Grade 5 · Social Studies · Lesson 5

Population and Settlement

Look at any map of the world at night and you will see something striking — bright clusters of light scattered across dark spaces. Those bright clusters are SETTLEMENTS, places where people live together. The total number of people living in a place is its POPULATION. When many people are squeezed into a small area, geographers say the place has a high POPULATION DENSITY. When only a few people share a wide area, the density is low. Today we will explore why people gather where they do and how settlements grow from tiny villages all the way to enormous megacities.

What this lesson teaches

1Define population, density, and settlement using everyday examples
2Compare dense and sparse places by counting people per square kilometer
3Identify the four main settlement types from village to megacity
4Explain why people choose to live in some places more than others

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