Less developed realm: a geography of its population

A Geography of Population: World Patterns (Wiley, 1969) was the first of a conceived trilogy of books dealing with the carth's population geography. This is the second volume of the trilogy. Here the focus is on the earth's less developed realm: the spatial distribution features of its population (dynamic and static) involving both numbers and characteristics. Included are all of Africa; the tropical parts of Latin America (which, south of the Rio Grande, excludes only Argentina and Uruguay); and Asia (excluding the Asiatic part of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics; Japan; and Israel). Much of the Introduction in A Geography of Population: World Patterns is also relevant to the present volume: The Less Developed Realm: A Geography of Its Population.

An attempt to fit the rudiments of the population geography of such an immense and varied realm into the dimensions of one modest-sized volume created unusual organizational difficulties. If a systematic, topical approach were used exclusively, for the whole realm or its individual continents, then the exceeding diversity would require a continual reference to regional exceptions. If, on the other hand, only an analysis of a host of individual regions were attempted, there arises the danger that the discussion would lack unity, would become repetitious, and would resemble a catalog.