Text for written translation. One of the central problems in human geography is to explain the distribution and characteristics of people – this is the province of population geography

One of the central problems in human geography is to explain the distribution and characteristics of people – this is the province of population geography. Population geography examines particularly the distribution of population in relation to its various characteristics, such as growth, number, density, age, sex, fertility, mortality, natural increase, and occupations, divisions into rural and urban, ethnic, linguistic, or religious groupings; and migrations. Some geographic studies are concerned mainly with spatial distribution, spatial mobility, or spatial diversity in relationship to environment or resources, all of which are often depicted on maps. Other studies are more concerned with fertility, mortality, population growth, and forecasting through the use of demographic models.

Interest in population geography in the second half of the 20 th century has been heightened by the sharp and growing contrast between economically developed countries (which have long experienced a demographic transition from high to low birth and death rates and thus to low rates of population increase) and the less – developed countries (in which death rates have declined dramatically but birth rates have remained high, resulting in rapid population growth that has posed extremely difficult problems). The emphasis in population geography has shifted to effect how much less people are bound to the land as a result of transformation in agriculture, increased industrialization, improved transportation and trade, changes in sources and forms of energy, urbanization and the expansion of service industries.