Name: ______

Population Density in Latin America

Directions: Use an atlas to answer Questions 1-5 below.

1. Use pages 107 and 117, to create a Population map for Mexico, Cuba, & Brazil. Don’t forget to color in your map key!

Mexico / Cuba / Brazil
Population
0 to 5
5 to 50
50 to 100
100 to 250
Over 250

2. Use the Population map on page 117 and the Land Use map on page 116. Why do you think most of Brazil’s population lives on the coast?

3. Look at the Land Use map on page 105 of the atlas. What is the land use in and around Mexico City? Why do you think Mexico City’s population density is so high?

4. Use the Land Use map on page 116 and the Physical map of South America on page 113. What major waterway allows the Amazon rainforest to be used for forest products? Why can’t roads easily be built into the area?

5. Use the “People per Television” graph on page 39 of the atlas. The graph shows how many homes have TVs in them (1 TV to __ people). What conclusion can be made about the standard of living in the United States compared to the standard of living in Bolivia?

6. Use the “Natural Population Growth map on page 33 of the atlas. Canada has an annual population growth of -1 to 0 percentages each year (in some years they don’t have growth). What is the population growth rate for Mexico? ______Cuba? ______Brazil? ______

7. Use the “Living in Poverty” map on page 38 of the atlas. The map shows the percentage of people living in poverty (less than $9,645/year). What is the poverty level for Canada? ______

Mexico? ______Cuba? ______Brazil? ______

8. Think about it. What happens to peoples’ living conditions when a city’s population gets too big? What happens to working conditions with too many workers?

9. Compare the populations of Mexico, Brazil, Cuba, and Venezuela by creating a graph.

Population/25,000,000 =

Mexico
104,900,000
Brazil
176,500,000
Cuba
11,300,000
Venezuela
25,700,000

Questions 9-11: Use the chart below to compare the development of Latin American countries with that of the US.

Population Working in Agriculture
Country / Percentage of Population
Brazil / 20%
Cuba / 20%
Mexico / 18%
US (1900) / 23%
US (2008) / 0.6%

9. Does having a higher percentage of people working in agriculture mean a country has a higher or lower standard of living? Why?

10. Would it be a fair assessment to say that Latin America is 100 years behind the United States in terms of economic development? Why?

11. Does this information help explain the large-scale emigration from Latin America to the United States in the past few decades? Why?