Population density

The density of the population, expressed in the number of permanent residents on a square kilometer of the territory, is called the population density. There are various indicators of this density: the density of the population of the village, city, region, country.

Why is this density recorded? There are many reasons. The main among them is the forecast of the labor resources of a certain region in the present and future time with the aim of building (or closing) social institutions (gardens, schools, institutes, etc.), apartment houses, the opening of factories and mills, etc. Uninhabited territory and large water areas are usually excluded when calculating density. For the rural population and for the urban population, the indicators are used separately.

The density of the population by continents, countries and parts of them varies greatly, being directly dependent on the nature of the dispersal, size and density of the population. Large cities and urban areas are more dense than, for example, rural areas. Therefore, in some cases the term "average population density" is used. The average density is calculated by dividing the total number of people (continent, country, region, region) by an area expressed in km². If we transform the above into a formula, we get the expression: P. n. = P / Q.

The largest population density, not in China, which has already entered the proverb, but in Monaco. According to the latest data, in this principality is 16 500 people / km². China is only 55 place, with a density of 141 people / km². In second place is the Republic of Singapore (7326 people / km²). The lowest density in Nunavut. Here, on a square kilometer, there are only 0.02 people.

Russia is on the list on the 180th place. Here the average population density is 8.5 people / km². On the greater half of the country's area (and this is Siberia with the Far East) per square kilometer there are only three people. Settlement in these territories is focal. Huge uninhabited spaces - tundra, marshy medium, southern, and also mountain taiga, where conditions are practically unsuitable for living. In some autonomous regions (Yamalo-Nenets, Evenki, Chukchi, etc.), the density is even lower - 0.03 / km2.

The highest density of population in the capital and the region. In Moscow itself, the approximate density is 325 people / km², in the region, not counting Moscow, is 141 people / km².

It is interesting that in the larger regions (by area) the density is lower. The area of the central economic region is 483 km ², and density is 62 people / km ²; The area of West-Siberian - 2427 km², density - 2.5 people / km²; The area of the Far East - 6215 km², density - 1.5 people / km².

Such differences are explained by socio-economic, historical and natural-geographical factors. Earlier trading routes were established in the central regions of the country, there was a connection with other countries. It was here that the population was concentrated, the branches of economic complexes were developed, aimed at processing both their own and imported raw materials. But the main factor, perhaps, is still the climate: the more it suits people's lives, the higher the population density.

Weak development of the North, the Far East and Siberia is explained, as already said, by natural and geographical factors: orographic difficulties and too harsh conditions do not allow developing the infrastructure to a high level.

The Russian government has launched a fight against overpopulation, introducing a program of so-called "labor mobility". The idea is somewhat similar to the Komsomol construction sites of the USSR, when young people were sent to raise virgin land, and where prisoners and soldiers worked along with the foremost workers. A striking example is the BAM. I wonder what the old way will lead to? According to the program, the unemployed, who moved in 2012 from densely populated cities to regions undeveloped and depressed, will receive up to 120,000 rubles. Perhaps very soon we will be able to observe mass resettlement and a drastic change in population density ...