Gujarat BoardEnglish MediumSTD 8Social ScienceHuman Resource5 Marks
Question
Describe the role of any two factors affecting population distribution.
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Answer
The major factors which affect the population distribution are as follows:
$(1)$ Geographical Factors:
$1.$ Topography (Physiography): The topography of any region intensely affects the population distribution. $Eg.$ Man always prefers to live in plains rather than in mountains and highlands or plateaus, because these areas are more suitable for agriculture, industries and service activities.$ E.g.. $ The areas along the banks of Ganga river are most densely populated areas of the world, while the mountainous regions of Andes, Alps, Himalayas, etc. are sparsely populated.
$2.$ Climate: The areas which are very hot or are chilling cold are unfavourable for human habitation. $E.g..$ The Sahara desert of Africa, the polar region of Russia. Northern Canada, Antarctica continent, etc. have very diverse climate, so the people avoid to live there.
$3.$ Soil: The alluvial soils of the rivers are very fertile, which is suitable for agriculture. Besides that soil is also suitable for industrial activities. Ganga-Yamuna and Brahmaputra rivers in India: Hwang-Ho and Yangtze rivers in China and river Nile in Egypt-all these rivers have created fertile plains. As the irrigation facilities are good here, agriculture and animal husbandry can be practised comfortably. So these plains have become regions of dense population.
$4.$ Water: In those areas where the non alkaline fresh water is available with ease. man prefers to live (habitat) there, because the agriculture, animal husbandry and Industries can be done comfortably. The river valleys of the world have dense population, while the deserts have a sparse population.
$5.$ Mineral: The regions of rich mineral resources are densely populated. The density is more in South Africa where there are diamond mines and in Middle-East countries with many mineral oilfields.
$(2)$ Social, Cultural and Economic Factors:
$1.$ Social Factor : Areas with comfortable housing and good facilities of education and health have more population density. $E.g.,$ Pune city in Maharashtra.
$2.$ Cultural Factor: The place with religious or cultural significance attract the people for settling, e.g., Varanasi (Banaras) located along the banks of river Ganga, Jerusalem in Israel, Vatican City located in Rome which is the capital of Italy, etc.
$3.$ Economic Factor: Industrial areas create new opportunities of employment. So such areas motivate large population to settle there. e.g.. Osaka in Japan and Mumbai in Maharashtra in India. Both these cities are densely populated because these are industrial places.
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