regions the Earth has, mostly due to extreme conditions.

Factors Affecting Human Population Density

Cities across the globe face large population density, due to enhanced access to civic facilities such as transportation, communication and employment. As cities go through economic development sprees, they tend to attract migration from rural areas, leading to rapidly increasing population density, and normally over-crowding.

Other geographic factors that affect population density in the world are elaborated below:

Temperature: Regions with mild temperature suffer from high population density. Examples are the Antarctica or Sahara regions.

Resources: Areas rich in natural resources such as minerals, oil, wood, flora and fauna are densely populated.

Relief: Mountainous regions are sparsely populated due to lack of transportations and communication channels. For instance, the Himalayan region has little inhabitancy, while low-land region of Gangetic plains in India is one of the world’s most densely populated regions.

Looking beyond these factors of natural geography, political and economic conditions also affect a region’s population density. Nations with stable political and economic scenario tends to remain heavily populated.