hello there geographers and welcome back to another topic review video on the mr sin channel today in this video we're going to be explaining how population distribution and density affect a society and the environment remember if you find value in these videos consider subscribing and if you need more help with your ap human geography class check out my ultimate review packet and other awesome resources in the description down below as countries cities and regions see their populations fluctuate they're faced with different political economic social and environmental challenges remember when we are talking about population density we're talking about the number of people living in a specific geographic area and when we are talking about population distribution we are talking about the spread of people in a geographic area depending on the density and the distribution of a population we can see different opportunities and challenges for a society politically we can see societies that have an uneven population distribution will see political power reside in larger urban areas residents living in smaller communities or rural areas may have less political power and also representation as politicians may favor larger cities with larger voting bases this could create conflict between rural communities and urban communities or lead to people in certain communities to become disenfranchised in the political process but at the same time we can see that individuals living in large urban populations see their individual political power shrink as the population density of an area increases for example if we look at the presidential elections in the united states we can see that citizens who live in states with a lower population have more of an impact on their state's electoral votes compared to states with a larger population where citizens votes have less of an impact on the outcome a society's distribution and density can also impact what needs a society has from a government if a society is dispersed the government will have to provide more services over larger geographic areas such as public utilities which could increase government spending whereas if a population is clustered together and has a higher population density the government may not have to provide services over such a large geographic area but will have to provide other services such as public transportation to reduce traffic and congestion on the road economically we can see that population breakdown of a society can impact the funding of schools city governments funding for health care services and other public services in the private sector we can see that more densely populated areas will have a variety of jobs and economic opportunities as businesses will be attracted to areas with a larger customer base and larger pool of workers to choose from but at the same time people living in a large urban area will also have to compete with more people in the job market which could make it more difficult for people to get a specific job however at the same time these areas will often have more goods and services for people to purchase compared to communities that have a low population density and are dispersed people living in large urban areas will also see higher costs of living with the price of homes goods and taxes often being higher compared to areas with smaller population density whereas rural settlements often have a lower cost of living but at the same time also have less goods and services for residents to use the cost of living also impacts the social structures of a society as well large densely populated urban areas often see people having fewer children due to people focusing more on their careers and due to the cost of raising a family while rural areas that have a lower population density or more dispersed especially rural areas that are focused around agriculture often see an average family size that's larger since children can help out around the farm and the cost of living is cheaper traditionally cultures in larger urban areas focus more on individual accomplishments with a focus on an individual's career and a large institution whereas cultures in more rural areas tend to focus on more traditional family values religious institutions and have more of a community feel now notice that i said traditionally when we're talking about different places we can make observations about certain trends in an area but it does not mean that every person family or culture will fit those trends we can also look at the age ranges of a society to see what services and opportunities they may need for example populations with more people in their 20s and 30s will be more interested in different nightlife options whereas a society with an elderly population will need to look for a new workforce and provide more health care services for their retiring population now individuals living in a smaller settlement or a dispersed settlement will often have to travel farther for public and private services whereas individuals in a densely populated area will not have to travel as far for the service but may lack green spaces as their environment resembles more of a concrete jungle which brings us to our last category which is the environment societies that are densely populated may lose important green spaces and replace it with streets and buildings while areas with a population that's dispersed are more likely to have large green spaces and undisturbed lands urban areas that continue to grow horizontally often end up paving over arable land green spaces and merging with suburbs and other settlements this is known as urban sprawl a concept we'll talk more about in unit 6. speaking of environmental consequences we need to also address a society's carrying capacity the carrying capacity is the amount of people that can be supported by the environment without damaging the environment if the society exceeds their carrying capacity we will start to see desertification depletion of nutrients in the soil and overpopulation occur which means we'll no longer be able to meet the wants and needs of the current population societies that get close to exceeding their carrying capacity may start to see starvation loss of life and possibly an increase in refugees from that society which will impact the surrounding countries and regions so we can see that depending on the size distribution density and the demographic breakdown of a society we will experience a variety of different political economic social and environmental challenges or opportunities alright now comes the time to practice answer the questions on the screen and when you're done check your answers in the comment section down below and if you found value in this video consider subscribing and checking out my ultimate review packet for more help with your ap human geography class as always i'm mr sin thank you so much for watching and i'll see you next time 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