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Summary and Review 471

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CHAPTER 14 Summary and Review

A Planet with No Space for Why is forecasting population difficult?
Enjoying Life? A nation’s growth rate is affected by changing conditions—
from economic cycles, wars, and famines to industrialization
and government policies. Pp. 451–455.
Contrast the views of the New Malthusians and Anti-
14.1
Malthusians on population growth and the food supply; explain why
The Development of Cities
people are starving.
What debate did Thomas Malthus initiate?
Summarize the development of cities, the process of
In 1798, Thomas Malthus analyzed the surge in Europe’s 14.3
population. He concluded that the world’s population will urbanization, U.S. urban patterns, and the rural rebound.
outstrip its food supply. The debate between today’s New How are cities related to farming and the
Malthusians and those who disagree, the Anti-Malthusians, Industrial Revolution?
continues. Pp. 439–443.
Cities can develop only if there is an agricultural surplus
Why are people starving?
large enough to free people from food production. The
Starvation is not due to a lack of food in the world: There is primary impetus to the development of cities was the inven-
now more food for each person in the entire world than there tion of the plow. After the Industrial Revolution stimulated
was fifty years ago. Rather, starvation is the result of a mal- rapid transportation and communication, cities grew quickly.
distribution of food, which is primarily due to drought and Today, urbanization is so extensive that some cities have
civil war. Pp. 443–446. become metropolises, dominating the areas adjacent to
them. Some metropolises spill over into each other, forming
a megalopolis. Pp. 455–462.
Population Growth
What is the rural rebound?
Explain why the Least Industrialized Nations have so many As people flee cities and suburbs, the population of many
14.2
children, consequences of rapid population growth, population U.S. rural counties is growing. This is a fundamental depar-
pyramids, the three demographic variables, and problems in ture from a trend that had been in place for a couple of hun-
forecasting population growth. dred years. P. 462.

Why do people in the poor nations have so many
children? Models of Urban Growth
In the Least Industrialized Nations, children are often
viewed as gifts from God. In addition, they cost little to rear,
14.4 Compare the models of urban growth.
contribute to the family income at an early age, and provide
the parents’ social security. These are powerful motivations What models of urban growth have been
to have large families. Pp. 446–449. proposed?
What are the three demographic variables? The primary models are concentric zone, sector, multiple-
To compute population growth, demographers use fertil- nuclei, and peripheral. These models fail to account for
ity, mortality, and migration. They follow the basic demo- ancient and medieval cities, many European cities, cities
graphic equation, births minus deaths plus net migration in the Least Industrialized Nations, and urban planning.
equals the growth rate. Pp. 449–451. Pp. 462–464.