Spatial patterns: where do people live, and why?
A spatial pattern is the way things are spread over the Earth: clustered, spread out, in lines. People are not spread evenly. They cluster on fertile plains, near rivers and coasts, in mild climates and around trade routes. They are few in deserts, high mountains, thick forests and icy lands.
Population density = number of people ÷ area (people per km²). An average density can hide the pattern: a country may have a medium average while most people live in one small river plain.
Geographers also change the scale: the pattern of your street, your district, your country and the world can all look different.
Population growth, migration and urbanisation
Growth. Birth rate = births per 1000 people per year; death rate likewise. Natural increase = birth rate − death rate. Add net migration (people arriving − people leaving) to get the total change. A fast-growing population doubles in about 70 ÷ growth rate (%) years.
Migration is moving to live in another place. Push factors drive people out (no jobs, war, floods, poor services). Pull factors draw them in (jobs, schools, safety). Migration can be inside a country (internal) or across borders (international).
Urbanisation is the rising share of people living in towns and cities. It happens because of rural-to-urban migration and natural increase in cities. Cities bring jobs and services, but also crowding, traffic, slums and pollution when growth is not planned.
Globalisation and culture
Globalisation means places all over the world are more connected through trade, travel, money, news and the internet. Goods, jobs, music, food, clothes and ideas now move quickly between countries.
For culture this has two sides. Cultures mix and new forms appear (fusion food, global music). But some local languages, crafts and customs can fade when one culture dominates, and some people feel pressure to look and speak like others. Many communities answer by protecting local identity: festivals, language lessons, local brands.
The meaning of places
A place is more than a dot on a map. It has a location (where it is), physical features (hills, rivers), human features (buildings, people) and a sense of place: the feelings and memories people attach to it.
The same river is farmland to a farmer, a living to a fisher, a festival site to a family and a view to a tourist. Different perspectives give different meanings. Good geography listens to many perspectives before judging a place or a plan for it.
Try it
In the 3D: in step 1, count the dots on the river plain and on the hills. Which place is more crowded? In the last step tap all four places and read how each person sees them.
At home: list five people you know who moved to a new town. For each, write one push factor and one pull factor.
Key formulas and definitions
- Population density = people ÷ area (people per km²)
- Natural increase = birth rate − death rate (per 1000)
- Growth rate (%) = natural increase per 1000 ÷ 10
- Doubling time ≈ 70 ÷ growth rate (%)
- Net migration = immigrants − emigrants
- Urbanisation (%) = urban people ÷ total people × 100
Worked examples
1. A town has 24,000 people living in 12 km². Find the population density.
Density = 24,000 ÷ 12 = 2,000 people per km².
2. A region has birth rate 22 and death rate 8 (per 1000). Find the natural increase rate and the growth in %.
Natural increase = 22 − 8 = 14 per 1000. As a percentage: 14 ÷ 10 = 1.4% per year.
3. At 1.4% growth a year, about how long does the population take to double?
Doubling time ≈ 70 ÷ 1.4 = 50 years.
4. A country has 60 million people, 24 million of them in cities. Later it has 100 million, 55 million in cities. How did the urban share change?
First: 24 ÷ 60 × 100 = 40%. Later: 55 ÷ 100 × 100 = 55%. The urban share rose by 15 percentage points: urbanisation.
5. A district receives 5,000 people and loses 12,000 in a year. Find the net migration.
Net migration = 5,000 − 12,000 = −7,000. The district lost 7,000 people through migration.
6. A hill village empties while a coastal city grows. Give two push and two pull factors.
Push (village): few jobs, poor roads and schools. Pull (city): many jobs, better hospitals and colleges.
Common mistakes
- Saying a high density always means a rich or large country. Density is people per area, nothing more.
- Using the average density and forgetting that people cluster unevenly inside the area.
- Mixing up migration (people moving) with natural increase (births minus deaths).
- Calling one perspective of a place "the right one". A place can have several valid meanings.