Human

Population Growth and Implications

 Alarming Facts…
• The human population is currently growing at a rate of
260,000 people per day!
• Every 3 years, the global environment must support
another 285 million people
 Using resources and producing pollution
minerals
buildings, farms,
quarries and dumps
use more
raw materials fossil fuels

use use
more land more people more energy

produce more
pesticides and waste and sewage, fertilizer and
herbicides pollution toxic waste

CO2, SO2, CO and smoke

 Population Trend Comparisons
Developed Countries
– Low infant mortality rate
– Life expectancy 77 years
– Total fertility rate = 2.0
– Per capita GDP = $36,110
Developing Countries
– High infant mortality rate
– Life expectancy 52 years
– Total fertility rate = 5.7
– Per capita GDP = $800
 Sex Ratio - Age Distribution
• Sex Ratio- Relative number of males and females
in a population
• Age Distribution - Number of individuals of each
age in a population
• Together they tell how a population will grow
• Total Fertility Rate (TFR) - Number of children a woman
has during her lifetime, averaged for population.
– same as biotic potential
• Zero Population Growth - Birth rate equals death rate.
 Factors Affecting Human Population Size

Population change equation

Population change = (Births + Immigration) –
(Deaths + Emigration)
 Factors Affecting Birth Rates and Total Fertility Rates

• Children in Labor Force

• Cost of raising and educating children
• Urbanization
• Education and employment for women
• Infant mortality rate
• Average marrying age
• Abortion
• Availability of birth control
 What’s Behind Population Growth

• Industrial Revolution
• Three Factors
– Growth of Cities and Infrastructure
– Fertility
• Water
– Infant Mortality
• Energy
– Longevity
• Transportation
– Increased Productivity
– Nutrition
• Animal Domestication
– Sanitation
and Agriculture
– Medicine
– Provided for a few to
feed many
 As a result of rapid growth…
• 1.3 billion people are impoverished
• 841 million people are chronically malnourished
• Supplies of water for irrigation are declining
• Nearly half of the Earth’s land mass has been
changed by human activity
• Ocean fish stocks are depleting
• Species are going extinct faster than ever
 Population, Resources, Environment
• Population impact on the environment can be
described in terms of
– Per capita use of resources and associated per
capita generation of wastes (Life style factors).
– Size and structure of the population (Demographic
factors).

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 Thomas Malthus
• Studied the decline of living conditions in 19th
century England
• Blamed this decline on:
– Too many children
– Inability of resources to replenish at levels with
increased population
– Irresponsibility of lower class
• Proposed regulating family size of lower class
to limit it to a level they could support
 Malthus continued
• He said “positive checks” like food shortages
and disease kept population at appropriate
levels
• He said population growth was exponential
but food production could not keep growing
exponentially.
 Malthus
• Two kinds of checks that limit the growth of
population
– Preventive checks. These checks lead to a
reduction in the birth rate – moral restraints, birth
control and vice.
– Positive checks. These checks lead to an increase
in the death rate – war, plague, famine.

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 Contemporary World Population Issues
• All population growth is now in the poorest countries and
areas.
• Very young age structures in developing countries
guarantee this.
• The situation is most acute in sub-Saharan Africa.
• As essential as population projections are, their accuracy
must be continuously monitored.
• Low fertility in developed countries presents South-North
migration opportunities.
• Development is often impeded by a lack of reproductive
rights.
• In many ways, population change in the U.S. is not very
different from that of Europe.
 Our ‘Commons’ are in Danger

• Atmospheric pollution and climate change

• Water pollution, including ground aquifers
• Deforestation and loss of oxygenation
• The oceans, coral reefs and their bounty
• National parks, wildernesses and wetlands
• Nonrenewable natural resource depletion
– Fossil fuels, mineral ores, topsoil…..
 Summary
• Major increases are occurring in human
population and affluence.
• Major stresses result in our society, natural
environment, and ecology.
• Technology and engineering are central to the
creation and the mitigation of problems.
• Predicting the future is difficult . The next
twenty five to fifty years will be decisive.
 Ways to lower population growth:
• Provide economic incentives for having fewer
children
• Empower and educate women
• More education means more money for work
which mean less children are needed to take care
of parents
• More education usually means having children
later in life which usually means having less
children
 Cutting Global Population Growth

• Family planning
• Improve health care
• Elevate the status of women
• Increase education
• Involve men in parenting
• Reduce poverty
• Sustainability