Understanding Global Regions: A Demographic and Cultural Study
Key Terms
- Demographic: The science that statistically studies human population, its composition, state, and distribution.
- Culture: Beliefs, values, and customs shared by a society.
- Literacy Rate: Percentage of people who can read and write.
- External Debt: Money borrowed from another country or an international institution.
- Maghreb: Region of North-West Africa that includes Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, and Mauritania.
- Ethnic Group: Group of people with similar physical or cultural characteristics.
- Latin America: Countries of the American continent where Spanish or Portuguese is spoken.
- Mixed Race: Refers to people whose ancestors were of different racial backgrounds.
- Middle East: Region of Asia bounded by the Black Sea, the Caucasus, the Caspian Sea, and the Central Asian plains.
- Absolute Monarchy: Monarchy in which the king exercises unlimited power.
- Archipelago: Group of small islands that are close to each other.
- Bartering: Exchanging goods without using money.
Principal Geographical Regions
The process of global integration (globalization) is making our world more and more homogeneous; lifestyles, cultures, customs, leisure, activities, etc., in different parts of the Earth are all becoming similar.
In spite of this, we can still identify areas of our planet that have their own unique physical, socioeconomic, political, historical, and cultural characteristics.
Africa
Characteristics:
- Small population (968 million inhabitants).
- Natural increase is very high.
- Underdeveloped countries, characterized by high infant mortality, low GDP, low literacy rate, and external debt.
There are two geographical regions: Northern Africa (Maghreb and Egypt) and Sub-Saharan Africa. In Sub-Saharan Africa, less than 30% of the population suffers from chronic hunger, and infant mortality is very high. Northern Africa is slightly more developed.
America
America consists of two distinctive geographical regions:
- North America
- Central and South America
Levels of development show significant inequalities:
- The largest part of North America is among the most developed regions on Earth, and the standard of living of the majority of its inhabitants is high.
- Many nations in Central and South America are developing countries, and the standard of living is very low. External debt is one of the biggest problems.
Asia
General Characteristics:
- It is the most populated continent on Earth.
- The high population density of coastal areas in the South and East.
- Urban population only represents 39.7%.
We can distinguish the following geographical regions: Northern and Central Asia, Western Asia, Southern Asia, and Eastern Asia. Levels of development are diverse; some populations are farmers, while other areas have become highly industrialized and have developed tertiary sectors.
Oceania
This continent is formed by the islands of Australia and New Zealand, and the island states of the Pacific (Papua New Guinea and the archipelagos of Micronesia, Melanesia, and Polynesia). Australia and New Zealand share economic, social, and cultural characteristics.
Oceania is the smallest and least populated continent, with 34 million inhabitants. Economic differences are considerable.
- Australia and New Zealand are developed countries.
- Papua New Guinea, Polynesia, Micronesia, and Melanesia are less developed.