CHART: Population of China and Japan (July 2007) title

Read each row to get information about one country.

Each heading tells the kind of information in a column.

• • Why do some places have a large population?

South America is a large continent. It has many different kinds of land.

Mountains

Rain Forest

The Coast

Most people live near the coast. Not many people live in the middle of the continent because it has many forests and mountains. Roads and towns are difficult to build in places like that, and it is not easy to ship things.

Compare Colombia and Bolivia, for example. These countries are of similar size, but their populations are very different. One reason is the location of each country. Bolivia is an inland country with mountains and rain forests. It has only about 2,000 miles of paved roads, so travel is difficult. Colombia has about 10,000 miles of paved roads. The roads make it easy for people to get there. Colombia also has coasts on both the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean. It is easy to ship things by land or sea. People like to live where it is easy to get the things they need.

Area and Population of Bolivia and Colombia (2007)

Review

• 1. Check Your Understanding Why do most people in South America live near the coast?

• 2. Vocabulary In what continent are Colombia and Bolivia located?

• 3. Use Charts How many more people live in Colombia than in Bolivia?