The study of any population is concerned not only with its size and characteristics, but also with how it is distributed in various spatial divisions and the changes that occur in the patterns of population distribution over the years.
Here again, it is necessary not only to describe how population is distributed over various spatial areas in terms of density, composition and dynamics, but also to seek reasons for the patterns of this distribution and for changes in these patterns, if any.
A study of population distribution is thus descriptive as well as explanatory.
The importance of studying population distribution by geographic areas becomes evident when it is realised that small, heavily populated areas exist near virtually uninhabited or sparsely inhabited areas.
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These patterns are not static but undergo changes in response to several factors. The task of describing patterns of population distribution, and of seeking explanations for particular patterns and changes in these patterns, is undertaken by demographers, geographers, human ecologists and location economists.
In fact, according to James, an eminent American geographer, “the irregularity of the distribution of mankind over the earth and the differences from place to place in the racial and social character of the population are facts which underlie all studies in social science, including those of human geography.”