The measurement of population distribution

Abstract

An exposition and evaluation of the major techniques for measuring population distribution are presented under the following heads: numbers and density by geographic sub-divisions; measures of concentration; measures of spacing; centrographic measures; population potential; residential classification; community size; other categorical measures. The study of population densities needs to be supplemented with the application of other analytical tools, inasmuch as no single measure of distribution fully discloses both the pattern and degree of population concentration. Most measures of distribution have to be interpreted n terms of the system of areal sub-divisions for which they are computed, because different results may be obtained with different systems. The interpretation of measures of distribution is strenghtened when empirical values are related to theoretical considerations, but relevant theories of distribution are not yet highly developed. The problem of population distribution, in both its methodological and its theoretical aspects, is one that deserves greater attention from demography and the related specialities of human ecology, locaton economics, and human geography.

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