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Addressing Population Issues: Quality of Life, Hunger & Economic Growth

This chapter discusses the impact of population growth on quality of life, chronic hunger, and economic development. It explores ways to reduce fertility rates and the role of culture, women's status, and family planning services. It also examines government policies in China, India, Mexico, and Nigeria, and strategies for achieving population stabilization.

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Addressing Population Issues: Quality of Life, Hunger & Economic Growth

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  1. Chapter 9Addressing Population Issues

  2. Overview of Chapter 9 • Population and Quality of Life • Population and Chronic Hunger • Economic Effects of Population Growth • Reducing the Total Fertility Rate • Culture and Fertility • Social and Economic Status of Women • Family Planning Services • Government Policies and Fertility • China, India, Mexico, Nigeria, Europe • Achieving Population Stabilization

  3. Population and Quality of Life • Difficult to meet basic needs in developing countries (about 81% of the world population lives in LDC’s) • Problems associated with overpopulation: • Environmental degradation • Hunger • Persistent poverty • Economic stagnation • Urban deterioration • Health issues

  4. Carrying Capacity • Carrying Capacity (K) • The maximum number of individuals of a given species that a particular environment can support for an indefinite period, assuming no changes in the environment • Overuse of land can cause a decrease in carrying capacity • Uncertain what the carrying capacity of the earth is for humans

  5. Population and Chronic Hunger • Food security • Condition in which people live with chronic hunger and malnutrition • Effects of Chronic Hunger • Weakened immune system • Illness and disease • Malaria • Measles • Diarrhea • Acute respiratory illness

  6. Population and Chronic Hunger • Food insecurity • Conditions under which people live with continuous threat of starvation • Worldwide as many as 2 billion people face food insecurity intermittently as a result of poverty, drought, or civil strife

  7. Solving the Food Problem • Control population growth • Most economists and politicians believe that the best way to solve the food problem is to promote economic development in the developing countries that lack adequate food supplies • Provide access to food and land resources to those who live in areas without them

  8. Food insecurity • In shaded countries, more than 20% of population is undernourished

  9. Economic Effects of Population Growth • Two viewpoints from economists: • Population growth stimulates economic development and technological innovation • Rapid population expansion hampers developmental efforts • Most observations support the second viewpoint • In order for a country to increase its standard of living, its economic growth must exceed its population growth

  10. Reducing the Total Fertility Rate The total fertility rate (TFR) is the average number of children born to each woman; it declined to 3.1 in 2006, down from 7.0 in the 1960s Three major influences on total fertility rate • Cultural traditions • Social & economic status of women • Family planning

  11. Culture influences and controls individuals’ behaviors Marriage age Due to high infant and child mortality rates, couple is expected to have large number of children Children often work in family business Religious values Cultural Traditions

  12. Gender inequality is common worldwide Disparities Political participation Social status Economic status Health status Legal rights Education Employment and earnings Social & Economic Status of Women Illiteracy in 2002 Single most important factor affecting high total fertility rates is low status of women

  13. Educational Opportunities and Fertility • Women with more education • Marry later • Have fewer children

  14. Family Planning Services • Family planning services offer information to both men and women on sexuality, contraception, STDs, and parenting

  15. Contraceptive Use Among Married Women of Reproductive Age

  16. Government Policies and Fertility - China • Largest population in the world • Controversial Family Planning Policy • 1971 - Chinese Government actively pursued birth control • 1979 - Incentives to promote later marriages and one-child families • Medical care, schooling for child, preferential housing, retirement funds • Brought about rapid and drastic decrease in fertility

  17. Government Policies and Fertility - China • Law – controversial and unpopular • Social pressure to abort a second child • Pressure to abort/kill female first child • More boys than girls in China • Law more relaxed in rural China • 2008 TFR=1.6

  18. Government Policy and Fertility- India • Severe population pressure • 1950 - first country with government-sponsored family planning • Did not work due to language/cultural barriers • 1976 - introduced incentives and compulsory sterilization • Unpopular and failure • Recently- government focused on education • Effective, TFR dropped from 5.3 (1980) to 2.8 (2008)

  19. Government Policy and Fertility- Mexico • Young age structure • Huge potential for population growth: 32% of population is under age 15 • High Population Growth Momentum • 1974 - government imparted educational reform, family planning, health care • Very successful • TFR dropped from 6.7 (1970) to 2.3 (2008)

  20. Government Policy and Fertility- Nigeria • Population challenge • Largest population of any African country • Very high reproductive potential: 43% of population is less than age 15 • TFR has barely decreased: 6.0 (1980) to 5.9 (2008) • Current National Population Policy • Improving health care • Population education

  21. Government Policy and Fertility- Europe • Population concern • Proportion of elderly people in population is increasing • Due to low TFR • Decrease in population could cause decrease economic growth

  22. Two opposing viewpoints about future population growth: • 1. Pronatalists think that declining birth rates threaten the vitality of their region • They assert that women should marry young and have many children for the good of the society • They favor government policies that provide incentives for larger families (paid maternity/paternity leave, easily available child care, “baby bonuses”, and penalties for smaller families) • 2. Neo-Mathusian viewpoints maintain that rapidly expanding populations hamper economic growth • Thomas Malthus was a British economist, who was one of the first to argue that the human population cannot continue to grow without leading to widespread famine, disease, and war!

  23. Achieving Population Stabilization • How can developing country governments help? • Increase $$ allotted to pubic health and family planning services • Education on methods of birth control • Increase average level of education • How can developed country governments help? • Provide financial support • Supporting research and development of new birth control methods

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