1. What is the difference between population distribution and population density?

2. Why do geographers study both population distribution and density when making decisions about electoral districts and housing development?

1. What physical characteristics make midlatitude regions attractive for human settlement?

2. Why do most people live in low-lying areas near water rather than in mountains, deserts, or polar regions?

3. What regions have the lowest population densities and what physical factors explain this pattern?

1. How do existing settlements and transportation networks influence where new populations choose to settle?

2. How can political decisions override physical geography to create population clusters in unlikely locations?

1. How does the relevance of elevation to population distribution change across different scales of analysis?

2. Why might climate explain population distribution at a regional scale but not at a local city scale?

1. How does the attractiveness of industrialized areas differ between global and local scales of analysis?

2. What is social stratification and how do factors like elevation and land use laws create stratified neighborhoods within cities?

1. What is the primary limitation of using arithmetic population density to understand how people are actually distributed across an area?

1. What are the three main distribution patterns shown by areas with the same arithmetic density, and where is each pattern commonly found?

1. How does physiological population density differ from arithmetic density and why is it more useful for determining carrying capacity?

2. What does a large difference between arithmetic and physiological densities indicate about a country's ability to feed its population?

3. How do developed and less-developed countries with high physiological densities address their food needs differently?

1. What does agricultural population density measure and what does it reveal about a country's level of economic development?

2. Why do less-developed countries typically have higher agricultural densities than developed countries?

1. How does population density vary by season and time of day, and what challenges does this create for cities like Manhattan?

1. How do people's choices about where to live reflect their values regarding urban versus rural living?

1. Why do most businesses locate in towns and cities rather than rural areas?

2. How does population distribution influence political representation and the redistricting process?

3. How does population concentration affect the location and availability of government and private services?

1. What is infrastructure and why is providing services more cost-effective in high-density areas?

2. What challenges do high-density urban areas face regarding water contamination and disease transmission?

1. What is carrying capacity and how does it relate to whether a region experiences overpopulation?

2. How can technological changes and climate variations affect a region's carrying capacity over time?

3. What environmental problems result from high population density and which major cities face water shortages?

1. How do differences in average age between regions affect public policy priorities?

2. What factors can create gender imbalances in population composition at different geographic scales?

1. What information can a population pyramid reveal beyond just age and sex data?

1. What are the key structural features of a population pyramid and how are males and females typically displayed?

1. What does a wide base on a population pyramid indicate about a region's population growth and family size?

1. What does a symmetrical population pyramid with gradual changes between cohorts suggest about a region's history?

2. What does the Niger pyramid reveal about the country's population growth and age structure?

1. How does war affect population pyramids and what is a birth deficit?

2. What does the post-World War II German pyramid reveal about the war's impact on different age and gender groups?

1. What is a baby boom and what causes it to occur?

2. How do baby busts and echoes appear on population pyramids and what do they reveal about generational patterns?

3. How does an anomaly in a population pyramid move over time and why does it persist?

1. What do asymmetrical pyramids with significant differences between cohorts suggest about a population's history?

2. What are examples of local events that can create atypical population pyramid shapes in smaller geographic areas?

1. What is the dependency ratio and how does it compare between developed and less-developed countries?

2. How do differences in dependency ratios reflect different patterns of family size and life expectancy?

1. How does the composition of dependent populations differ between the United States and Niger?

2. How does the age structure of dependent populations influence spatial distribution patterns within countries?