Population Geography. Pergamon Oxford Geographies

183 Pages·1972·5.59 MB·English

by  John I. Clarke and W. B. Fisher (Auth.)

PERGAMON OXFORD GEOGRAPHIES
General Editor: w. B. FISHER
Other titles in this series
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Population Geography and the Developing Countries
H. D. CLOUT:
The Geography of Post-war France: A Social and Economic
Approach
Rural Geography: An Introductory Survey
R. COOKE & J. H. JOHNSON:
Trends in Geography: An Introductory Survey
J. T. COPPOCK:
Second Homes: Curse or Blessing?
R. DENNIS & H. D. CLOUT:
A Social Geography of England and Wales
B. GOODALL & A. KIRBY:
Resources and Planning
A. J. C. KERR:
The Common Market and How It Works
J. A. MATTHEWS:
Quantitative and Statistical Approaches to Geography
A. M. O'CONNOR:
The Geography of Tropical African Development, 2nd Edition
E. SUNDERLAND:
Elements of Human and Social Geography; Some Anthropological
Perspectives
G. T. TREWARTHA:
The More Developed Realm: A Geography of Its Population
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Publisher at Pergamon Press
Population Geography
by
JOHN I. CLARKE
Professor of Geography in the Univernty of Durham
SECOND EDITION
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Copyright © 1972 Pergamon Press Ltd.
All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means:
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recording or otherwise, without permission in writing from the
publishers.
First edition 1965
Reprinted 1966
Reprinted with corrections 1968
Reprinted 1969, 1970
Second edition 1972
Reprinted 1974, 1975, 1976, (twice), 1977, 1979, 1980, 1987
Library of Congress Catalog Card No. 70-183339
Printed in Great Britain by A. Wheaton & Co. Ltd., Exeter
ISBN 0-08-016854-X (Flexicover)
ISBN 0-08-016853-1 (Hardcover)
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
1. The world distribution and density of population 15
2. Vertical distribution of population in the world and the
continents 18
3. Room density, number of rooms and size of household in
Great Britain, 1951 34
4. The first and second moments of population in the United
States, 1950 37
5. Equipotential lines in thousands of persons per mile in the
United Kingdom, 1951 39
6. Population potential and income potential of the United
States, 1950 41
7. Lorenz curve of population concentration in the United
States, 1950 42
8. Rank-size of towns of England and Wales with more than
50,000 inhabitants, 1961 53
9. Density gradients for London at various dates, 1801-1941 58
10. The relation of area to population for English and Welsh
towns with more than 50,000 inhabitants, 1951 59
11. Triangular graph of three age-groups in various regions of
the world, 1945-54 68
12. The changing proportions of four age-groups in Great Britain
between 1851 and 1961 68
13. Six age-pyramids at mid-century, contrasting young and
old populations 70
14. Ageing of population at the apex in selected countries 72
15. Deviational graphs of percentage deviations of quinquennial
age-groups from the national average in rural districts of
England and Wales, 1911 and 1951 74
16. The distribution of three age-groups of males and females
in England and Wales, 1951 75
17. Counties with highest and lowest sex-ratios in England and
Wales, 1961 79
18. Birth rates in Europe, 1961 113
vii
viii List of Illustrations
19. Infant mortality rates in Europe, 1961 123
20. Male mortality from all causes in England and Wales, 1954-8 126
21. Male mortality from bronchitis in England and Wales, 1954-8 127
22. The growth of world population 154
23. Models of demographic transition 157
24. Types of population growth in the 1960s 158
25. Cartesian co-ordinate graph for showing types of population
change 161
26. Generalized population/resource regions 169
PREFACE TO SECOND EDITION
IN THIS extensively revised and extended second edition I am indebted to
critics who have urged less brevity than in the first edition, and to research
Students (particularly Mr. C. A. Palmer) who have made suggestions for
specific additions. I must also thank Mrs. P. Blair for retyping much of the
text.
Durham JOHN L CLARKE
IX
PREFACE TO FIRST EDITION
POPULATION geography is a fairly new aspect of geography. Although
geographers have long been interested in the relationships between population
distribution and environment, it is only recently that they have considered it
necessary to know more about age and sex-structure, migrations and the
factors influencing population growth. So they have come into contact with
demography, the study of population per se^ and have studied some of its
methods. But the geographical approach is essentially towards the analysis
of areal pattems of population distribution, composition, migrations and
growth, as well as their causes and consequences upon the cultural landscape.
This volume is systematic, and deals with topics rather than regions,
though much of the growing Hterature is of regional studies. The aim is to
introduce young geographers to population study, to explain the geographical
approach, and to suggest a frame on which to hang regional studies of
population. The book is intended as an introduction to population study for
geographers. It is hoped to remedy the paucity of examples and illustrations
in a later volume of regional population studies.
Despite several comparable volumes in other languages, no other book in
English has been exclusively devoted to this subject. This volume is therefore
tentative. It arises from part of an honours degree course given in the
University of Durham, in collaboration with Mr. J. C. Dewdney, who con­
sidered regional aspects. I owe a debt of gratitude to Professor W. B. Fisher
for his encouragements and counsels, and to my wife for her forbearance.
I am also grateful to Mr. D. J. Siddle and Mr. K. Swindell for kindly
reading the text.
Freetown JOHN I· CLARKE
CHAPTER I
WHAT IS POPULATION GEOGRAPHY ?
Man in Geography
Like the definition of geography, the place of man in geography has long
been a matter of academic dispute. Among the earlier geographers attention
was largely devoted to the natural environment, although this was considered
meaningful only in relation to man. In recent decades there has been
progressive reorientation of viewpoint, with increasing emphasis upon man
as the main inhabitant of the earth. This approach found its greatest
advocates in France, where in the first half of the century a flourishing
school of human geography examined and sought to explain the multiple
relationships between man, his activities and the environment. However,
the views of, for instance, Vidal de la Blache, Jean Brunhes and Maxi-
mihen Sorre varied in detail, giving different weight to the study of man.
Not surprisingly, human geographers have made many valuable contributions
to the study of population distributions. But human geography has not
received universal acceptance. Some geographers have considered human
geography too broad in scope, englobing as it does the geographical study of
economies, societies, settlement, transport and political units. Some have
felt that there is little distinction between the terms geography and human
geography.
The case for population geography has been most lucidly stated in 1953 by
Trewartha, who argued for a focus on man and provided a framework for
geographical studies of population. His view is that "numbers, densities, and
qualities of the population provide the essential background for all geography.
Population is the point of reference from which all other elements are observed,
and from which they all, singly and collectively, derive significance and
meaning". It must be admitted that such a view would not be endorsed by
all geographers, especially those with physical leanings, but there is a growing
body whose research and interests are orientated in this way.
Hooson has taken the progressive change in viewpoint to its logical extreme,
and postulates that in essence geography is concerned with the problem of
the uneven distribution of population over the earth. Distribution of popula­
tion "acts as a master-thread, capable of weaving into a coherent pattern the
1
2 Population Geography
otherwise disparate strands of the subject and expressing its philosophical
unity, particularly in the context of regional geography". He emphasizes the
importance of examining the ideas of men about place, rather than objective
studies of place itself. Hooson considers that there is no need for a distinct
sub-division of geography called population geography, which in his view
would be in danger of becoming the whole of geography.
Whilst there are many who will be sympathetic to this view of geography,
and agree that studies of population distribution provide a spine for regional
geography, and a theme for geography as a whole, many will regard it as too
narrow or too anthropocentric. In any case, population geography has
evolved as a distinct branch of geography — not before time, some will
confess, in the light of the numerous other specialist branches of the subject.
Indeed, the wonder is that its evolution has been so slow, when we consider
the growing awareness of the significance of population growth in social and
economic development.
Population Geography and Demography
Population geography, or geography of population — the terms have the
same meaning — is concerned with demonstrating how spatial variations in
the distribution, composition, migrations and growth of populations are
related to spatial variations in the nature of places. The population
geographer is also concerned with the genetic or dynamic aspects of spatial
variations over time, or how spatial relations or interaction between phenomena
occur. The emphasis is particularly on space, and in this way population
geography distinguishes itself from demography, which is the science of
population viewed as a single topic. In practice, while the demographer is
concerned with numbers and demographic processes especially for political
units as wholes, the population geographer is more concerned with areal
variations in population and their relations with physical, cultural and
economic phenomena.
Like demography, population geography is basically quantitative; it is
largely dependent upon statistical data. But both have a qualitative approach;
demographers examine various physical, intellectual and character quaUties
of populations to see their connections with quantitative aspects, while
population geographers endeavour to unravel the complex inter-relationships
between physical and human environments on the one hand, and population
on the other. The explanation and analysis of these inter-relationships is the
real substance of population geography.
Knowledge of the elementary techniques of demography is indispensable
to the population geographer. They are basic tools, the ignorance of which
may result in false correlations or incomplete analysis. Dependence upon a
neighbouring science is not an unusual attribute of branches of systematic
What is Population Geography ? 3
or topical geography. It is a natural consequence of geography's character as
a correlative subject. Just as economic geographers, biogeographers and
geomorphologists require basic training in economics, biology and geology,
so population geographers must be aware of the methods of demography.
Therefore this volume devotes much space to simple demographic techniques.
Eastern and Western Views of Population Geography
In recent years a spate of papers on population geography has appeared in
geographical journals and edited symposia. In Western countries the evolu­
tion and organization of the subject owes much to the pleas of Trewartha,
the stimulus of the International Geographic Union, the pioneer systematic
and regional studies of the French geographers George and Beaujeu-Gamier,
and the propagandist zeal of Zelinsky. But although Zelinsky argues that
"we have every right to expect that population geography will shift from its
present, rather peripheral standing to a commanding position within the
discipline", like many others he finds some difficulty in circumscribing the
field of population geography. He concludes that the list of human charac­
teristics of practical interest to the population geographer may be equated
with "those appearing in the census enumeration schedules and vital
registration systems of the more statistically advanced nations". The human
characteristics fall into three groups:
(a) absolute numbers;
(b) (i) physical characteristics: age, sex, race, morbidity, intelligence;
(ii) social characteristics: marital status, family, household, residence,
literacy, education, language, religion, nationality, ethnic group;
(iii) economic characteristics: industry, occupation, income;
(c) population dynamics: fertility, mortality, migration, change.
This range of human characteristics is not enumerated by all advanced
countries, but as a field of study it would gain considerable acceptance
from population geographers in Western countries, and it forms the basis of
this short volume. Unfortunately, however, it is not possible to do justice
to all these aspects of population; some will receive more treatment than
others, partiy because they are more central to the theme of population
geography and partly because they have attracted closer attention from
geographers.
This Western view of population geography would not gain widespread
acceptance in the Soviet Union. Orthodox Marxist geographers have rejected
human geography because of its early association with crude geographic
determinism and its emphasis on the relationships between the individual
and the environment. The basic tenets of Marxist theory lie counter to the
view that man could be moulded, consciously or xmconsciously, by his