There are many factors which affect the human population. These include the geographic, demographic and socio economic factors. The geographic factors include climate, soil factors, natural resources and transport facilities. The climate plays a crucial role in the growth of human population. The areas with extreme variations in the temperature like deserts in the Rajasthan and arctic oceans have very low density of population. The equatorial areas are hot but have rich natural resources. The tropical areas are the most populated areas and have a good rainfall and vegetation. The fertile soils are known as alluvial soils and they occur near the rivers valleys and flood plains. The dense population occurs in these areas. The other areas are less dense and are less populated. The soil fertility depends upon the number of factors like soil air, soil water, underground water and the mineral content of soil. The natural resources are formed by the nature. They include water, minerals, fuels etc. The water is essential for the survival of human beings. Most of the human population occurs near the banks of river. It is used in the industries and irrigation. It is the cheapest mode of transport. The minerals are found near the mining industries. These industries give rise to towns like Bokaro, Jamshedpur and Bhilai. There should be a lot of fuel and energy near the source of industry. It also plays a crucial role in the development of industrial towns.
The demographic factors consist of natality, mortality, emigration and immigration. These all are discussed above. There are few countries which have maintained their development by immigration. It includes USA and Australia. In these countries there has been an increase in population around 1 to 2 percent by immigration. In these countries the birth rate has fallen dramatically. The natality is decreased slightly and there has been increase in the population in our country due to the better health care, education, food supply and sanitation. The population growth rate has increased many folds from the year 1901 to 1981.
The socioeconomic factors also play an important role in the growth of population. The biological factors include population density, competition, interactions, natality, mortality, emigration and immigration. These factors are not dependent upon each other. Their dependent is more on the socioeconomic and cultural factors. The socioeconomic factors including are industrialization, education, religious beliefs, marriage, social status, family structure, health care and nutritional status etc. There is an inverse relationship with the industrial growth and the rate of population growth. The developed or industrialized countries have less growth of the population. They are mostly stable. The zero growth occurs in the Germany and around 1 percent growth occurs in the America and France. In Austria there is a negative growth. But in the developing countries there has been an increase in the growth of population. They show a direct relationship. The education shows an inverse relationship with the rate of population growth. The developed or industrialized countries which have a high literacy rates show less growth of the population. But it is not the only criteria which define the rate of growth of population. In some states like Kerala the literacy rate is very high but they are thickly populated also. There are few religious beliefs which prevent the people to undergo family planning. In such religion dominated countries the population will continue to rise. This occurs despite the higher literacy rates and economic growth. It occurs in the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia. They have a very high population growth rate. The women can give rise to offspring mainly from the age 15 to 45. If she gets married late naturally the chances of giving birth to more offspring will reduce. It is common in the industrialized countries. The women marry late but in the developing countries the women marry very early around 15 to 20 years of age. The social status of women shows an inverse relationship with the rate of population growth. The higher status women marry later in their age. The family structure also plays an important role in the growth of population. The child labor plays a crucial role in the growth of population. These families consider the children as their earning hands. So, more are the children and more are their sources of income. The health care shows a direct relationship with the rate of population growth. The better is the health care system less is the mortality rate and higher is the natality rate. The families with the gainful employment show low mortality. It decreases the incidence with the large number of children. A well maintained diet helps to reduce the mortality. The sources of entertainment also play an important role in the growth of population. They keep a routine check on the population. More are the sources of entertainment and lesser are the chances of high natality. The population education shows an inverse relationship with the rate of population growth. The better is the population education the lesser is the growth of population.
