PAST & CURRENT POPULATIONS GROWTH ARE DIFFERENT * Every second, on average, four(4) or (5) children are born

on the earth. In that same second, two(2) other people die. * U.S. Census Bureau estimates that the total world population is over 6.5 billion people and growing at 1.14 % per year. This means we are adding 74.6 million people per year. * Humans are one of the most numerous vertebrate species on the earth. * Humans are more widely distributed and manifestly have a greater global environmental impact that any other species. * many people worry that overpopulation will cause RESOURCE DEPLETION & ENVIRONMENTAL DEGRADATION that threaten the ecological life-support systems on which we all depend.(lead to reduce fertility rates and eventually stabilize or shrink the total number of humans).

Different Perspective on population growth 1) Believed that human ingenuity, technology and enterprise can expand the world s carrying capacity and allow us to overcome any problems we encounter.( from this perspective, more people may be beneficial, rather than disastrous) * A larger population means a larger workforce, more genuises, more ideas about what to do. Along with every new mouth comes a pair of hands.( proponents of this view argue that continued economic and technological growth can both feed the world s billions and enrich everyone to end the population explosion voluntarily.) 2) Social Justice concerns Accdg. to this view, resources are sufficient for everyone. Current shortages are only signs of greed, waste and oppression. * root cause of environmental degradation is inequitable distribution of wealth & power rather than merely population size.

* Fostering democracy, empowering women and minorities, and improving the standard of living of the world s poorest people are what is really needed. * A narrow focus on population growth only fosters racism and attitude that blames the poor for their problems, while ignoring the deeper social and economic forces at work. HUMAN POPULATIONS GREW SLOWLY UNTIL RECENTLY * Accdg. To history, humans were not very numerous compared w/ other species. * Studies of hunting and gathering societies suggest that the total world population was probably only a few million people before the invention of agriculture and the domestication of animals around 10,000 yrs. Ago * Agricultural revolution produced a larger & more secure food supply &allowed the human population to grow, reaching perhaps 50 M people by 5000 B.C. * For thousands of yrs. The no. Of humans increased very slowly,

archaeological evidence & historical descriptions suggest that only about 300 M people were living at the time of Christ. World Pop. Growth & Doubling Times
DATE POPULATION 50 Million 100 Million 200 Million 400 Million 800 Million 1,600 Million 3,200 Million 6,100 Million, 8,920 M DOUBLING TIME ? 4200 years 600 years 1,400 years 500 years 200 years 65 years 51 years, 215 years

5000 BC
800 BC 200 BC AD 1200 AD 1700 AD 1900 AD 1965 AD 2000, 2050 (estimate)

TECHNOLOGY INCREASES CARRYING CAPACITY FOR HUMANS *The burst of world population growth that began 200 yrs. Ago was stimulated by scientific and industrial revolutions revolutions. * Progress in agricultural productivity, engineering, information technology, commerce, medicine, sanitation, & other achievements of modern life have made it possible to support approximately 1,000 times as many people per unit area as was possible 10,000 yrs. Ago * Stephen Moore (economist), regards this achievement as real tribute to human ingenuity and our ability to innovate . There is no reason to think that our ability to find technological solutions to our problems will diminish in the future. * Much of agricultural growth & rising standard of living in the past 200 yrs. Has been based on easily acquired natural resources, especially cheap, abundant fossil fuels.

Population growth could bring benefits - Ex. China becoming industrialize and its population becomes more affluent. * More people mean larger markets, more workers and efficiencies of scale in mass production of goods. * Adding people boosts human ingenuity & intelligence that will create new resources by finding new materials & discovering new ways of doing things. Accdg. To Julian Simon, people are the ultimate resource and that no evidence suggests that pollution, crime, unemployment, crowding, the loss of species or any other resource limitations will worsen w/ population growth.

Demography one of the most important factor to determine population growth. 2 Demographic Worlds A) World w/c is poor, young and growing rapidly. - occupied by vast majority of people who live in the less-developed countries of Africa, Asia & Latin America ( contribute 80% of the world population & will add more in future growth ) B) World w/c is rich like North America, Western Europe, Japan, Australia & New Zealand. * average age is 40, and life expectancy will exceed 90 by 2050. * With many couples choosing to have either one or no children, the populations of these countries are expected to decline significantly over the next century.

* highest population growth occur in the developing world such as Saharan Africa and the Middle East, where economics, politics, religion and civil unrest keep birth rates high and contraceptive use low. Survey: * Some countries in the developing world are growing so fast that they will reach immense population sizes by the middle of the 21st century. * While China was the most populous country throughout the century, India is expected to pass China in the 21st century. * Nigeria w/c had only 33 million residents in 1950, is forecast to have 258 M in 2050. Rapid population growth poses huge challenges to Food supplies and Stability.

Bangladesh about the size of Iowa is already overcrowded at 144 million people. Another 87 M people by 2050 will only add to current problems. Rich Countries there is shrinking populations. * Japan w/c has 128 M residents now is expected to shrink to about 100 M by 2050. * Europe w/c now makes up about 12% of the world population will constitute less than 7% in 50 years if current trends continue. * US and canada would have nearly stable populations of immigration stopped. For the moment, US population continues to grow.

The Worlds Largest Countries 2005 2050

Country China India US Indonesia Brazil Pakistan Bangladesh Russia Nigeria Japan Population (M 1,304 1,104 297 222 184 162 144 143 132 128 Country India China US Indonesia Pakistan Brazil Nigeria Bangladesh Congo Ethiopia Population (M) 1,628 1,437 420 308 295 260 258 231 183 170

Life expectancy is rising worldwide: Life span is the oldest age to w/c a species is known to survive. Life expectancy is the average age that a newborn infant can expect to attain in any given society. It is another way of expressing the average age at death. * For most of human history life expectancy in most societies probably has been 35 to 40 years. This doesn t mean that no one lived past age 40 but rather that many people died at early ages(mostl yearly childhood)which balanced out those who managed to live longer.

Life Expectancy at Birth for Selected Countries in 1900 and 2005

1900
Country Males Females

2005
Males Females

India Russia United States Sweden Japan

23 31 46 57 42

23 33 48 60 44

61 59 75 78 78

63 72 80 83 85

The Following factors help Stabilize Populations 1) Growing prosperity and social reforms that accompany development reduce the need and desire for large families in most countries. 2) Technology is available to bring advances to the developing world much more rapidly than was the case century ago and the rate of technology exchange is much faster than it was when Europe and North America were developing. 3) Less than developed countries have historic patterns to follow. They can benefit from the mistakes of more-developed countries and chart a course to stability relatively quickly. 4) Modern communications (esp. Television) have caused a revolution of rising expectations that act as stimuli to spur change and development.

QUESTIONS: 1. WHAT ARE THE SIGNS BROUGHT BY CURRENT SHORTAGES IN RESOURCES? DISCUSS. (15 PTS) 2. GIVE THREE(3) FACTORS THAT WOULD ALLOW PEOPLE TO EXPAND WORLD S CARRYING CAPACITY. (15 PTS) 3. GIVE THE FOUR(4) FACTORS THAT HELP TO STABILIZE POPULATION GROWTH. (5 PTS) 4. WHY DEMOGRAPHY IS ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT FACTOR TO DETERMINE POPULATIN GROWTH? (5 PTS) 5. GIVE TWO(2) CAUSES OF ENVIRONMENTAL DEGRADATION. EXPLAIN. (10 PTS)