ii6 



SECTIONAL ADDRESSES 



years ago and so they give a basis for a comparison. It is more useful to 

 note the chief populous regions. These are clearly shown, as far as the 

 scale allows, on the accompanying map (Fig. i). Evidently there are 

 only four regions in which the mean density of population considerably 

 exceeds the world average of about forty persons per square mile, over 



Table I. 



The uninhabited Polar Lands are not included. 



any large continuous areas. I have estimated the extent of these regions, 

 as continuously habitable lands, within boundaries drawn round their 

 cultivable lands, and also the populations within those boundaries, and 

 so obtained the figures given in the following table (II), from which it is 

 seen that these four regions together contain about three-fourths of the 

 world's population on little more than one-eighth of its total land area. 



Table II. 



Region. 



Area, in millions Population, in 

 of square miles. [ millions. 



520 



100 



500 



350 



Central 

 latitude. 



50° N. 



40° N. 



35° N. 

 25° N. 



