Envi 11: Environmental Science

Lesson 3.2: Factors Determining Human

Population Growth

Lesson Summary
This lesson will investigate ways to measure and describe human populations and discuss
demographic factors that contribute to population growth.

Learning Outcomes
At the end of this lesson, the students are expected to define some essential keywords regarding
the factors that determine human population growth.

Motivation Questions
Why is it necessary to understand the basics of demography in environmental science?

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Vision: A globally competitive university for science, technology, and environmental conservation.
Mission: Development of a highly competitive human resource, cutting-edge scientific knowledge TP-IMD-01
V0 07-15-2020
and innovative technologies for sustainable communities and environment.
No. 20-001
 Envi 11: Environmental Science

Discussion

Fertility varies among cultures and at different times

Fecundity is the physical ability to reproduce, whereas fertility is the actual production of offspring.
Those without children may be productive but not fertile. The most accessible demographic
statistic of fertility is usually the crude birth rate, the number of births in a year per thousand
persons. It is statistically “crude” in the sense that it is not adjusted for population characteristics,
such as the number of women of reproductive age (https://www.studocu.com/en-
us/document/university-of-new-hampshire/contemporary-conservatn-issues/other/chapter-4-
human-populations/2018693/view).

The total fertility rate is the number of children born to an average woman in a population during
her entire reproductive life (https://www.studocu.com/en-us/document/university-of-new-
hampshire/contemporary-conservatn-issues/other/chapter-4-human-populations/2018693/view).
Zero population growth (ZPG) occurs when births plus immigration in a population just equal
deaths plus emigration. It takes several generations of replacement-level fertility (in which people
only replace themselves) to reach ZPG (https://www.studocu.com/en-us/document/university-of-
new-hampshire/contemporary-conservatn-issues/other/chapter-4-human-
populations/2018693/view).

For many of these countries, population growth will continue for a generation because they have
such a large number of young people. Brazil, for example, now has a fertility rate of only 1.8
children per woman. But 26 percent of its population is under 14 years. Many children will mature
and start to have families before their parents and grandparents die, so the population will
continue to grow for a few decades. Demographers call this population momentum
(https://www.studocu.com/en-us/document/university-of-new-hampshire/contemporary-
conservatn-issues/other/chapter-4-human-populations/2018693/view).

Mortality offsets births

In demographics, crude death rates (or crude mortality rates) are expressed in terms of the
number of deaths per thousand persons in any given year. Life span is the oldest age to which a
species is known to survive(https://www.studocu.com/en-us/document/university-of-new-
hampshire/contemporary-conservatn-issues/other/chapter-4-human-populations/2018693/view).
Though modern medicine has made it possible for many of us to survive much longer than our
ancestors, it doesn’t appear that the maximum life span has increased much. Cells in our bodies
have a limited ability to repair damage and produce new components. Sooner or later, they wear
out, and we fall victim to disease, degeneration, accidents, or senility
(https://www.studocu.com/en-us/document/university-of-new-hampshire/contemporary-
conservatn-issues/other/chapter-4-human-populations/2018693/view.

Life expectancy is the average age that a newborn infant can be expected to attain in any given
society. It is another way of expressing the average age at death(https://www.studocu.com/en-
us/document/university-of-new-hampshire/contemporary-conservatn-issues/other/chapter-4-
human-populations/2018693/view). For most of human history, life expectancy in most societies
probably was 35 to 40 years. It does not mean that no one lived past age 40 but instead that many
people died at earlier periods (mostly early childhood), which balanced out those who managed
to live longer.

Page 2 of 2
Vision: A globally competitive university for science, technology, and environmental conservation.
Mission: Development of a highly competitive human resource, cutting-edge scientific knowledge TP-IMD-01
V0 07-15-2020
and innovative technologies for sustainable communities and environment.
No. 20-001