Populous means having a large population or many people living in a particular place. China and India are among the world's most populous countries, each home to more than a billion people. New York City is America's most populous city, with over eight million residents packed into its five boroughs.

When geographers describe a region as populous, they're pointing out that lots of people have chosen to live there, usually because of favorable conditions like good farmland, access to water, job opportunities, or a pleasant climate. The most populous areas on Earth tend to be river valleys, coastal regions, and major cities where people have gathered for thousands of years.

You might hear that a particularly populous neighborhood has crowded schools and busy streets, or that a sparsely populated (the opposite of populous) region like northern Alaska has more caribou than people. When reading about history or geography, populous helps describe where human civilization has concentrated and why those places matter.