New
New
Year 7
Population density
I can explain why population density differs across the globe.
New
New
Year 7
Population density
I can explain why population density differs across the globe.
These resources will be removed by end of Summer Term 2025.
Switch to our new teaching resources now - designed by teachers and leading subject experts, and tested in classrooms.
Lesson details
Key learning points
- Population is unevenly spread across the world.
- Human and physical factors can affect population density.
- A sparse population means that an area has few people relative to its size; rural areas have sparse populations.
- A dense population means that an area has a large amount of people relative to its size; cities are densely populated.
Keywords
Population density - the number of people living in a defined area, e.g. 300 people per square kilometre
Sparse population - an area with relatively few people living in it
Dense population - an area with a high number of people living in it
Distribution - how people are spread out across a geographic area
Common misconception
Population density is the same everywhere.
This misconception arises because students may not realise that geographical factors vary widely. Address this by comparing different regions.
Get pupils to move around the classroom to demonstrate dense and sparsely populated.
Teacher tip
Equipment
Licence
This content is © Oak National Academy Limited (2025), licensed on
Open Government Licence version 3.0
except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions (Collection 2).Lesson video
Loading...
Starter quiz
Download starter quiz
6 Questions
Q1.
What is a rural area?
A region with many towns and cities
A place that has many transport links
Q2.
What is an urban area?
A region with agricultural activities
A region with natural landscapes
Q3.
The number of people living in a defined area is know as ...
population increase.
population decrease.
population distribution.
Q4.
A place like a city which has many people living in it, is said to be ...
sparsely populated.
evenly populated.
Q5.
How people are spread out in a geographical area is known as ...
population density.
population growth.
population statistics.
Q6.
The , e.g. temperature and rainfall, can affect the population of an area.
Exit quiz
Download exit quiz
6 Questions
Q1.
What is population density?
The way people are spread across an area
The number of people in a country
The number of households in an area
Q2.
What does it mean when an area is sparsely populated?
The area has a high number of people living in it
The area has a moderate number of people
The area has an even distribution of people
Q3.
Which of these statements are correct?
More people live in areas with extreme temperatures
Only tropical climates have high populations
Cold regions have the most dense populations
Q4.
Which of these is a human factor affecting population density?
Climate
Soil
Q5.
Why do cities have dense populations?
Lack of water
Remote location
Q6.
Which region is most likely to have a sparse population?
New York City
Tokyo