Unit 6: Human Populations - Environmental Test

Over the course of the 20th century, the global population has

tripled

Currently, the global population is growing at an annual rate of

1.12%

ecological footprint

a single number which estimates the relative amount of productive land

What is the current global population?

8 billion

What is the projected global population that we discussed in class?

it will stabilize around 10 billion people

The rule of 70

70 divided by growth percent = number of years to double the population

True or False:According to Thomas Malthus, human populations would eventually exceed the food supply and ultimately collapse into starvation, crime, and misery.

true

What is the number one cause of mortality for adolescents in Africa?

AIDS

What is the most populous African nation?

Nigeria

Which South American country has the largest population?

Brazil

Annual income and life expectancy are strongly correlated up to about ____ U.S. dollars

5,000

dependency ratio

The number of nonworking individuals compared with working individuals in a population

True or False: Total fertility increases as girls' education increases

false

Which geographic region/countries are likely to have the highest fertility rate?

Sub-Saharan Africa; Niger, Angola, and the Democratic Republic of Congo

Which countries are likely to have the lowest fertility rate?

developed European & North American countries; South Korea, Singapore, Ukraine, Hong Kong

According to the date presented by Hans Rosling in his TED Talk, the number of children in the world aged 0 to 15 years will be __ billion by the year 2100 if extreme poverty is eliminated in the world's lowest income countries.

2

How many children on average are born every second?

4 or 5

True or False: The 1994 International Conference on Population and Development emphasized empowering women through education, land reform, political rights, and opportunities to earn an independent income

true

The most populous continent is _______ , but the continent with the highest fertility rates is _______.

Asia, Africa

How many people on average die every second?

2 or 3

In 2011 the UN announced we had reached ________ people

7 billion

How long did it take for the population to add the last billion people?

12 years

It took 156 years to reach _______ people in 1960

3 billion

When did the number of living humans triple?

20th century

When did the human population begin to increase (time period)?

The Industrial Revolution

What is one side of the argument regarding population growth?

that it is the ultimate cause of poverty and environmental degradation

What is the opposing view of the argument regarding population growth?

that poverty, environmental degradation, and overpopulation are all merely symptoms of deeper social and political factors

Thomas Malthus hypothesizes that human populations will outstrip....

the food supply and collapse into starvation, crime, and misery

Who does Karl Marx have an opposing view to?

Thomas Malthus

What does Karl Marx believe about population growth?

it resulted from poverty, resource depletion, population growth, and other social ills

carrying capacityz

the largest population that an area/the world can support

What do some people believe about the world in regards to its carrying capacity?

that we are approaching it and may surpass it

Joel Cohen at Rockefeller University stated that...

- estimated the maximum human population size the planet can sustain
- ranges from 10 to 12 billion people

David Pimental from Cornell University state what about the population

"By 2100 if current trends continue, 12 billion miserable humans will suffer a difficult life on Earth."

What do Optimists argue that Malthus was wrong about?

his prediction of famine and disaster 200 years ago because he failed to account for scientific and technical progress

What scientific and technical progress has been made in the last 10,000 years?

agricultural productivity, engineering, information technology, commerce, medicine, and sanitation

How to calculate the impact of technology's increase of the carrying capacity for humans?

population times affluence times technology

How to calculate the impact of the Human Population?

I = PAT formula
our environmental impacts (I) are the products of = our population size (P) times affluence level (A) times the technology level (T)

A family living an affluent lifestyle could cause great environmental damage than...

a whole village of African hunters and gathers

Ecological footprint

estimates the relative amount of productive land required to support each of us

Example of ecological footprint

forests and grasslands store carbon, protect watersheds, purify our water, and provide wildlife habitats

What benefits could population growth bring?

- more people means larger markets, more workers, and efficiencies of scale in the mass production of goods
- more people to find new resources and better solutions to problems

What does Economist Julian Simon believe?

he believes that people are the "ultimate resources" and that no evidence shows that pollution, crime, unemployment, crowding, the loss of species, or any other resource limitations will worsen with population growth

Population Doubling Time Formula

70 divided by growth percentage = number of years to double the population

demography

encompasses vital statistics about people such as births, deaths, and where they live as well as total population size

What factors affect population growth?

- fertility varies among cultures and at different times
- morality offsets births
- life expectancy is rising worldwide
- living longer has profound social implications

total fertility rate

the number of children born to an average woman in a population during her entire reproductive life

zero population growth (ZPG)

occurs when births + immigration in a population just = deaths + emigration

Fertility rates have _______ dramatically in most regions of the world over the past 50 years.

declined

Which 3 countries have the largest population?

India, China, and the United States

life span

the oldest age to which a species is know to survive (the oldest person in 2024 is 117)

life expectancy

the average age that a newborn infant can expect to attain in any given society

Blue Zone

regions with exceptionally life expectancies

Examples of Blue Zones

- Sardinia, Italy: longest-lived men
- Okinawa, Japan: longest lived woman
- Loma Linda, Californian: a Seventh-day Adventist community where people live a decade longer than the average American

age class histograms

show differences between different ages of people in a population and illustrate the social implications of population growth

Example of dependency ratio

Niger has each working person supporting a high number of children.

Second example of dependency ratio

The US has a declining working population is now supporting an even larger number of retired persons

What pressures affect decisions about family size which in turn affect the population?

social and economic pressures

pronatalist pressures

factors that increase people's desire to have babies

Examples of Pronatalist Pressures

- social factors: companionship, pride, comfort, status
- financial factors: source of labor, security in old age
- fertility factors: high infant mortality
- cultural factors: producing an heir

What are the reasons for why people want children?

- children may be the only source of support for elderly parents in countries without a social security system
- often children are valuable to the family not only for future income, but even more as a source of current income and help with household chores
- society also has a need to replace members who die or become incapacitated

How does education & income affect the desire for children in highly developed countries?

- higher education and personal freedom affect women to not have children
- the desire to spend time and money on other priorities limits the number of children

How does education & income affect the desire for children in developing countries?/

feeding and clothing is minimally expensive, adding one more child is negligible compared to the cost in developed countries

demographic transition

a typical pattern of falling death rates and birth rates due to improved living conditions that usually accompany economic development

Stage 1: Pre-Indistrial

- economic and social conditions change mortality and birth rates
- represents the conditions in a premodern society

Examples of countries in Stage 1 of the demographic transition

- No official countries in the world are currently in this stage
- but some Indigenous groups in the Amazon or Sub-Saharan Africa may be in this stage

Stage 2: Urbanization / Early Industrialization

economic development in this stage brings better jobs, medical care, sanitation, and a generally improved standard of living, and death rates often fall very rapdily

Examples of countries in Stage 2 of the demographic transition

Pakistan, Bolivia, Guatemala, Sub-Saharan countries such as Niger, Uganda; and Middle Eastern countries like Yemen, Palestinian Territories, and Afghanistan

Stage 3: Mature Industrial

note that populations grow rapidly during this stage while death rates have already fallen but birth rates remain high

Examples of countries in Stage 3 of the demographic transition

Columbia, India, Jamaica, Botswana, Mexico, Kenya, South Africa, and the UAE

Stage 4: Post-Industrial

represents conditions in developed countries where the transition is complete and both birth rates and death rates are low, often a third or less than those in the predevelopment era

Examples of countries in Stage 4 of the demographic transition

China, Argentina, Canada, Australia, Brazil, Singapore, South Korea, United States, and most countries within Europe

What are different ways to complete the demographic transition?

- providing a fair share of social benefits to everyone is seen as the key to family planning
- aggressively emphasizing birth control, rather than promoting social justice

What did the 180 countries at the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development agreed will slow population growth?

- responsible economic development
- education and increased women's rights
- high-quality health care including family planning services

family planning

allows couples to determine the number and spacing of their children

birth control

usually means any method used to reduce birth including celibacy, delayed marriage, and contraception

How have humans always regulated their fertility?

people in every culture and every historical period used a variety of techniques to control population size including taboos against intercourse while breast-feeding, celibacy, folk medicines, abortion, and infanticide

When do demographers believe the world population will stabilize?

during this century

What are important societal changes that affect population growth?

- improved social, educational, and economic status for women
- improved status for children
- acceptance of calculated choice as a valid element in life in general and in fertility in particular
- social security and political stability that give people the means and the confidence to plan for the future
- the knowledge, availability, and use of effective and acceptable means of birth control