New Civilization News: Global Population Decrease?    
 Global Population Decrease?11 comments
27 Apr 2004 @ 15:45, by Raymond Powers

Global Population Decerease?

There is indeed a population shortfall trend developing in Western Europe, Russia and Japan. In Ireland, for instance, families have an average of 1.8 children today, slightly below the "replacement level" of two children per couple. Couples in Italy, Germany and Spain have just 1.2 to 1.3 children each. The average fertility rate in Europe is 1.45. Both Russia and Japan are at 1.3.

But it's simply not true that world population is shrinking, because these trends are overcompensated for by the very rapid population increases taking place in the world's poor and least-developed countries. According to the United Nations, population growth in less-developed countries is growing at an annual rate of 1.46 percent, nearly six times faster that the .25 percent growth taking place in the most heavily industrialized regions of the world.

We are currently adding 77 million people to the globe annually, with 21 percent of that increase coming from India, 12 percent from China and five percent from Pakistan. Three countries, Bangladesh, Nigeria and the United States each contribute four percent of the world's annual growth. In the U.S., where the average fertility rate was 2.05 in 2002, population growth is due largely to immigration.

From 6.3 billion people on the planet today, the United Nations projects we will grow to 8.9 billion by the year 2050. Half of that projected increase will occur in just eight countries, seven of them in Africa and Asia. It is interesting to consider that it took all of human history until 1800 for world population to reach its first billion; from there the second billion took only until 1930. Now, just 75 years later, we've passed the six billion mark.

Many environmentalists feel that human population growth is the most important environmental issue of all. The sheer number of people added to the planet each year easily erodes the "per capita" gains made by conservation measures. Globally, the population growth-induced accelerated loss of forestland results in a reduced ability for ecosystems to absorb the also-increasing carbon dioxide emissions that exacerbate global warming. Further, the expansion of human activity and associated loss of habitat are the leading causes of the unprecedented extinctions of plant and animal species worldwide.

In the United States, we lose two acres of farmland every minute, according to the American Farmland Trust, and a serious water shortage is developing nationwide, with aquifers once considered inexhaustible now drying up. In poor countries, population growth exacts its toll in the form of abject poverty and chronic food and water scarcity.

[< Back] [New Civilization News]

Category:  

11 comments

23 Aug 2004 @ 20:36 by Pat Beatty @209.52.174.147 : Not to worry.
India and China may be having more babies but they are being rather selective as to to the sex of these offspring. They don't want girls and do everything possible to make sure that they have as few girls as possible. This is self-genocide in my opinion but that's up to them. Most babies die in those areas most poverty stricken so they don't have to opportunity to add to the population.  

23 Jan 2005 @ 11:37 by roxie @82.43.124.28 : hwk
for my hwk i hva e to find out about a country that has a population decrease and what the goverment is doing about it. i can no find anything on the web about it so if you can help me then please do. send to the above e-mail.
thank you roxie  

3 Nov 2005 @ 02:20 by amy @72.141.89.57 : hwk 2
hey. i have to find 5 articles on population density by Friday. this is a major assignment that was assigned a while ago. and i havnt started yet! do you think you could help me out? Im not sure where to look for articles. thanx, Amy  

11 Jun 2006 @ 11:09 by alice @82.22.184.136 : population decrease
what countries are decreasing in population???  

11 Jun 2006 @ 11:11 by alice @82.22.184.136 : population decrease
no-ones website tells you what countries are decreasing in population! how come? i need it for tommorow and its dead important!!!!!!!!!  

26 Sep 2006 @ 18:23 by e @142.46.52.34 : e
I need a website with population decreastion  

5 Nov 2006 @ 17:11 by mack @209.197.154.107 : hmwk
i need to find out some factors that may limit population growth. and i cant seem to find any!  

3 Dec 2006 @ 11:47 by roxanne @210.4.58.18 : pop
can you present a graph showing the decrease of world's population?from year 1950-present..in terms of billions okei?i need it for our report..pls?i have spent 3 hours surfing the net but i cant see one..  

16 Jan 2007 @ 18:52 by Vanessa @4.153.227.43 : Cool
This is really Cool..
Am i popular now?

I need to know if its a fact that the population in animals are decreasing..  

19 Feb 2008 @ 01:34 by p @24.83.146.37 : population of the world
hi i thought this was very interesting and that u did a very good good job on it i was thinking that if you added a paragraph to which it would help people understand how to help decrease the population  

15 May 2008 @ 13:34 by reeegan @66.220.213.193 : cows
well i love cows!!!  

Your Name:
Your URL: (or email)
Subject:       
Comment:
For verification, please type the word you see on the left:

Other entries in
20 Apr 2008 @ 17:08: The Redemption Of Spring
18 Apr 2008 @ 10:02: Jeff Goodell Shines The Light On Big Coal
8 Apr 2008 @ 10:03: HopeDance And Waking Up
7 Mar 2008 @ 09:59: Energy Efficiency Makeover: One Homeowner's Story
8 Feb 2008 @ 10:55: Take A Tip From Me
2 Feb 2008 @ 20:35: nobody Knows
30 Jan 2008 @ 10:27: Making The Best Of The Toxic
18 Jan 2008 @ 21:18: The Wilderness
14 Jan 2008 @ 10:16: Societal Speed and Global Warming
23 Dec 2007 @ 12:27: Climate Change and Crop Yields

[< Back] [New Civilization News] [PermaLink]?