Population
In the UK, around 80% of the population live in urban areas and 20% in rural areas.
Some parts of the UK have many more people than others - Scotland's mountains and remote islands have very few inhabitants, while England is the most crowded country, with London being the largest city in the UK.
All the land in the UK can be divided into three categories:
- Rural
- Urban
- Suburban
Rural
Rural areas are found in the countryside, surrounded by open land. Most of the land in the UK is rural.
Suburban
Suburban settlements are usually located outside of large cities and towns and the land here is used for housing.
Urban
Urban settlements are towns and cities with a high population.
Smaller Islands and Settlements in the UK
The UK is an island country with thousands of islands. The UK occupies the majority of the British Isles.
Most of the population of the UK lives on the two main islands, Great Britain and Ireland (in Northern Ireland), but there are also settlements on some of the UK's many islands.
Some of them, such as the Orkney Islands and the Shetland Islands, are remote. This can mean that life is very different to the life on the mainland.
Some of the differences could be:
- Job opportunities
- Transport links
- Choice in schools and education
- Variety of goods sold in shops
- Flooding risk
- More tourism
- House prices
- Unspoilt wildlife
The Ageing Population of the UK
The biggest population challenge that many governments face, particularly in the richer countries of the world, is how to support an increasingly elderly population.
Developing Countries and Population Growth
Developing countries like Malawi have different population structures. There is a relatively high number of people under the age of 20 and a low number of people over the age of 60. This is because many babies are being born and few people live to old age.
What is the difference between population distribution and density?
- Population distribution is the spread of people across the world, ie where people live.
- Population density is the number of people living in a particular area.– usually measured as the number of people in one square kilometre.– it can be written as total population ÷ land area.
World Populations
It took roughly 300,000 years for the human population to reach 1 billion around 1800. Growth sped up massively in the 20th century:
- 1 billion: Around 1800
- 3 billion: Early 1970s
- 6 billion: 1999
- 8 billion: 2022
Uneven Spread: People are not spread out evenly across the Earth. There are more "empty" areas (like deserts, mountains, and ice caps) than "crowded" cities and fertile river valleys.
Where People Live: Most of the world's population lives in the Global South and across Asia (with huge populations in countries like China and India).
Why the Population Grew: Better healthcare, cleaner water, and improved food supplies mean fewer children die young and people live much longer than they did in the past.
The Future: The UN projects the world population will hit 9 billion around the late 2030s and eventually peak near 10 billion later this century before starting to level off.