social science

1. Why people are considered a resource?
2. What are the causes for the uneven distribution of population in the world?
3. The world population has grown very rapidly. Why?
4. Discuss the role of any two factors influencing population change.
5. What is meant by population composition?
6. What are population pyramids? How do they help in understanding about the population of a country?
Ans:
(i) People are considered a resource because with their demands and capabilities they can create new resources. Nature’s bounty becomes important only when people find it and make it useful for them. Hence, human resource is also considered an important and potential resource for the society.
(ii) The way in which people are distributed across the earth is known as the pattern of population distribution. Actually more than 90% of the world’s population lives in about 10% of the land surface. Some areas are over-crowded and some are sparsely populated. Following are the various factors responsible for this extremely uneven distribution of population in the world:
a. Geographical factors – Favorable topography, availability of mineral and fresh water resources, favorable climate and soil fertility are some of the reasons affecting population distribution e.g., Indo Gangetic Plains, Diamond Mines of South Africa etc are densely populated.
b. Social and Cultural factors – Areas of better housing, education and health facilities are more populated. Places of religious and cultural significance also attract people e.g., Varanasi, Jerusalem etc.
c. Economic factors – Places having more industries, transportation and communication facilities provide better employment opportunities. People are attracted to these places because of the above reasons e.g., Mumbai, Osaka etc.
(iii) The world population has grown very rapidly particularly after 1800s. The reasons are growth in food supplies, improvement in medical facilities, reduced death rate while the birth rate remained the same.
3. Birth rate, Death rate and Migration.
5. Population composition refers to the structure of the population. Population composition helps to know the number of males or female, their age-groups, literacy, their occupation, their income level and health conditions etc.
6. The tapering figure of the population based on age and sex is termed as population pyramid. An interesting way of studying the population composition of a country is by studying at the population pyramid.