Chapter 7.Geography.
Human
Resources.
Human
resources with intelligence in we have learnt in the previous chapter that the
resources that exist in a country are gifts of nature. Human beings are considered an important and
integral part of the ecosystem. They are
endowed MP thinking and creative skills and are the biggest and the most
valuable resource. It is, therefore,
imperative that the government provides basic education, better healthcare and
employment opportunities to every individual so that they can contribute fully
to the development Humans working in the field of the society and their
country. Education and empowerment of
women will have a remarkable impact on the progress of the nation. It has right been said that educating one
woman means educating the whole family '.
Human beings have a lo of potential but in many countries this resource
is not fully tapped. P Do You Know? UNDP (United Nations Development Program) in
1990 has defined Human Development as the process of enlarging people's choice. Now, there is a separate department of the
Indian Government called as HRD (Human Resource Development) which looks after
the education of the people in India.
DISTRIBUTION OF POPULATION Distribution of population means how human
beings are spread over the earth's surface.
The istribution of population in the world is highly uneven. It is concentrated in those areas which are
rich in natural resources like fertile river valley basins and in industrially
developed regions. the population is
sparse in areas where climatic conditions are not favored for habitation, for
example, polar regions, hot deserts and thickly forested areas. At present, the world's population has
crossed a seven billion mark. China is
the most populous Buntry. India and
China account for 37% of the world's population. By and large, 60% of the world's 82
Asia
Africa America Europe population is living in Asia, 16% in Africa, 13.5% in
0.5% America, 10% in Europe and 0.5% in Oceania. 10% A common way of studying distribution of
population is by finding out the density of population 13.5% In a country or a
region. The density of population is 60%
measured as number of persons living in per square 16% kilometre of an area. If only the Earth's land area of 150,000,000 sq. km is taken into account, human population
density is 47 persons per sq. km. This Includes all land area of continents and islands, World
population distribution by continents including Antarctica. If Antarctica is excluded, then average
population density increases to more than 50 persons per square kilometre. Oceania Do You Know? Population data is collected through
census. It is a compiled data of
complete demographic statistics covering the entire population living in a
country. The first complete census in
India was brought out in the year 1881 and since then, it is held regularly at
every tenth year. There are some areas
in the world where density is less than 1 person per sq. km like the Antarctic and the Arctic
regions. In other areas like Singapore,
the population density is 7263 persons per sq.
km and in Bangladesh, it is 1019.8 persons per sq. km as in the year 2011. India: Land Man Ratio India is the seventh
largest country in the world in terms of geographical size, but it ranks the
second largest in terms of population.
It has crossed a population of one billion mark in the year, 2001. The
total population of India (1.21 billion) is now bigger than the combined
population of USA, Indonesia, Brazil, Pakistan and Bangladesh. The variation in distribution of population
within India is highly remarkable.
Nearly half of the population lives in five states, i.e. Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Bihar, West
Bengal and Madhya Pradesh Of these, Uttar Pradesh continues to be the most
populous state with a population of almost 200 million. On the basis of density of population, India
can be grouped into the following three broad regions. States with a low density of population: In
certain states, the density of population is up to 250 persons per sq. km.
This is due to the physical constraints, unfavourable climate as well as
slow economic development, poor infrastructure and several other factors. This includes North - Eastern and North -
Western parts of India and Western Rajasthan.
Arunachal Pradesh (17), Mizoram (52) and Sikkim (86) are some states
included in this category. Sources
www.censusindia.gov.in, CSR Yearbook 2012. www.data.un org 83
S.No. States Density (persons per sq.km) Bihar 1102
1 2 3 4 5 West Bengal Kerala Uttar Pradesh Haryana Tamil Nadu Punjab Jharkhand
1029 859 828 573 555 550 6 7 8 9 Assam 10 Goa 11 Maharashtra 12 Tripura 13
Karnataka 14 Andhra Pradesh 15 Telangana
16 Gujarat 17 Odisha 18 Madhya Pradesh 19 Rajasthan 20 Uttarakhand 21
Chhattisgarh 22 Meghalaya 23 Jammu & Kashmir 24 Himachal Pradesh 25 Manipur
26 Nagaland 27 Sikkim 28 Mizoram 29 Arunachal Pradesh 397 394 365 350 319 308
308 308 269 236 201 189 189 132 124 123 122
119 MYANMAR (THAILAND 86 52 17 S.No. Union Territories 1 NCT of Delhi 2
Density (persons per sq.km) 11297 9252 2598 2169 2013 3 4. un Chandigarh
Punducherry Daman & Diu Lakshadweep Dadra & Nagar Haveli Andaman &
Nicobar Islands INDIA 6 698 7 46 382
Source: www.censusindia.gov.in it. All single P
States
with a moderate density of population: The density of population in these
states varies from 251-500 persons per sq.
km. These regions have largely
undulating topography, relatively less fertile soil and paucity of water for
irrigation. Odisha (269), Gujarat (308),
Karnataka (319) and Tripura (350) are some states included in this
category. States with a high density of
population: Density of population in these states is above 501 persons per
sq. km.
Favourable climatic conditions, rich fertile soil, well - developed
agriculture and a high level of industrialisation has led to rapid urbanisation
and therefore, brought high density of population in these states. Bihar (1102), West Bengal (1029), Kerala
(859), Uttar Pradesh (828) are some of the states that fall in this category
FACTORS AFFECTING DISTRIBUTION OF POPULATION People want to settle in areas
where food, water and land are easily
available. Although, one single
factor may not determine population distribution but collectively they play a
deciding role in it. All these factors
can be grouped into physical factors and economic factors. 1. Physical factors Physical factors include
relief, climate, soil, water and vegetation.
Relief: High mountains, rugged terrain and rocky plateau restrict human
settlements. Here, the transportation is
very difficult and the living conditions are not very favourable. The mountain ranges of Andes, Himalayas,
Plateau and Rockies of Tibet are sparsely populated. On the other hand, plain areas of the world
are most favourable places for human habitation where transportation facilities
are good and rivers are navigable. In
the fertile lowlands of the Ganges and the Brahmaputra in India, Hwang - ho in
China, Nile in Egypt, Mississippi in USA, Tigris in Iraq and several other
places, a large concentration of population is found. Plains are also good for agricultural and
industrial activity in the world and important cities of the world have been
built on plains. Climate: Climate is one
of the most important factors affecting the distribution of population. People prefer to live in regions where
temperature and rainfall are moderate.
Excessive heat, cold, dryness or wetness cause discomfort. Hot and humid areas of equatorial region,
cold desert of Siberia, hot desert of Sahara are the areas which are sparsely
populated. On the other hand, favourable
climatic conditions in the monsoon regions of India and Bangladesh attract
large concentration of population. Soil
and water: Land, where the soil is fertile and there is adequate water supply,
has high concentration of population.
Water resources are very limited in deserts, so the population is
sparse. Vegetation: Equatorial forests
are dense and inaccessible as compared to monsoon and coniferous forests, which
are accessible. 85
2.
Economic factors Economic factors include availability of minerals, location of
industries, developed means, transport and communication and government
policies, 5 Minerals: Mineral deposits play a dominant role in population
distribution. The presence of cop and
iron ore in different parts of the world has attracted huge population in these
areas because these are key minerals required for iron and steel industry. Hot and dry areas of Australian desery Saudi
Arabia and South Africa have attracted large groups of migrants because of the
availabilin of petroleum. Like, the
hilly areas of Jharkhand have rich mineral resources attracting larga
industrial settlements. Industries:
Development of industries in any region has a very favorable impact on
employmen opportunities. An industrial
labourer earns a higher wage than an agricultural labourer. Industrial hubs attract people from far off
places. The eastern part of the USA,
peninsular plateau in India and Western Europe are some of the common examples
which have a larger concentration of population mainly because they are highly
industrialized. Developed means of
transport: People have settled down in distant places due to the development of
efficient system of transport network.
The economic resources of a region coupled with good network of
transport increases the mobility of people and attracts large human
settlements. Discriminatory Government
Policies: Political unrest in a region or discriminatory policies of a
government against a group of people who have made millions of refugees. In recent years, the Persian Gulf War, ethnic
conflicts in Ethiopia and Sri Lanka, the break up of Soviet Union into 15
independent nations are some of the examples which show how political unrest
can lead to migration and redistribution of population. GROWTH OF POPULATION population is always in
a state of flux. The net change in
population between two fixed periods of time expressed in percentage is called
the growth rate of population. The
growth rate may be negative, if the population declines; and positive, if it increases during a given
time period. The growth of population is
affected by the birth rate, death rate and by the large scale migration It
increases when birth rate is more than the death rate or when the in-migration
is more than the out-migration. Do you
know? • Birth rate is the number of
births per thousand persons in a specific time and death rate is the number of
deaths per thousand persons in a specific time period. •
Every sixth person on the earth is an Indian. 86
The world
population was around 1.5 billion in the year, 1900, which has grown to the
present opulation of 7.0 billion in the year, 2011. This suggests that the
growth rate has been rising up and opulation has been continuously increasing
rapidly. The growth in population of
India has increased rapidly during the last century. In particular, has gone up from about 400
million in 1961 to over a billion people in the year, 2011. In these Oyears,
the country has added more than 700 million people which makes the growth rate
alarming. is estimated that at this rate
of growth in population, the country will almost double its population n next
36 years. 1400 1210 56 1200 1028.74 1000
84642 300 68333 In Millions 548.16 439.23 361.09 400 200 2011 1961 1971 1951
1991 1985 2001 Year Growth of Population in India (1951-2011) COMPOSITION OF
HUMAN RESOURCES The composition of Human Resources include different attributes
of the population. It includes age
structure, sex - ratio, literacy rate, ratio of rural - urban population,
working and non - working population, etc.
All these parameters play an important role in reflecting occupation,
lifestyle and social status of the population.
Let us study three important attributes human resource, i.e. age structure, sex - ratio and literacy
rate. Age Structure: Age structure of
population is an important component of demographic structure. It refers to the number of people belonging
to different age groups. Generally, the
population is categorized into three broad age groups, i.e. •
People below 14 years comprising of young population. •
People between 15 years to years make up adult population. •
People between 59 years and above as old population. Source of data: www.censusindia.gov.in 87
A large
number of children below 15 years and older people above 59 years come up
dependent population. On the other hand,
the number of people in the age group of 15-59 yean defined as the productive
population as they are biologically most reproductive and economic active. This group also acts as an indicator of
population productivity sex - Ratio: It is a ratio between the number of
females and males in a population. The
sex - ra is expressed as number of females per thousand males. It has been observed that in Europe countries,
number of females is more than males.
Thus, Europe has high or favourable sex - ratio, ris sex - ratio has
been recorded since the early 1980s and has since then continued to increase
with signs, of reversing. In India, the
sex - ratio was recorded as 943 in 2011 which has declined from as recorded in
1901. 1200 1167 1150 1100 1055 1050 1042
1025 Number of Females per 1000 Males 1000 988 978 987 950 926 World Average
984 900 850 800 USA Bangaldesh Nigeria Countries Sex - ratio in the most
populous countries of the world in 2011 Sex - ratio in India is declining due to several reasons. Of these, most common are: • Preference for male child due to
social, economic and religious reasons.
Infant mortality is higher among girls than among boys because of lack
of proper medica facilities. • General neglect of female
children during childhood is largely responsible for high female mortality
rate. Pre - natal sex determination
tests, inspite of ban, continue to large scale practice of female foeticide. .
Source of data: www.censusindia.gov.in.
88
lowest
sex - ratio of 879 in the year 2011.
Among the Indian states, the state of Kerala had highest sex - ratio of
1084 and Haryana had the 960 950 946 941 943 940 934 933 930 Number of Females
per 1000 Males 930 927 920 910 900 1951 1961 1971 1981 1991 2001 2011 Census
Year Sex - Ratio in India from 1951-2011
"Literacy rate: Literacy rate is the percentage of people who can read and
write in a certain country. Literacy rate varies from country to country and
from rural to urban population in the same country. It is more among male than female population, more in
urban areas than in rural areas. The literacy rate of any country is an
important indicator as it affects the socio - economic development of a nation.
The people of a country are its real wealth. They make use of country resources. Population is an asset
for the country rather than a liability. It is an important indicator of the
socio - economic strength of a country. Population becomes human capital when
there is investment made in education, health a
nd skill development. Thus,
investment in human capital yields highest return. Therefore, in the entire process of
development, the focus should be on the well - being of human beings. Source of data: www.censusindia.gov.in. 89
Do you
know?
Population pyramids are an interesting means
of studying population pattern of any country they may be useful in knowing
ratio of male - female population of any country, the age group of various
people, etc. In countries like Japan,
low birth rates make the pyramid narrow at the bottom. In India, on the other hand, the pyramid is
broad in the younger age group because now more infants survive to
adulthood.
FEMALE
976 70-74 65-69 GO - 64 5569 50-54 45-491 40-44 35-39 30-4 25-29 20 24 15-19
10-14 0 70 68 50.20 20 20 10 0 10 20 30
40 60 70 MW Population pyramid of India Population pyramid of Japan
Keywords
birth
rate: the number of live births per 1000 people in a particular year.
death
rate: the number of deaths per 1000 people in a particular year.
Demographic
structure: the number of people in an age group, the birth and death rates,
literacy rate sex - ratio, rural - urban population and all other attributes of
the population required to analyze the composition of population.
density
of population: the number of people living in per square kilometre of an
area.
in -
migration: when people come from another area.
out -
migration: when people move out from an area.
.
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