Population Growth: Evidence and Interpretation

1961 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. 44-56
Author(s):  
John S. Aird

A quarterof the human race resides hi Communist China, the largest population under a single authority in the world, and it has been growing. No one is likely to quarrel with that statement. But there are differences of opinion over just how large the population of China is and how rapid its rate of growth. This article will not attempt to review the technical aspects of these differences or to set one view against another, but will try to indicate what the range of opinion is, how the differences arise, why they cannot presently be resolved, and what they mean for those who wish to use Chinese population data.

2016 ◽  
Vol 2016 ◽  
pp. 1-7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shouraseni Sen Roy ◽  
Mohammad Sadegh Keikhosravi Kiany ◽  
Robert C. Balling

We assembled daily maximum and minimum temperature records for 31 stations throughout Iran over the period 1961–2010. As with many other areas of the world, we found that both the maximum and minimum temperatures were increasing overall with the minimum temperatures increasing twice as fast as the maximum temperatures. We gathered population data for the stations near the beginning and end of the temperature records and found in all seasons and for both the maximum and minimum temperatures the magnitude of population growth positively influenced the temperature trends. However, unlike so many other studies, we found the strongest population growth signal in the winter for the maximum temperatures. We found evidence that this winter-season population-temperature signal is related snow cover. Our results illustrate that any number of processes are involved in explaining trends in historical maximum and minimum temperature records.


Author(s):  
Gianfranco Pacchioni

About 10,000 years ago, at the beginning of the agriculturalrevolution, on the whole earth lived between 5 and 8 million hunter-gatherers, all belonging to the Homo sapiens species. Five thousand years later, freed from the primary needs for survival, some belonging to that species enjoyed the privilege of devoting themselves to philosophical speculation and the search for transcendental truths. It was only in the past two hundred years, however, with the advent of the Industrial Revolution, that reaping nature’s secrets and answering fundamental questions posed by the Universe have become for many full-time activities, on the way to becoming a real profession. Today the number of scientists across the globe has reached and exceeded 10 million, that is, more than the whole human race 10,000 years ago. If growth continues at the current rate, in 2050 we will have 35 million people committed full-time to scientific research. With what consequences, it remains to be understood. For almost forty years I myself have been concerned with science in a continuing, direct, and passionate way. Today I perceive, along with many colleagues, especially of my generation, that things are evolving and have changed deeply, in ways unimaginable until a few years ago and, in some respects, not without danger. What has happened in the world of science in recent decades is more than likely a mirror of a similar and equally radical transformation taking place in modern society, particularly with the advent ...


2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Babak Khavari ◽  
Alexandros Korkovelos ◽  
Andreas Sahlberg ◽  
Mark Howells ◽  
Francesco Fuso Nerini

AbstractHuman settlements are usually nucleated around manmade central points or distinctive natural features, forming clusters that vary in shape and size. However, population distribution in geo-sciences is often represented in the form of pixelated rasters. Rasters indicate population density at predefined spatial resolutions, but are unable to capture the actual shape or size of settlements. Here we suggest a methodology that translates high-resolution raster population data into vector-based population clusters. We use open-source data and develop an open-access algorithm tailored for low and middle-income countries with data scarcity issues. Each cluster includes unique characteristics indicating population, electrification rate and urban-rural categorization. Results are validated against national electrification rates provided by the World Bank and data from selected Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS). We find that our modeled national electrification rates are consistent with the rates reported by the World Bank, while the modeled urban/rural classification has 88% accuracy. By delineating settlements, this dataset can complement existing raster population data in studies such as energy planning, urban planning and disease response.


1960 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. 59-73 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leo A. Orleans

Whereas throughout most of the world the results of the 1953 censusregistration of Communist China, reporting a population of 582·6 million, evoked anxiety and even alarm, the Communists expressed only pride and overwhelming confidence. As a people “liberated from the oppressive chains of capitalism,” Communist leaders felt that their horizons were unlimited and that feeding and caring for a population of this size presented no problems under a system in which people are “the most precious of all categories of capital.” The simultaneous release of vital rates which indicated a birth rate of 37 per thousand population and a death rate of 17 per thousand, further stressed the “great vitality of the people of new China.” The 2 per cent, natural increase (excess of births over deaths), resulting in an annual population growth of some 12 million, was declared, in line with Marxist doctrine, to be an asset in a country with vast new lands and unexploited natural resources, where additional people create additional wealth.


1971 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 245-272 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pi-Chao Chen

Some economists argue that high population density and rapid population growth are not in themselves impediments to economic development. On the basis of a quantitative analysis of historical data, Simon Kuznets, for instance, concludes that, historically, rates of economic development have not significantly correlated, either positively or negatively, with rates of population growth. Similarly, E. E. Hagen observes that “nowhere in the world has population growth induced by rising income been sufficient to halt the rise in income. … The historical record indicates that rise in income in these societies has failed to occur not because something thwarted it, but because no force has been present to cause income to rise.


PEDIATRICS ◽  
1967 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 123-138
Author(s):  
Marie A. Valdes-Dapena

It is apparent that we are still woefully ignorant with respect to the subject of sudden and unexpected deaths in infants. Only by continual investigation of large series of cases, employing uniform criteria to define such deaths and using the investigative procedures outlined above as well as others which will undoubtedly suggest themselves, can we hope to understand and possibly prevent the deaths of some 15,000 to 25,000 infants in the United States each year. These lives, to say nothing of those in other countries throughout the world might provide some of the leadership which is necessary to maintain and advance the human race in the years to come.


Author(s):  
Elena Pekhtereva ◽  

The review examines the results of the December 2020 official census of the population of China, the most populous country in the world. It is noted that the Chinese government is seriously concerned about the low rate of population growth. The authorities fear that a slowdown in population growth and its aging while the size of the labour force is decreasing may seriously slow down economic growth. The opinions and statements of analysts on the prospects of the demographic situation in China in the context of its socio-economic development are presented.


1960 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. 16-31 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. M. Halpern
Keyword(s):  

The events of the six months between October 1, 1959, and April 1, 1960—the period, roughly, between Khrushchev's visit to the U.S. and his visit to South Asia—clearly affected Communist China. What is not so clear is the direction in which China has been moved and the depth and duration of the influence which events have brought to bear on China's relations with the world around her.


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