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population density — English
The number of individuals that occur within a specified portion of landsurface, expressed as “x” individuals per “y’” square kilometre (or metres or miles). The index might apply to the concentration of humans, animals, insects or microbes or anything non-organic. In this context the term “population” is used in the statistical sense, which means that any type of phenomenon might constitute the population referred to. In Geography and all other environmental sciences, it often refers to human beings, but that might not necessarily be the case, since shops, schools, trees, mammals, reptiles or microbes could constitute a “population”. Therefore, the entire concept is a statistical one. Whatever the nature of the population, the statistical index applies. In Geography one could usually take population density as referring to human beings, but that is not always the case. A very easy comparative variable to explain the term is to use the number of individual human beings who live within a defined area. In an Indian slum 700 000 or more human individuals (people) might live within one square kilometre of land. The population density is extremely high since there is far less than one square metre of landsurface available for every human being in the population. On the other hand, less than one human being lives within an area of many square kilometres of land in the Sahara desert. The population density in any urban area is always higher than that of the surrounding rural area.
