Article Title: The Human Population Grows Up
Author: Joel E. Cohen
I knew global population growth was a problem but after reading this article, I feel like the world's rising population is truly a concern that should be fixed. The main concern connected to this is sustainability; what is the maximum number of individuals Earth can hold? The Earth's resources are also a huge concern because as the population grows, will we have enough food, water, and supplies to support everyone? Our resources are limited and people are exploiting the environment faster than it can regenerate itself. One way to fix this is education. Educating people will help people learn that global population growth is a big problem and they will hopefully limit the amount of children they have.
Author: Joel E. Cohen
- Before 2000. young people outnumbered old people. From 2000 and forward, old people will outnumber young people.
- Until 2007, rural people always outnumbered urban people. From 2007 forward, urban people will outnumber rural people.
- From 2003 forward, the average woman worldwide will have too few or just enough children during her lifetime to replace her and the father.
- Human population never grew that fast at 2.1% a year, between 1965-1970, and is likely to never grow at that speed again.
- Since 1970, the growth rate fell to 1.1% or 1.2% a year because many couples around the world chose to limit the number of children born.
- There has never been a time before the 20th century that a fall in the global population growth rate was voluntary.
- In 1950 the less developed countries had twice the population of the more developed ones, by 2050 the ratio will be six to one.
- All population growth in the next 45 years is expected to happen in today’s less developed countries. Although death rates are higher, poor countries’ populations grow faster than rich countries’ populations because they have much higher birth rates.
- 51 countries that are mostly developed will lose population from now to 2050.
- The 20th century will probably be the last century where young people outnumber old people.
- There will be more old people because of improved survival and reduced fertility rates.
- The world is predicted to become richer.
- Sustainability is the concern now.
- People exploit the environment faster than it could regenerate itself, which is clearly an unsustainable situation.
I knew global population growth was a problem but after reading this article, I feel like the world's rising population is truly a concern that should be fixed. The main concern connected to this is sustainability; what is the maximum number of individuals Earth can hold? The Earth's resources are also a huge concern because as the population grows, will we have enough food, water, and supplies to support everyone? Our resources are limited and people are exploiting the environment faster than it can regenerate itself. One way to fix this is education. Educating people will help people learn that global population growth is a big problem and they will hopefully limit the amount of children they have.