Distribution and spatial arrangement of rural population in Shaqlawa district, Kurdistan region-Iraq

Rural population distribution has a very significant influence over socio-economic characteristics of world rural communities. It gives a reflection of the burden to the land resources of public services available in an area and also reflects the environmental implications of population to specific area. Regional distribution of rural population in Shaqlawa district reveals considerable inequality in an area of varied types of geographical environment. A relationship of the various indices of physical and agricultural densities in the different sub regions of the area under study reveals that physical condition shows mature adjustments to landforms, and rural population distribution follows suitable area. Between two extreme types of grouping for rural settlements, the isolated farmstead and the nucleated village, there are numerous degrees which depend upon the interplay of physical and non-physical factors. An analysis of the trends of population distribution and density in Shaqlawa district indicates that the already densely populated areas have a greater potential for population increase than the sparsely settled areas, because it inevitably increase the spacing between settlements, the ratio of clustered to dispersed popula tion, the distance inputs per capita required providing the remaining settlements with services, social functions and human companionship.   Key words: Population distribution, population density, rural settlement, spatial arrangement, rural development, Mountain area.