Population challenges: overpopulation and underpopulation | Geography

Starter quiz

______ means the number of people living in a certain area.
- 'Population' ✓
Which of the statements could mean 'overpopulation'?
- a country has more people than its resources can support ✓
- a country has a balanced population with enough resources to support everyone
- a country has people spread evenly across the land
What can happen when an area is overpopulated?
- more jobs and better wages for everyone
- shortages of things like food, water and space ✓
- less pollution
- higher quality of life for everyone
Which of these might lead to underpopulation?
- many young people move away from the country ✓
- people have more children
- there are lots of jobs in the country
A ______ is anything that can be used for a human need.
- 'resource' ✓
How can migration affect a country's population?
- it can make a country overpopulated if too many people move there
- it can help a country with underpopulation by bringing in more people ✓
- it always reduces the population of both countries
- it has no effect on population

What does population distribution mean?
- how resources are shared across a country
- how people are spread out across a country or region ✓
- the number of people living in a country
- the types of jobs available in a country
Which of the following is an example of a resource?
- a person's job
- water, food and energy ✓
- the number of people living in a place
How does migration affect population distribution?
- it can change where people live, moving them to different areas ✓
- it makes everyone move to the same city
- it has no effect on where people live
- it reduces the total number of people in a country
Match the keywords with their definition.
- underpopulation
  
  ⇔
  
  not enough people to utilise the resources available in an area ✓
- overpopulation
  
  ⇔
  
  not enough resources, to meet the needs of the population ✓
- migration
  
  ⇔
  
  moving from one place to another with the intention of staying there ✓

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Overpopulation is where there are not enough resources to meet the needs of the population.
China's population grew rapdily in the twentieth century, resulting in the One Child Policy.
Underpopulation is where there are not enough people for the resources available.
The Australian government felt the country was underpopulated after WWII and encouraged people to live there.

Overpopulation and underpopulation are only about the number of people in a country.

It’s not just about numbers—it’s about how well a country’s resources match the needs of its population.

Population distribution - describes how the people in that population are spread out across the area
Resource - anything that can be used for a human need
Migration - moving from one place to another with the intention of staying there