HUMAN POPULATION GROWTH

1. HUMAN POPULATION GROWTH

2. Currently there are approximately 6.8 billion people worldwide, with possible doubling times ranging from 24 to 500 years depending on the region.

5. Rate of current growth http://www.census.gov/main/www/popclock.html

6. The early humans were hunter/gatherers. They were primarily nomadic, used very primitive tools fashioned from sticks, stones, and bones, and were relatively healthy Their lifestyles were sustainable in regards to the environment. Throughout this period the human population remained relatively stable.

7. About 10,000 -6,000 B.C. humans began the widespread practice of agriculture. First is was basically subsistence, but after the plow became more common, there was a move to mass production of food. increasing survival rates and allowing people to move into urban areas. A negative effect of mass production was that it severed the tie between people and nature. Poor farming practices and overgrazing resulted in a great deal of habitat alteration.

8. As technology advanced and after the discovery of coal, the industrial revolution began. There was a shift from small-scale production of goods to large-scale production (then the Green Revolution) facilitating a higher standard of living, lower death rates, and ultimately exponential population growth.

9. Each 60 seconds the human population grows by @ 150 people. Africa is the fastest growing area (doubling time predicted about 23 years), followed by Latin America, and Asia despite some decreases in birth rates in these regions. Although most scientists and many others believe that human population growth is a problem, some think that the world can hold an infinite number of people (Julian Simon), or that any methods used in population growth are implemented to decrease certain ethic or religious groups, or that for religious reasons, humans should produce as many children as possible.

10. Demographics

11. GROWTH RATE Growth rate is calculated by using the formula: Growth Rate = (Crude birth rate - crude death rate). Crude birth rate is the number of births/1,000 people and crude death rate is the number of deaths/1,000 people. Depends on: the age at which people get married, the amount of education, career vs. stay at home women, contraceptive use, the number of children that are desired by the couple, cultural values, and religious beliefs.

12. DOUBLING TIME The doubling time or the time it takes for a population to double is calculated as follows: Doubling time = 70/Growth Rate (%). Developed countries in general have longer doubling times than developing and third-world nations.

13. TOTAL FERTILITY RATE Total Fertility Rate (TFR) is the number of children that women are expected to have in their lifetimes. In developed countries replacement level fertility (in some it is even below) has been achieved (in the U.S. replacement level fertility was 2.1 in 2000).

14. ZERO POPULATION GROWTH A country reaches zero population growth when birth rates = death rates and immigration = emigration.

15. After a country reaches replacement level fertility, population growth can still occur. In fact worldwide the population will still continue to grow even if all nations reach replacement level fertility. Note that 50 out of 200 have achieved this.

16. AGE STRUCTURE The age structure of a population (see figure 8.10) also affects population growth. The different profiles include: expansive (like Mexico), Constrictive (like the U.S.) and Stationary or nearly stationary (like Sweden). Note that worldwide 33% of the people are under age 15 and this could cause a great increase in the population as they begin to reproduce.

18. Factors involved in this increase include but are not limited to: • Expansion into new habitats. • Increased carrying capacities • Side-stepping limiting factors • Social and Religious influences

19. THE FUTURE Future projections vary

20. Strategies for Stabilization

21. Family Planning involves the use of birth control in order to allow couples to determine the number and spacing of their children. 1. Voluntary programs involve the dissemination of information about birth control and methods of birth control are made available to people at a low cost. Thus, people are given the chose of using or not using family planning. 2. Extended voluntary programs involve governmental agencies. For example, in Egypt a song promoting birth control was played on a government-sponsored commercial. Sometimes incentives are given to people who practice birth control. 3. Forced family planning programs are rare and involve limits arising from the government on the number of children that a couple can have with punishments for exceeding these limits. This is the program utilized in China and it is very controversial.

22. On July 11, USAID will join the global community in celebration of World Population Day’s 20th anniversary to highlight the importance of family planning in the lives of women, communities, and the world. This year’s theme: Investing in women is a smart choice. The objective is to highlight the importance of investing in the education of women to address a host of development issues, including poverty, human rights, and gender equality.

23. Health Minister Hatem el-Gabali announced an $80 million family-planning campaign Tuesday, with the slogan "Two children per family -- a chance for a better life."

25. Thirty states in the United States passed eugenics laws between 1907 and 1931, and these laws were upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1916 and 1927. By the end of the World War II, it was estimated that 40,000 sterilizations had taken place, mostly on poor white women. Because of racial segregation, it was not deemed necessary to sterilize black people at this time. This situation was to change, however • The Native American population has also been subjected to forced sterilization. From 1973 to 1976, for example, 3,406 American Indian women were sterilized, many of whom were under twenty-one years old

26. In the United States, individuals are expected to be self-reliant and to not expect social support, even when social conditions are not conducive for them to be self-reliant. Social assistance is available for sterilization purposes, however. Under these circumstances, those who suffer from poverty and destitution may be forced to “choose”sterilization to control their reproduction. People in this situation, who are mostly women of color, have been denied economic support but encouraged to use government subsidies to use sterilization or pharmaceutical methods such as Norplant for birth control

27. Other strategies include improving the standard of living for people in developing countries by providing jobs and education for women and thus empowering women.

28. One of the most important reasons Also, environmental issues are impacted By the number of humans WHY CONTROL POPULATION GROWTH?

29. There are three primary barriers to stabilizing the human population. • Psychological barriers. In developing countries many children are seen as an asset (e.g., as helpers and security for old age) and as a kind of status symbol. • Education barriers. There is an inverse relationship between the amount of education a person has and the number of children that person will have. Education takes a long time and often leads to a career that results in a delay of childbearing. • Religious barriers. Many religions support large families (e.g., Catholicism).

30. A shanty town in Manila

32. For Population control We should: • continue to strive to reduce suffering by combating disease and poverty around the world; • continue to improve resource efficiency and pollution control so that standards of living can rise without negative impact; and • keep human population to numbers that are sustainable.

33. Solutions continued On the population front, that means: • making sure people around the world have access to family planning services; • empowering women in developing countries economically, socially, and legally in a manner that results in them having an equal say (with their husbands) in reproductive decisions; • modifying school curricula to include information on population levels and implications for the future; • reforming tax laws in a way that encourages couples to have no more than two children. (They would still be able to have as many kids as they want, but the tax code would no longer subsidize more than two.) • People are a good thing, but population growth without limit is not. The US and all developed countries should reinvigorate their international efforts to slow population growth. The future of the world depends on it!