Human Population Growth
What is the connection between poverty and environmental degradation?
"Survival Mode" and market pressure from industrialized nations causes developed countries to strip their land. Example: Slash and Burn. Having to burn the weeds to get them out of the way so they have room to grow food. Burn guarantees a crop
Population Change
(Births + Immigration) - (Deaths + Emigration)
Exponential Growth
(J Curve) Starts slow but accelerates as population base increases. Hypothetical, ideal. Examples: Human population, virus spreading, bacteria growing in culture
Carrying Capacity
(K) Populations cannot grow indefinitely! Resources are limited. K = max population of a given species that a particular habitat can sustain indefinitely without degrading the environment.
Estimating population increase: rule of 70
70/% growth rate = # years to double. The number of years it takes for the population to double.
Why did the population increase so rapidly?
Agriculture: Upped our ability to feed ourselves. Medical advances. Hygiene. Live comfortably in inhospitable places.
Total Fertility Rate (TFR)
Average # kids a woman has
Reproductive rate
Can be cultural, religious, economic
Compare how the governments of China and Mexico have tried to slow human population growth.
China was able to reduce fertility both drastically and rapidly by giving families incentives to marry later and only have one child. Incentives included medical care and schooling for the child, cash bonuses, preferential housing, and retirement funds. Penalties were also implemented if the parents had a second child such as fines and the retraction of the privileges. This plan was controversial because it "compromised individual freedom" and in some instances women pregnant with a second child were pressured to get an abortion. Mexico's approach to slow human population growth is very different from China's approach. The Mexican Government was successful in reducing its fertility level by implementing educational reform, family planning, and healthcare. More recently, Mexico has utilized multimedia campaigns for population control such as television shows and radio shows. Also, "booklets on family planning are distributed and population education is integrated into the public school curriculum." Social workers are also trained in family planning.
Where is population growth occurring in the world?
China, India, USA, vast majority of Africa and Latin America
What are the top three countries with the highest population?
China, India, United States
CBR
Crude birth rate (number per thousand born)
CDR
Crude death rate (number per thousand dying)
World Populations Statistics
Current population is just above 7 billion. 2050 prediction 9-10 billion.
Stage 3: Industrial
Declining birth and death rates. Developing
Stage 2: Transitional
Declining death rates and continuing high birth rates. Developing
What factors impact population growth?
Density Dependent Factors. Density Independent Factors. Reproductive Rate -> affected by cultural and economic factors. Age!
Explain how total fertility rate and cultural values are related
Depending on the cultural traditions of a society, couples are expected to have a certain number of children. Cultures usually have high fertility rates to compensate for high infant and child mortality rates. Even if infant and child mortality rates decrease, parents need the confidence that their children will survive and until they have that confidence, fertility levels will take longer to go down. changing any part of a culture, including the tradition of large families, will take a long time. developing countries, high fertility rates result from the important economic and social roles of children. children in highly developed countries "have less value as a source of labor because they attend school and because less human labor is required in an industrialized society." The social pressure to have male children also keeps the fertility rate high because some cultures value male children higher than female children. religious beliefs affect total fertility rates along with their connection to certain ethnicities or residences.
Density dependent
Depends on how close the people are packed in. Increased affect as population becomes more dense. Example: Spread of a disease.
Density Independent
Doesn't matter how closely packed, has nothing to do with people. Not affected by population density. Example: natural disasters.
How much longer can we grow?
Ecologists make estimates based on how much space there is. How many resources we use. Space is a limiting factor.
Describe the relationship between economic development and population growth.
Economic development affects population growth and vice versa but the extent of which each affects the other is unclear. economists argue that population growth "stimulates economic development and technological innovation. but economists argue that a quickly expanding population impedes development. Many technological advances "are now occurring in countries where population growth is low to moderate." Experts have concluded that population stabilization alone will not fix or eliminate other world problems. Although population stabilization will not guarantee higher living standards, it may promote economic development, which will raise the standard of living.
Explain how the availability of family planning services affects total fertility rate.
Family planning services are services that "enable men and women to limit family size, safeguard individual health rights, and improve the quality of life for themselves and their children." Although women in developing countries explain they do not want more children, they fail to utilize birth control because their husbands want more children. Family planning services have been successful in developing countries with lowering total fertility rates, making women healthier, and helping mothers give birth to healthier babies. Although the percentage of women using family planning services have increased, the actual number of women not using family planning has increased. Family planning services provide information on contraceptives as well as the contraceptives themselves depending on social and cultural beliefs in the society. The use of contraceptives is strongly connected to lower total fertility rates.
What can government do to decrease family size?
Family planning. birth control. indirectly advertise small families. raise prices for necessities for bigger families
Age structure diagram: pyramid
Fast growing
Describe food insecurity and relate human population to chronic hunger.
Food insecurity is when people live with chronic hunger and malnutrition. South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa are the two regions of the world with the greatest food insecurity. Population and chronic hunger are interrelated but there is no one-way to end chronic hunger. Many economists and politicians think that if the economic development of countries improves, then chronic hunger may be mitigated. Economic development would provide technology for people living in those countries to increase food production and food-purchasing ability. If a country can complete these tasks, the fertility rate will hopefully decline, which will in turn lessen the population problem.
Relate the social and economic status of women to total fertility rate.
Gender inequality is prevalent in most societies but the extent of gender inequality varies in different cultures. In developing countries, more women than men live in poverty and in most countries women are not guaranteed "equality in legal rights, education, employment and earnings, or political participation." As mentioned in the previous question, sons are oftentimes valued higher than daughters causing girls to be kept at home instead of being sent to school. Women are also limited to low-skilled and low-paying jobs due to certain laws, customs, and lack of education. In these types of societies, women may only achieve social influence and economic security through marriage. Therefore, the low status of women is the "single most important factor affecting high total fertility rates." If the social and economic statuses of women are improved, then unsustainable population growth may be controlled.
Gender inequality
Gender inequality is the "social construct that results in women not having the same rights, opportunities, or privileges as men."
Stage 1: Preindustrial
High birth rate and high but fluctuating death rate. Underdeveloped
Explain how highly developed and developing countries differ in population characteristics such as infant mortality rate, total fertility rate, and age structure
Highly developed countries, such as the U.S., Canada, France, Germany, Sweden, Australia, and Japan, "have low rates of population growth and are highly industrialized relative to the rest of the world." Lowest birth rates and low infant mortality rates, or the number of infant deaths under the age of 1. long life expectancies, high rates of energy consumption, and high waste production. The fertility rate in developed countries is 1.9. Developing countries can be divided into two categories: moderately developed and less developed. Moderately developed countries include Mexico, Turkey, Thailand, India, and most South American nations whereas less developed countries include Bangladesh, Niger, Ethiopia, Laos, and Cambodia. Moderately developed countries have higher birth rates and infant mortality rates than those of highly developed countries. fertility rate is around 2.4; the life expectancy is about 75 years, and about 62% of women use modern contraception.Less developed countries have the highest birth rates, the highest infant mortality rates, and the shortest life expectancies. But, these countries have lower levels of fossil fuel usage and waste production. Less developed countries have a fertility rate of approximately 4.8 and the life expectancy is around 62 years.
Summarize the history of human population growth
Human population has been growing exponentially during the last 1000 years.
What is not a sustainable growth rate?
If you have a doubling lifetime (number of years) that is less than the average human life span then its not a sustainable growth rate (bad).
How can we slow human population growth?
Increased / improved family planning (Fewer pregnancies / control of fertility / choice in # of children born), Increased education for women (Delay having children / chose to have fewer children), More women in workforce (Delay having children), More industrialization (Reduced need for children to work farm), Improved healthcare (Lower infant mortality rate means parents don't have extra kids "just in case")
Explain why it is impossible to answer precisely how many people Earth can support - that is, Earth's carrying capacity for humans.
It is difficult to answer precisely how many people Earth can support and the published estimates provide a range from 4 billion to 16 billion. The estimates depend on assumptions made about the "standard of living, resource production and consumption, technological innovations, and waste generation." The Earth will support fewer humans if we want all people to have a "high level of material well-being equivalent to the lifestyles common in highly developed countries." If everyone lives "just above the subsistence level," then Earth will be able to support more humans. Earth's carrying capacity depends on environmental concerns, human choices, and human values.
What does actual growth look like?
Logistical Growth (S Curve). As population increases and uses up resources, growth slow/stops, hovers around carrying capacity. Hypothetical, real
Stage 4: Post-Industrial
Low death rates and low but fluctuating birth rates. Developed
K =
Max population of a given species that a particular habitat can sustain indefinitely without degrading the environment
How did we increase carrying capacity?
Medical advances. Creation of sanitary technology -> indoor plumbing, clean drinking water. Increase food production. Women! Medical advances that help women. Medicine: Reducing infant mortality
Age structure diagram: Hershey kiss
Middle growth
China's efforts to decrease family size
No one child policy. subtly show increase of family.
What is population momentum and what does it mean?
People live longer. Even if fertility dropped to replacement levels, population would continue to grow. People that are born have babies. Population keeps rising even if fertility goes down. People that are having babies for the 2050 boom are already born, the future is already set.
Slow population growth
Poorest billion are not joining the west with smaller families and good child survival. Need to improve child survival. Everyone else is having small families and at least 90% child survival. Child survival will stop population growth.
Explain how population growth momentum works.
Population growth momentum is the "potential for future increases or decreases in a population based on the present age structure." For example, a positive population growth momentum would happen when a country's largest percentage of the population is in the age group from 0-14 years of age; these children become the parents of the next generation, and this group of parents will be larger than the preceding group. Population growth momentum can be either positive or negative, meaning it can cause an increase or decrease in the population. Population growth momentum explains why and how the "present age distribution affects the future growth of a population."
Age impact on population growth
Populations with young people of reproductive age will grow faster than older populations. Natural population growth is not going to happen (unlikely)
What is the link between poverty and population growth?
Poverty cycle. Keeps turning. Keeps going. Lots of kids leads to less health care and education for all and it goes back around Subsistence agriculture is self-sufficiency farming in which the farmers focus on growing enough food to feed themselves and their families. No growing anything that is going to do anything other than feed your families.
Intrinsic Rate of Increase (r)
Rate population would grow if it had unlimited resources
Where is population not growing?
Russia, Albania, Haiti and Dominica Republic
What countries are undergoing future population decrease?
Russia, Japan
Age structure diagram: block
Slow/no growth
Industrialized nations and population decline
Sometimes the population didn't decline necessarily, but it aged. You need young people to help take care of old (think of social security). Japan is very concerned!
Demographic transition stages
Stage 1: Pre Industrial (underdeveloped): high birth rate high, but fluctuating death rate. Stage 2: Transitional (developing) declining death rates and continuing high birth rates Stage 3: Industrial (developing): declining birth and death rates. Venezuela, Africa Stage 4: Post industrial (developed): low death rates and low, but fluctuating, birth rates. Norway, Canada, Russia
What stages of the demographic transition are the entire planet in?
Stage 3 and 4. No one is in stage 1 and 2. Countries go through these stages with some degree of certainty.
What are the effects of over-population?
Strain on resources: water, food, energy, lack of biodiversity. The amount of water on the planet is fixed. The problem is clean drinkable water. These things can be increased. Maybe too late for biodiversity.
Culture
The "ideas and customs of a group of people at a given period; culture, which is passed from generation to generation, evolves over time." Culture includes a society's language, beliefs, and spirituality.
Carrying capacity
The "maximum number of people of a population that a particular environment can support for an indefinite period, assuming no changes in the environment."
Demography
The "science of human population structure and growth."
The demographic transition
The largest population growth is happening in under developed and developing countries. If we push them into the developed category then the population rate decreases. Four stages: preindustrial (underdeveloped), transitional (developing), industrial, post-industrial (developed).
Identify Thomas Malthus, relate his ideas on human population growth, and explain why he may or may not be correct
Thomas Malthus was a British economist who was one of the first to recognize that human population growth can't increase indefinitely. He said that the consequences of population growth include famine, disease, and war. Although his assertion may seem unlikely, especially because we have made scientific advances that allow food production to keep up with population growth, it is possible that our increase in food production is not sustainable. Malthus may be correct because it is possible that we have achieved an increase in food production "at the environmental cost of reducing the ability of the land to meet the needs of future populations." It is still not possible to determine whether or not Malthus is correct.
Where is most growth occurring? Developed or underdeveloped? Examples?
Underdeveloped regiong such as SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA (go to place for population growth) central Africa and India.
Why is the birth rate so low and death rate so high in Russia?
health issues. alcohol and smoking. government of Russia → decreasing Russia. The economy will decrease if the population rate continues to decrease. Struggles with army (take away all young people to join army from having children). crime rate down. empty villages
Why do some families in China decide to only have one child?
more expensive to raise more than one child. buy an apartment for child to persuade his future wife
What will China's population look like?
old males. will begin a lack of culture. decrease in crime.
