Quantity and Density of Population

Quantity. The total population of the earth amounts to over three thousand million inhabitants. As the average birth-rate is greater than the death-rate, the earth's population is gradually increasing (by about 60 millions a year).
Today the land surface is inhabited almost everywhere. The only part of the world without a permanent population is Antarctica. Only temporary scientific stations and expeditions are to be found there, the participants being replaced yearly.
The following table shows the distribution of population among the parts of the world:
Asia          —over 1,750,000,000
Europe      —over 600,000,000

America     —over 400,000,000

Africa        —over 250,000,000

Australia and Oceania    — over 15,000,000

1960—1963 data cited.

Density. Density of population means the average number of inhabitants to the square kilometre. To determine the density of a country's population, we divide the number of inhabitants by the number of square kilometres and get the number of inhabitants to the square kilometre. If we divide 3,000,000,000 (the total population of the earth) by 149,000,000 (the total land area), we get the average density of the earth's population—20 persons to the square kilometre.
The highest density of population is in Europe: about 60 persons to the square kilometre. Next comes Asia: 40 persons to the square kilometre. Much more sparsely populated are America (9 persons to the sq.km.) and Africa (8 persons to the sq. km.). Least populous are Australia and Oceania (about 2 persons to the sq. km.).
Within each part of the world the population is unevenly distri­buted. Some areas are densely populated and have many populous towns and villages. Others are thinly populated, dozens or even hun­dreds of kilometres often separating one village from another.
The density and distribution of population in any region depend on:

• the principal occupation of the inhabitants,
• how the natural environment is exploited,
• how people provide for their needs of food, clothing, tools, etc.
  The population is sparsest in hunting areas, where hunting is the main occupation of the inhabitants. It is also very sparse in nomad, cat­tle-breeding areas, where the inhabitants and their herds roam from pasture to pasture all the year round. More densely populated are the areas where the people lead a settled way of life and are engaged in farming. The population is very dense in irrigated lands. The most populous regions are the industrial ones, where the people live in large towns and cities and are engaged chiefly in industry. The numerous plants and mills there give employment to dozens and hundreds of
  thousands of workers. The density of population is often influenced by the age of the settlement: the older the settlement, the denser the population, and vice versa.