Chapter 3: Canada's Population in a Global Context

Population of the world in 2014: 7.238 billion
LDC = 82% of world’s total population
Doubling time: the number of years it would take for the population to double if its current rate of growth were to remain unchanged

→ Used to determine how fast a population is growing

Growth history * Beginning of humanity - 1750: slow population growth * 1750 - present: explosive increase in population growth
3 population surges

1. Acquisition of clothing 2. Sedentarization + development of agriculture 3. Industrial Revolution

1. Plague

1. High rates of births and deaths 2. High birth and declining death rates 3. Low rates of fertility and mortality

Pre-decline rise in fertility = every case of demographic transition * Cause: modernization * Increase in living standard → increase in populations’ health → rise of natural fertility levels → contraception becomes widespread

Multiphasic response theory: assumes the widespread fertility declines in a society occur in a context of rising socioeconomic opportunities, coupled with sustained high rates of natural increase due to declining death rates (in infancy and childhood)
Ireland
Japan

Transitional populations: countries that have recently completed or are approaching the end of demographic transition
Delayed transition populations: countries where the demographic transition has only recently begun

Decrease in fertility rates: * Innovation theorists: emphasize the role played by new contraceptive technologies and new ideas emphasizing small families * Adjustment theorists: new socioeconomic opportunities in a context of industrialization and urbanization made large families less desirable than before * The rapid spread of Western ideas and a change in the way parents and society think about children * Implementation of family planning programs * Improvements in education and literacy among women

Population growth rate: expected to continue declining steadily
Post-transitional regime: low fertility, high life expectancy, low rates of natural increase, high levels of demographic aging

Population projection: computational exercise intended to determine a future population’s size and age-sex distribution
2050 = 9.6 billion

Population momentum: the amount of unavoidable growth that is built into the current age structure of the population