Human Population and

Urbanization
Second Semester 2023
 Introduction
• It took about 200,000
years for the human
population to reach 2
billion. It took less
than 50 years to add
the second 2 billion
(1974) and 25 years
to add the third 2
billion (1999). Sixteen
years later the earth
had 7.4 billion
 Introduction
• Either we limit our population growth or the
natural world will do it for us.

Sir David Attenborough.

 Human Population Growth
• Demographers or population experts
recognize 3 important trends in the current
size and growth rate and distribution of
human population
• First population is growing at 1.21%
• Second human population is unevenly
distributed. 96% of the new arrivals in the
planet are in the less developed countries
 Human Population Growth
• Third people have moved from rural to
urban in large numbers
• So far, advances in food production and
health care have prevented sharp
population declines
• But there is extensive and growing
evidence that human activities are
depleting and degrading much of the
earth's irreplaceable natural capital
 Human Population can grow,
decline or stabilize
• Three Factors
Birth, death and migration.
Population Change = birth
+immigration-death + emigration
When death exceed birth then population
declines
 Fertility Rate
• Key factor affecting human population
growth and size is total fertility rate (TFR).
• TFR is the average number of children
born to the women of childbearing age in a
population
• Between 1955 and 2016 TFR dropped
from 5 to 2.5. However, to eventually halt
population growth, the global TFR would
be 2.1
• Africa has a TFR of 4.7 and is the world's
poorest continent
 U.S. Population Case Study
• Between 1900 to 2016 , US population grew
from 76M to 324M
• 2016 drop in TFR but population is still growing.
3M was added to the population due to more
births than deaths and legal immigrants and
refugees
• Between 2016 to 2050 population would likely to
grow from 324M to 398M
• Because of high per person rate of resource use,
resulting waste and pollution will have an
enormous environmental impact
Factors that affect birth and fertility
rates
1. Importance of children as part of the labor force
( checked KMJS on Rabanos&kid)
2. Cost of raising and educating children
3. Availability of pension systems ( checked 4Ps
guidelines)
4. Accessibility and acceptability of family planning
services and birth control mtds
5. Education and employment opportunities of
women
6. Average age at marriage
7. Religious, cultural, traditions and norms
Child Labor in the Philippines
 Factors affecting death rates
1.Declining death rates due to better food supply,
nutrition, improved sanitation, health care,
immunization and antibiotics
• Indicator of over all health of people in the
country is life expectancy
• Between 1955 to 2016 , the average global life
expectancy rose from 48 years old to 71 years
old.
• Japan has the longest life expectancy =83 years
old
 Factors affecting death rates
2. Infant mortality Rate = number of babies
out of every 1000 who die before their first
birthday
3. Migration = movement of people into and
out of specific geographic areas due to
war, jobs, political oppression, ethnic
conflicts etc.
 Age structure affects population
growth or decline
• Age structure of a population is the number or
percentage of males and females in young,
middle, older age groups in that population
• Countries with large percentage of younger than
15 yo will experience rapid population
• Global population of seniors will triple between
2016 to 2050 due to medical advances that
extended life spans
• Japan has the highest percentage of elderlyand
lowest percentage of young people. In 2016
Japan's population was 125M by 2050 is
projected to be 101M
 How to slow human population
growth
1.Economic
Development
2. Educating and
Empowering women
3. Family Planning
 Urbanization and environmental
Problems
• Urban sprawl is the
growth of low density
developments on the
edges of cities and
towns and is
eliminating
agricultural and wild
lands around many
cities
 Advantages of Urbanization
• Cities are centers of economic
development
• Urban residents live longer than do rural
residents
• Urban residents have better access to
education, medical and social services
• Reduce stress on wildlife
 Disadvantages of urbanization
• Loss of forest, grassland, cropland and
wildlife habitats
• Increase use and pollution of surface and
groundwater
• Increase energy use and waste
• Unemployment and health problems
• Noise pollution
• Cities affect local climate from factories,
lights, air conditioners and heat absorbing
dark roofs
 Eco City Concept in Curitiba , Brazil
• 1.9M people and is known as ecological capital
of Brazil
• Focus on mass transit system rather than on car.
Bottom 2 floors of each building are stores – a
practice that reduces the need for residents to
travel
• Buildings are removed within the borders and
lined the stream with interconnected parks
• Volunteers have planted 1.5M trees throughout
the city and 2 trees must be planted for every 1
tree cut
 Eco City Concept in Curitiba , Brazil
• Curitiba recycles 70% of its paper and 60% of it metal,
glass, and plastic
• Feeding centers are available for street children
• People can collect garbage in exchange of filled bag with
surplus food, bus tokens and school supplies
• Old buses became health clinics, day care centers and
soup kitchens
• Curitiba faces challenges due its five fold increase in
population since 1965. Its once clear streams are now
loaded with pollutants and car ownership is on the rise
• The concept of Curitiba was the brainchild of Archt Jaime
Lerner who served as City Mayor 3 times.