When the analysis of population density is done by calculating it through net cultivated area, then the measure is termed as:
- (a)Net density
- (b)Gross density
- (c)Agricultural density
- (d)Physiological density
Answer
Why
Correct — D. Physiological density is total population divided by the net cultivated area, which is precisely the calculation the stem describes.
It answers how many people each unit of farmland has to feed, so it measures pressure on agricultural land rather than crowding on the ground.
Egypt is the standard illustration. Most of its territory is desert, so the population packed into the Nile valley gives it a physiological density far above its arithmetic one.
Why the others are wrong
- (a)Net density — Net density is not one of the three measures this topic defines — arithmetic, physiological and agricultural. Nothing in the term points at cultivated area, which is the denominator the stem specifies.
- (b)Gross density — Gross or arithmetic density divides total population by total land area, farmland and desert alike. It is the persons-per-square-kilometre figure quoted in the census.
- (c)Agricultural density — Agricultural density divides only the farming population by the cultivated area. The stem divides the whole population, which makes this the near-miss that catches most candidates.
Concept
Three densities answer three different questions, and only the numerator and denominator separate them.
Arithmetic or gross density: total population divided by total area. How crowded the land is.
Physiological density: total population divided by net cultivated area. How much food-producing land each person has.
Agricultural density: farming population divided by net cultivated area. How intensively the farming population works the land it has.
Whole population gives physiological, farmers only gives agricultural.
A high physiological density beside a low agricultural density points to mechanised farming, where few cultivators feed a largely non-farming population.
Key facts
- Physiological density is total population divided by net cultivated area.
- Agricultural density is agricultural population divided by net cultivated area.
- Arithmetic or gross density is total population divided by total land area.
- Net cultivated area, not total area, is the denominator in both physiological and agricultural density.
Study next
Common traps
- Picking agricultural density because the word agriculture arrives before the numerator does.
- Assuming density always means people per square kilometre of total area.
The topic is asked in two directions - a definition given and its name wanted, as here, or a name given and its formula wanted. Learn each measure as a numerator with a denominator and both directions are covered.
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