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Population
growth
By
Tatyana
Guzova
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The
twentieth century saw a unique and unprecedented rise in the world's population.
Since 1950 most of this growth has been in the developing world, and some
countries in Africa have had growth rates as high as s a doubling of the
population about every 17 years. This has led many influential people
in rich countries to single out population growth in poorer countries
as the most serious challenge to development.
The twenty-five percent of the world's population that lives in developed
countries puts the most pressure on the Earth's resources. For example,
in 1996 the average United States citizen consumed 590 times more energy
per year (in kilowatt hoursof electricity) than the average Ethiopian.
Most industrialized countries have far higher
population densities than poorer ones. For example, the Netherlands has
a population density of 378 people/km, whereas Suda has only eleven people/km.
The fertility rate is defined by the average number of children born to
women of childbearing age. In 1997 in sub-Saharan Africa where population
growth rates are among the highest in the world the fertility rate was
5.5 per woman while in industrialized countries where growth rates are
stagnant or negative it was only 1.6.
A significant reason for poor people having
large families is because children are an asset to their parents, as laborers,
wage earners, and as sources of security in old age. In countries with
high infant mortality rates, having a large family provides some insurance
against the risk of losing children . They mix family-planning advice
with schemes to reduce child mortality, improve women's health, education
and earning power, and boost agricultural productivity.
Tatyana Guzova
Age 14
School #33,Tomina street,28
Grodno, Belarus 230026.