Module 13-14: Global Demography

Finals Topic

Demography

• Refers to the study of human populations - their size, composition and distribution across space - and the process through which populations change.

• Births, deaths, and migration are the “Big Three” of demography, jointly producing population stability or change

Mortality

• Refers to the level of death within a population as measured by the number of deaths and the death rates characterizing that population during a particular time period. It is the death rate in a given population

Death

• Is defined as the complete cessation of life after a live birth has taken place.

Natality

• The birth rate in a given population

Birth Rate

• Refers to the total number of live births per 1000 in a given population during a given time period or a year

Fertility

• Is the natural capability to produce offspring.

• As a measure, fertility rate is the number of offspring born per mating pair, individual or population

Urban Families

(Families)

• One to two children; both parents are working, and long-term savings strategies are prioritized.

• Typically educated and dual-income, tend to have fewer children due to time constraints and professional commitments

Rural Families

(Families)

• Multiple children and a big kinship network are important assets; children may take over agricultural tasks.

• They value extra help during planting and harvesting, often preferring larger families for support in crop cultivation.

Urban Population Growth

• Is primarily driven by migration from rural areas to cities for job opportunities, rather than an increase in birth rates.

Thomas Malthus

• A British scholar who warned in his 1798 work that population growth will inevitably exhaust world food supply by the middle of the 19th century

Paul R. Ehrlich

• He revived Malthus’ prediction in 1960s

• An American biologist with his wife Anne, wrote The Population Bomb

• They proposed to reduce the growth rate to zero (lead by countries like US) They recommend:
  - Chemical Castration (bizarre suggestion)
  - Taxing an additional child and luxury taxes on child-related products
  - Paying off men who would agree to be sterilized after two children
  - Creation of a powerful Department of Population and Environment

The Perils of Overpopulation

• The population growth rate peaked at 2.06% annually after WW2, causing concerns over resource allocation

• Limiting population growth was seen as essential to direct resources toward economic progress instead of merely sustaining larger populations

• Countries like the Philippines, China, and India aimed to lower birth rates to prevent potential crises of resources, poverty, hunger, and political instability

Foreign Affairs (1958)

• An American policy journal had advocated “contraception and sterilization” as the practical solutions to global economic, social and political problems

Overpopulation Threat

• A group of American billionaires warned of how a nightmarish explosion of people was a potentially disastrous environmental, social and industrial threat to the world

• Economist argument for the promotion of reproductive health.

Advocates of Population Control

• They contend for universal access to reproductive technologies (condoms, pills, abortions, vasectomies)

• Giving women the right to choose whether to have children or not

Policy Formulations on Birth Control

• Certain policy formulations lead to extreme policies such as the forced sterilization of 20 million violators of the Chinese Government’s one-child policy

• Vietnam and Mexico also conducted coercive mass sterilization

Betsy Hartmann

• She accused governments of using population control as a “substitute for social justice and much needed reforms - such as land distribution, employment creation, provision of mass education and healthcare, and emancipation”

Population Growth supplies innovation

• Population did grow fast in many countries in the 1960s, and this growth “aided economic development by spurring technological and institutional innovation and increasing the supply of human ingenuity.”

Green Revolution

• Created high-yielding varieties of rice and other cereals and, along with the development of new methods of cultivation, increase yields globally, but more particularly in the developing world.

• Advances in agricultural productions have grown that the Malthusian nightmare can be prevented.

Global Famine did not happen

• The global famine that neo-Malthusian predicted did not happen. Instead, between 1950 and 1984, global grain production increased by over 250 percent, allowing agriculture to keep pace with population growth, thereby keeping global famine under control.

Women

• Are often the subject of population measures

Reproductive Rights Supporters

• They argue that if population control and economic development were to reach their goals, women must have control over whether they will have children or not

Reproductive health laws

• Fertility, family and fortune has motivated countries with growing economies to introduce or strengthen their reproductive health laws

• Most countries implement health laws because they worry about the health of the mother

• Opponents regards reproductive rights as nothing but a false front for abortion

• Various parts of the developing world remain very conservative ex. Christian groups of Poland, Croatia etc. ; Muslim countries and Catholic majority

Women and Reproductive Rights

• UN Women declared on June 24, 2022, that reproductive rights are essential to women's human rights.

• International legal frameworks affirm the importance of bodily autonomy in fertility and family planning decisions.

• Exercising reproductive rights is crucial for women's empowerment and societal participation.

• Restrictions on safe and legal abortion disproportionately affect marginalized women.

• These restrictions worsen health disparities and limit women's potential.

The Feminist Perspective

• Feminists approach the issue of reproductive rights from another angle.

• They are, foremost, against any form of population control because they are compulsory by nature, resorting to a carrot and-stick approach (punitive mechanism co exist alongside benefits) that actually does not empower women.

• They believe that government assumptions that poverty and environmental degradation are caused by overpopulation are wrong.

• Feminists also point out that there is very little evidence that point overpopulation as the culprit behind poverty and ecological devastation.

Population Growth and Food Security

• Today's global population has reached 8 billion. it is estimated to increase to 9.5 billion in 2050, then 11.2 billion by 2100

• Demographers predict that the world population will stabilize by 2050 to 9 billion, although they warn that feeding this population will be an immense challenge.

• A primary factor contributing to widespread hunger, food insecurity, and malnutrition globally is the economic inaccessibility of healthy diets

Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)

• This organization warns that in order for countries to mitigate the impact of population growth, food production must increase by 70 percent; annual cereal production must rise to 3 billion tons from the current 2.1 billion; and yearly meat production must go up to 200 million tons to reach 470 million

Food Security Recommendations

• The FAO recommends that countries increase their investments in agriculture, craft long-term policies aimed at fighting poverty, and invest in research and development

• The UN body suggests also that countries develop a comprehensive social service program that includes food assistance, consistent delivery of health services, and education especially for the poor

Demography Conclusion

• Demography integrates various social scientific data to study human population size fluctuations and their effects on society, including politics, the environment, and resource allocation.

• A thorough analysis of globalization requires a strong demographic perspective to understand both large-scale trends and individual experiences