Population Geography: Tools and Issues

by K. Bruce Newbold

Overview

This full-color text offers a comprehensive introduction to population geography, grounding students in the tools and techniques that are used to describe and understand population concepts. Arguing that an understanding of population is essential to prepare for the future, Newbold provides undergraduates with a thorough grasp of the field.

Key Features:
End-of-chapter Focus boxes weave in substantive discussions of interesting current issues, and Methods, Measures, and Tools boxes illustrate how population geography questions are tackled
Learning objectives at the start of each chapter establish key concepts for learning and end of chapter study questions ensure concepts are retained
End of book Glossary of Terms and Population Website Resources offer additional avenues for student learning


New to this Edition:
Impacts of COVID-19 on mortality, fertility, and mobility patterns
Expansion of non-US examples to highlight key concepts
Recent trends and policy updates

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781538197080
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	05/14/2026
Edition description:	5th ed.
Pages:	272
Product dimensions:	7.00(w) x 10.00(h) x 1.11(d)

About the Author

K. Bruce Newbold is a Professor of Geography at McMaster University, where he also received his PhD. He previously taught at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and has held guest scholar positions at the University of California San Diego and Glasgow University.

Table of Contents

Population Geography: An Introduction
Chapter 1: World Population
Chapter 2: Population Data
Chapter 3: Population Distribution and Composition
Chapter 4: Fertility
Chapter 5: Mortality
Chapter 6: Internal Migration
Chapter 7: International Migration Flows: Immigrants and Transnational Migrants
Chapter 8: Refugees and Internally Displaced Persons
Chapter 9: Cities
Chapter 10: Population Policies
Chapter 11: Population Growth: Linking to Economic Development, Resource Scarcity, and Food Security
Conclusion: Doing Population Geography

Editorial Reviews

A highly approachable text, Newbold’s Population Geography continues to provide undergraduate students with the latest debates and updated information on global population dynamics. Whether seeking to understand mortality figures, fertility trends, or migration flows, readers will come away with the core concepts necessary to understand population geography.

Emily Skop

Population geography is one of the most important subjects out there—key to understanding how communities change, cities grow, labor forces evolve, and social and spatial inequalities persist. Newbold’s book covers all the essentials, from foundational theory and concepts to data, methods, and policy. The book is organized with an intuitive and engaging structure and is sure to prove equally popular with students and established experts in the field.

Rachel Franklin

Newbold presents important population research themes at different spatial scales with great clarity, skill, and balance. This excellent text has been extremely useful for my students as well as for me in my capacity as instructor. The Focus sections and the Methods, Measures, and Tools sections at the end of each chapter encourage students to engage with the material through in-depth reflection on real-world issues and case studies. This updated edition will no doubt become an invaluable text for upper-division undergraduates studying multiple aspects of population geography in North America and across the globe.

Carlos Teixeira

Brilliantly done. Bruce Newbold combines a comprehensive knowledge of population geography with insights gained from his own work to write a book that presents important population issues at multiple spatial scales in a way that encourages students to seriously engage the material. Just as important as the concepts are the series of exercises designed to teach students some of the methods of population geography and how they can be used to tackle vital issues. This text will save me countless hours of work while providing my students with one of the best introductions to the field. I can’t wait to start using it.

Matthew Shumway

Regardless of their research interests, most social scientists, geographers, and planners at some time in their careers must include population as a variable that must be addressed. For those with little or no formal training in demography. Newbold’s book, although a textbook, is an excellent handbook to consult.

Journal of Urban Affairs

Globalization is changing the way in which populations are studied. Bruce Newbold's timely book teaches how geographic principles and techniques are used to measure and understand the changing nature of populations around the world. The chapters are cutting-edge, and the in-depth focus and methods and measures at the end of each chapter make this a very interesting and all-inclusive textbook for graduate and undergraduate students. It's also a great resource for cross-disciplinary researchers and professionals who want to understand and apply population geography in their work today.

Sue C. Grady