Class 6 Geography Chapter 7 Complete Guide Book — World Population | PunjabTest.com

World population passed 8 billion in 2022 and keeps growing, though growth is slowing in many countries. Pakistan is among the five most populous countries.

Population grows when births exceed deaths, and when people move in (immigration) more than out (emigration).

Two simple sums explain almost every population question. First, natural increase: births minus deaths. If more babies are born than people die, the population grows, even if nobody moves in or out. Second, migration: people moving in minus people moving out. Add the two together and you have the total change. World population passed 8 billion in 2022, and Pakistan stands among the five most populous countries, so these sums are not abstract for us. Growth is slowing in many rich countries, where families are smaller, but the total is still rising because the starting number is so large — adding even a small percentage to 8 billion is still a huge number of people.

People crowd where life is easier: river plains, coasts, mild climates and job-rich cities. They avoid deserts, high mountains, dense forests and very cold lands.

Population density = people ÷ area. Crowded places (like Punjab’s plains) have high density; empty places (like deserts) have low density.

People do not spread evenly like butter on bread; they crowd where life is easier and avoid where it is hard. River plains give flat land, fertile soil, water for crops and drinking, and easy trade routes. Coasts give ports and fishing. Mild climates and cities full of jobs pull people in. Deserts, high mountains, dense forests and frozen lands push people away, because water is scarce, farming is hard or the cold is extreme. Density turns this into one number: people divided by area. A crowded plain might hold thousands per square kilometre, while a desert holds only a handful — and that single number lets you compare a tehsil, a province and a country with the same ruler.

Better food, clean water, vaccines and hospitals cut deaths, especially of children — so populations grow even when families have fewer children than before.

High birth rates continue where education (especially of girls) is low and children help on farms. Education and health care together slow growth.

Population grows fastest not when families suddenly have more children, but when fewer people die. Better food, clean water, vaccines and hospitals have cut deaths, especially of babies and young children, so more children survive to become adults. At the same time, birth rates stay high in places where schooling, especially for girls, is low and where children are expected to help on farms. The two forces together — falling deaths plus steady births — are what make numbers climb. Education and health care slow the climb from both sides: educated families tend to choose fewer children, and healthy families lose fewer children, so parents feel less need for many births as a safety net.

Fast growth strains food, water, houses, schools, hospitals, jobs and transport. Cities sprawl into farmland; slums grow where houses are scarce.

It also strains nature: more land cleared, more waste, more pollution. Planning — schools, jobs, family health services — eases the strain.

Fast growth is a race between people and services, and when people win the race, services strain. More families need more houses, but houses take time to build, so slums grow on the edges of cities. More children need more schools, teachers and books. More homes need more water, and more traffic needs more roads. Cities also sprawl outward into farmland, so the fields that feed the city shrink just as the city needs more food. Nature feels it too: more land cleared, more waste produced, more smoke and sewage. None of this means growth itself is evil; it means growth without planning is expensive, because building a school after children already need it costs more, in every sense, than building it in time.

Resources (water, land, fuel) are limited. Sustainable use means using them so future generations also have enough: save water, protect soil, use clean energy.

A country is richer when its people are educated and healthy — population is an asset when skilled, a burden when unplanned.

Resources are limited, and that one word — limited — is the whole argument. There is only so much fresh water, fertile land and fuel, and every extra person shares the same pot. Sustainable use means using the pot so that future generations can still eat from it: save water instead of wasting it, protect soil instead of letting it wash away, and use clean energy that does not run out or poison the air. Then comes the hopeful twist: people are not only mouths to feed, they are also hands and minds. An educated, healthy population can farm better, build, teach, invent and care for others — an asset. The same population, left unplanned, uneducated and unhealthy, becomes a burden on food, jobs and services. The difference is not the number of people; it is what the country does for them, and what they are able to do.