Explain the term ‘Population Density’ with reference to human beings.

Population density is the NUMBER OF PEOPLE living per UNIT AREA (per square kilometre) at a given time.

Two things must appear for full marks: the number of PEOPLE, and the UNIT AREA. An answer saying only "the number of people in a place" omits the area and earns half.

Adding "at a given time" is worth doing, because density changes as population grows.

DO NOT CONFUSE IT with the other population terms in this chapter, which are all rates rather than densities: NATALITY — live births per thousand people per year MORTALITY — deaths per thousand people per year GROWTH RATE — natality minus mortality (plus migration) Density is people per AREA; the others are per THOUSAND PEOPLE per YEAR. Reading the unit tells you which term is meant.

Population density = Total population ÷ Total land area (in km²)

Example: if a district has 5,00,000 people living in 2,000 km², its population density is 250 persons per km².