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We have prepared well-written NCERT Class 8 Geography Chapter 5 Human Resources Notes for you. These notes are written in such a manner as to facilitate easy memorising of chapters and will serve as a method of quick revision to help you ace your exams. Let us explore them now!
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Table of Contents
- 1 Introduction to NCERT Class 8 Geography Chapter 5 Human Resources Notes
- 2 How is the Population Distributed?
- 3 What are the Factors Affecting the Distribution of Population?
- 4 NCERT Class 8 Geography Chapter 5 Human Resources Notes: Population Change
- 5 Patterns of Population Change
- 6 Population Composition
- 7 Important Definitions in NCERT Class 8 Geography Chapter 5 Human Resources Notes
- 8 FAQs
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Introduction to NCERT Class 8 Geography Chapter 5 Human Resources Notes
In NCERT Class 8 Geography Chapter 5 Human Resources Notes, we will learn about human resources, population, its distribution, population composition, etc. Let us begin.
Healthy and well-educated people who further develop resources are the ultimate resource and are called human resources.
How is the Population Distributed?
How people are spread across the earth’s surface is known as the pattern of population distribution. More than 90 per cent of the world’s population lives in about 30 per cent of the land surface. The distribution of population in the world is extremely uneven. Let us look at population distribution in detail.
Some areas are very crowded, some are less crowded. The crowded areas are south and south-east Asia, Europe and northeastern North America. Very few people live in high-latitude areas, tropical deserts, high mountains and areas of equatorial forests.
Almost three-quarters of the world’s people live in two continents Asia and Africa. Sixty per cent of the world’s people live in just 10 countries. All of them have more than 100 million people.
Density of Population
Population density is the number of people living in a unit area of the earth’s surface. It is normally expressed as per square km. The average density of the population in the whole world is 51 persons per square km. South Central Asia haogras the highest density of population followed by East and South East Asia.
What are the Factors Affecting the Distribution of Population?
There are many factors that affect the distribution of population. Let us look at them.
Geographical Factors
Let us look at geographical factors.
Topography:
- People mostly live on plains rather than mountains and plateaus because these areas are suitable for farming, manufacturing and service activities.
- The Ganga plains are the most densely populated areas of the world while mountains like Andes, Alps and Himalayas are sparsely populated.
Climate:
- People usually avoid extreme climates that are very hot or very cold like the Sahara desert, polar regions of Russia, Canada and Antarctica.
Also Read: Speech on Climate Change For Students
Soil:
- Fertile soils provide suitable land for agriculture.
- Fertile plains such as Ganga and Brahmaputra in India, Hwang-He, Chang Jiang in China and the Nile in Egypt are densely populated.
Also Read: What is Soil Erosion? Definition, Causes, Effects and Prevention
Water:
- People prefer to live in areas where fresh water is easily available.
- The river valleys of the world are densely populated while deserts have spare populations.
Also Read: Essay on Water Conservation: Samples in 150, 200, 250 Words
Minerals:
- Areas with mineral deposits are more populated.
- Diamond mines in South Africa and the discovery of oil in the Middle East led to the settling of people in these areas.
Let us look at these factors now.
- Areas of better housing, education and health facilities are more densely populated e.g., Delhi.
Cultural:
- Places with religious or cultural significance attract people.
- Varanasi, Jerusalem and Vatican City are some examples.
Economic:
- Industrial areas provide employment opportunities.
- A large number of people are attracted to these areas.
- Osaka in Japan and Mumbai in India are two densely populated areas.
NCERT Class 8 Geography Chapter 5 Human Resources Notes: Population Change
Population change refers to a change in the number of people during a specific time. Let us learn about population change in detail.
For an extremely long period of human history, until the 1800s, the world’s population grew steadily but slowly. Large numbers of babies were born, but they died early too. This was because there were no proper health facilities. Sufficient food was not available for all the people. Farmers were not able to produce enough to meet the food requirements of all the people. As a result, the total increase in population was very low.
In 1804, the world’s population reached one billion. A hundred and fifty-five years later, in 1959, the world’s population reached 3 billion. This is often called a population explosion. In 1999, 40 years later, the population doubled to 6 billion. The main reason for this growth was that with better food supplies and medicine, deaths were reduced, while the number of births remained fairly high.
Births are usually measured using the birth rate i.e. the number of live births per 1,000 people. Deaths are usually measured using the death rate i.e. the number of deaths per 1,000 people.
Births and deaths are the natural causes of population change. The difference between the birth rate and the death rate of a country is called the natural growth rate.
Migration is another way by which population size changes. Migration is the movement of people in and out of an area. People may move within a country or between countries. Emigrants are people who leave a country; Immigrants are those who arrive in a country.
Countries like the United States of America and Australia have gained in numbers by in-migration or immigration. Sudan is an example of a country that has experienced a loss in population numbers due to out-migration or emigration.
Also Read: Top 10 Immigration Friendly Countries
Patterns of Population Change
Rates of population growth vary across the world. Not all countries experience growth.
Some countries like Kenya have high population growth rates. They had both high birth rates and death rates. Now, with improving health care, death rates have fallen, but birth rates still remain high leading to high growth rates.
In other countries like the United Kingdom, population growth is slowing because of low death and birth rates.
Population Composition
Population composition refers to the structure of the population. The composition of population helps us to know how many are males or females, which age group they belong to, how educated they are and what type of occupations they are employed in, what their income levels and health conditions are.
An interesting way of studying the population composition of a country is by looking at the population pyramid, also called an age-sex pyramid.
A population pyramid shows:
- The total population is divided into various age groups, e.g., 5 to 9 years, 10 to 14 years.
- The percentage of the total population, subdivided into males and females, in each of those groups.
Characteristics of the pyramid:
- The shape of the population pyramid tells the story of the people living in that particular country.
- The numbers of children (below 15 years) are shown at the bottom and reflect the level of births.
- The size of the top shows the numbers of aged people (above 65 years) and reflects the number of deaths.
- The population pyramid also 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.
The population pyramid of a country in which birth and death rates both are high is broad at the base and rapidly narrows towards the top. This is because although many children are born, a large percentage of them die in their infancy, relatively few become adults and there are very few old people. For example: Kenya.
In countries where death rates (especially amongst the very young) are decreasing, the pyramid is broad in the younger age groups, because more infants survive to adulthood. For example: India. Such populations contain a relatively large number of young people which means a strong and expanding labour force.
In countries like Japan, low birth rates make the pyramid narrow at the base. Decreased death rates allow a number of people to reach old age.
Important Definitions in NCERT Class 8 Geography Chapter 5 Human Resources Notes
Some important definitions covered in the NCERT Class 8 Geography Chapter 5 Human Resources notes are mentioned below:
- Life expectancy: It is the number of years that an average person can expect to live.
- Immigration: When a person enters a new country.
- Emigration: When a person leaves a country.
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| CBSE Notes Class 8 English | CBSE Notes Class 8 History | CBSE Notes Class 8 Geography |
| CBSE Notes Class 8 Civics | CBSE Notes Class 8 Mathematics | CBSE Notes Class 8 Science |
FAQs
Ans: Healthy and skilled people who help develop natural resources into forms that can be utilised in a variety of processes are called human resources.
Ans: Value simply means worth of something.
Ans: Anything or any object that has some utility is called a resource.
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