The Contemporary World
DEMOGRAPHY AND POPULATION STUDIES: AN INTRODUCTION
Brief History of the World Population
❖ Hunter-Gatherer Period (Before 8000 BC)
➢ Example:
■ Early humans like the San people of Africa and Neanderthals lived in
small groups, relying on hunting and gathering for food.
➢ Read after third bullet: High death rates:
■ Due to diseases, predators, and harsh climates.
➢ Short life expectancy:
■ Most people didn’t live past 30 years.
❖ Agricultural Revolution (8000 BC – AD 1)
➢ Example:
■ Ancient civilizations like Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt developed
farming, leading to larger settlements.
➢ Read after first bullet: Population growth:
■ The Nile River Valley allowed Egyptians to grow crops, increasing food
supply and fertility rates.
➢ Read after second bullet: Lower death rates:
■ Better shelter and stored food helped people survive harsh seasons.
➢ Read after third bullet: Sedentary lifestyle:
■ Early towns like Çatalhöyük (Turkey) and Jericho emerged, allowing for
trade and social development.
❖ Industrial Revolution
➢ Read after first bullet: Death rates decreased sooner than fertility rates due to
economic development and a rising standard of living.
■ Due to better sanitation and improved living conditions, diseases like
cholera and smallpox became less deadly.
➢ Read after second bullet: Improvements and innovations in medical technology,
such as vaccinations, improved public health reducing their mortality rates
■ Edward Jenner’s smallpox vaccine in 1796 helped reduce mortality rates.
➢ Read after third bullet: The term "population explosion" was introduced to
describe the rapid increase in population.
❖ Redistribution through Migration (European Expansion)
➢ Read after first bullet: Migration patterns shifted as people moved from Latin
America and Asia to the United States.
➢ Migration also occurred from Asia to Canada and from Africa and Asia to Europe.
➢ Within Europe, migration trends showed a shift from the eastern to the western
regions. After this, read the last bullet
❖ Redistribution through Migration (“South to North” migration)
➢ Read before first bullet:European Expansion declined in the 1930s, leading to
changes in global migration patterns.
The Contemporary World
DEMOGRAPHY AND POPULATION STUDIES: AN INTRODUCTION
Brief History of the World Population
➢ Read after first bullet: South is considered as the less developed areas and
north as the more developed ones, migration from south to north increases as
people migrate to north in search for better opportunities.
➢ Read after second bullet:Urban Revolution occurred in industrialized nations,
transforming demographics and economic structures.
➢ Example:
■ The 2000 U.S. Census showed that non-Hispanic whites were no longer
the majority in California, with projections indicating that the
Hispanic-origin population would become the majority by the mid-21st
century.
❖ Urban Revolution
➢ Read after first bullet: In ancient times, large cities were few and far between,
there were very few large cities, and they were spread out over a very long
distance.
➢ For example, Rome had a population of 650,000 in A.D. 100 was probably the
largest in the ancient world.
➢ Read after second bullet: The total world population in 1800 was estimated to
be around 1 billion people, which is much smaller than today’s population.
However, the statement doesn’t mean the population itself was small—it means
that most people lived in rural areas, not cities.
➢ Since less than 1% of people lived in cities with over 100,000 people, it suggests
that urban areas were rare, and most people relied on agriculture and lived in
villages or small towns.
➢ Read after last bullet: Example:
■ During the second half of the 20th century, urbanization accelerated due
to rapid rural population growth, pushing more people into cities.
