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SavannahYear 8
← Geography
GeographyPopulation, cities and movement30 min★★ difficulty

Population, cities and development

More than half the world now lives in cities, and that share is still rising. This lesson covers how population is described, why urbanisation happens fastest in lower-income countries, and how development is measured fairly.

Part of your national curriculum
  • Human and physical geography: Understand population and urbanisation, including international development and the causes and effects of migration

Lesson overview

What you'll learn in this lesson

Understand population and urbanisation, including international development and the causes and effects of migration

Key learning points

  • • Where people live, and how many
  • • Population structure
  • • Why cities grow
  • • Measuring development honestly

This lesson at a glance

  • 30 minutes
  • 19 parts to scroll through
  • 4 quick checks
  • Marked quiz at the end
  • Gentle pace: short sittings with pauses

Words to know

populationurbanisationinternationaldevelopmentcauses

Scroll down — the lesson carries on below

Part 1 of 19 · Discover5%
1

Watch & discover

Part 1 of 19

Watch first

Population, cities and development

An English teaching video on this topic from iNewittAll. Watch it, then scroll down for the lesson.

In a nutshell

Understand population and urbanisation, including international development and the causes and effects of migration

2

What you already know

Part 2 of 19

Before we start

What you already know

You should be able to read a graph and describe a trend with figures.

3

Key words

Part 3 of 19

Key words

Words you'll need today

Population density
The number of people per square kilometre.
Birth rate
Live births per 1,000 people per year.
Urbanisation
The rising proportion of a population living in towns and cities.
Rural–urban migration
People moving from countryside to city.
HDI
Human Development Index: a combined measure of income, education and life expectancy.
4

Learning cycle

Part 4 of 19

Learning cycle 1 of 2

Describing population

A short piece of teaching, then a check to make sure it has landed.

5

Explore the idea

Part 5 of 19

Learn

Where people live, and how many

Population distribution is uneven: dense in river valleys, coastal plains and temperate lowlands, sparse in deserts, high mountains and tundra. Density is people per square kilometre, and it hides variation — a country can have a low average density and hugely crowded cities. Population change comes from natural change (birth rate minus death rate) and net migration.

6

Explore the idea

Part 6 of 19

Learn

Population structure

A population pyramid shows the numbers of males and females in each age group. A wide base and narrow top means high birth rates and lower life expectancy, with a large dependent young population. A narrow base and thick middle and top means an ageing population, with pressure on pensions and healthcare instead. Reading a pyramid tells you which services a country needs to plan for.

7

Quick check

Part 7 of 19

Quick check

Population density is measured in…

8

Quick check

Part 8 of 19

Quick check

A population pyramid with a wide base shows…

9

Reset break

Part 9 of 19

Pause

That's sitting 1 of 2 done

Stretch, get a drink, look out of the window. There is no timer and nothing is counting down — your place is saved, so you can come back in five minutes or tomorrow.

Stop here for now
10

Learning cycle

Part 10 of 19

Learning cycle 2 of 2

Cities and development

A short piece of teaching, then a check to make sure it has landed.

11

Explore the idea

Part 11 of 19

Learn

Why cities grow

Urbanisation is driven by push factors in the countryside — small farm incomes, drought, few schools, conflict — and pull factors in the city: work, healthcare, education, electricity. Cities also grow by natural increase, because migrants are often young adults. Rapid growth can outpace housing and services, producing informal settlements with insecure land tenure, alongside real gains in income and opportunity.

12

Explore the idea

Part 12 of 19

Learn

Measuring development honestly

Gross national income per person is a single economic measure and hides inequality. Social measures such as infant mortality, literacy and life expectancy show how income is actually used. HDI combines income, schooling and life expectancy into one figure between 0 and 1, which is why geographers prefer it. Development is uneven within countries too, so national averages should always be treated with care.

13

Quick check

Part 13 of 19

Quick check

Which is a push factor for rural–urban migration?

14

Quick check

Part 14 of 19

Quick check

Why do geographers prefer HDI to income alone?

15

Common mix-ups

Part 15 of 19

Common mix-ups

Things people often get wrong

  • Migration is the main reason city populations grow — natural increase within the city is often larger.
  • High population density always means poverty — some of the world's densest places are also the wealthiest.
  • A high GNI per person means everyone is well off — averages hide serious inequality.
16

Challenge round

Part 16 of 19

Game · Sort it

Which of these are true?

Drag each card into the right column. Tap a card first if dragging is fiddly.

True

Not true

17

Challenge round

Part 17 of 19

Game · Fill the gaps

Finish the sentences

Choose the word that belongs in each gap.

____ distribution is uneven: dense in river valleys, coastal plains and temperate lowlands, sparse in deserts, high mountains and tundra.

____ is driven by push factors in the countryside — small farm incomes, drought, few schools, conflict — and pull factors in the city: work, healthcare, education, electricity.

____ is uneven within countries too, so national averages should always be treated with care.

18

Mastery quiz

Part 18 of 19

Marked quiz

End of lesson quiz: Population, cities and development

6 questions, marked with the reasoning shown. No timer.

  1. 1. Natural change is…

  2. 2. Areas of sparse population typically include…

  3. 3. An ageing population increases demand for…

  4. 4. Informal settlements often lack…

  5. 5. Infant mortality is a…

  6. 6. HDI values range from…

19

Lesson round-up

Part 19 of 19

Lesson round-up

Ready when you are

Quiz score

Not sat

Games

Not played

Points this lesson

0

Best run

0 in a row

Luna: 0 out of 4 on the practice checks. Only if you feel up to it — one more?

Ask Luna

Do the work

Your written work for this lesson

This is the part you'd do in your book at school. Pick the pieces below, write here or on paper, and photograph anything you draw or work out.

Case study

Flooding on the River Calder

The town of Harbrook sits where a steep valley opens onto a flat floodplain. In December 2015, 120 mm of rain fell in 36 hours onto ground that was already saturated. The river rose 2.4 m in five hours, and 380 homes and 54 businesses flooded. Two roads and the railway closed for eleven days.

Geographers pointed to physical causes — steep slopes, impermeable rock, heavy rainfall — and human causes: moorland drained upstream, new housing built on the floodplain, and drains designed for smaller storms.

Since then the town has planted 40 hectares of woodland upstream, built leaky dams in small streams, and raised flood walls to 1.8 m. In the storm of 2020 the peak river level was 0.3 m lower and 40 homes flooded, not 380.

Written for Good Learning Co.

Reading questions

  1. List two physical and two human causes of the 2015 flood.
  2. Explain how planting woodland upstream lowers the river's peak level.
  3. Using the figures, judge how successful the scheme has been. Quote data in your answer.

  • Case study notes

    Writing

    Write the place, the facts and the figures from this lesson so you can revise them later.

    Half a page

  • Explain answer

    Writing

    Answer in full sentences, giving causes and effects. Use one figure or place name as evidence.

    8–10 sentences

  • Map or sketch

    Diagram

    Draw the map, cross-section or field sketch with a key, title and labels, then photograph it.

    1 map with a key

  • Data work

    Working out

    Plot your figures as a graph on paper and write one sentence about the pattern.

    1 graph + 1 sentence

Saved as you type.

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    Understand population and urbanisation, including international development and the causes and effects of migration

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