scholarly journals Population priorities: the challenge of continued rapid population growth

2009 ◽  
Vol 364 (1532) ◽  
pp. 2977-2984 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adair Turner

Rapid population growth continues in the least developed countries. The revisionist case that rapid population could be overcome by technology, that population density was advantageous, that capital shallowing is not a vital concern and that empirical investigations had not proved a correlation between high population growth and low per capita income was both empirically and theoretically flawed. In the modern world, population density does not play the role it did in nineteenth-century Europe and rates of growth in some of today's least developed nations are four times than those in nineteenth-century Europe, and without major accumulation of capital per capita , no major economy has or is likely to make the low- to middle-income transition. Though not sufficient, capital accumulation for growth is absolutely essential to economic growth. While there are good reasons for objecting to the enforced nature of the Chinese one-child policy, we should not underestimate the positive impact which that policy has almost certainly had and will have over the next several decades on Chinese economic performance. And a valid reticence about telling developing countries that they must contain fertility should not lead us to underestimate the severely adverse impact of high fertility rates on the economic performance and prospects of many countries in Africa and the Middle East.

1973 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 217-232 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Dorner ◽  
Rodolfo Quiros

The five nations of the Central American Common Market (Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua) have all the characteristics generally associated with less developed countries—largely agrarian economies, great dependence on agricultural exports for foreign exchange earnings, rapid population growth, widespread illiteracy, and low per capita incomes.


1996 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 132-150 ◽  
Author(s):  
Virginia Abernethy

U.S. immigration policy has a beneficent intent. However, recent work suggests that the signal it sends internationally – that emigration can be relied upon to relieve local (Third World) population pressure – tends to maintain high fertility rates in the sending country. This effect is counterproductive because high fertility is the primary driver of rapid population growth. In addition, it appears that the relatively open U.S. immigration policy has resulted in a rate of domestic population growth that threatens both the well-being of American labor and cherished environmental values.


2012 ◽  
pp. 183-196
Author(s):  
Nenad Rankovic

Socio-economic changes throughout history have shaped the attitude towards the forest and most significant ones are changes in terms of population. Over the centuries population and population density have had a significant impact on deforestation and the reduction of forest areas. Therefore, it is important to check what kind of trends are concerned and how population growth affects forest areas, forest cover and forest area per capita. These elements are important for assessing the direction, intensity of activity and the degree of success in the implementation of all forest policy measures in Serbia.


Author(s):  
Michael J. Fogarty ◽  
Jeremy S. Collie

The observation that no population can grow indefinitely and that most populations persist on ecological timescales implies that mechanisms of population regulation exist. Feedback mechanisms include competition for limited resources, cannibalism, and predation rates that vary with density. Density dependence occurs when per capita birth or death rates depend on population density. Density dependence is compensatory when the population growth rate decreases with population density and depensatory when it increases. The logistic model incorporates density dependence as a simple linear function. A population exhibiting logistic growth will reach a stable population size. Non-linear density-dependent terms can give rise to multiple equilibria. With discrete time models or time delays in density-dependent regulation, the approach to equilibrium may not be smooth—complex dynamical behavior is possible. Density-dependent feedback processes can compensate, up to a point, for natural and anthropogenic disturbances; beyond this point a population will collapse.


Ultimately, the necessity to supply food, energy, habitat, infrastructure, and consumer goods for the ever-growing population is responsible for the demise of the environment. Remedial actions for pollution abatement, and further technological progress toward energy efficiency, development of new crops, and improvements in manufacturing processes may help to mitigate the severity of environmental deterioration. However, we can hardly hope for restoration of a clean environment, improvement in human health, and an end to poverty without arresting the continuous growth of the world population. According to the United Nations count, world population reached 6 billion in mid October 1999 (1). The rate of population growth and the fertility rates by continent, as well as in the United States and Canada, are presented in Table 14.1. It can be seen that the fastest population growth occurs in the poorest countries of the world. Despite the worldwide decrease in fertility rates between 1975–80 period and that of 1995–2000, the rate of population growth in most developing countries changed only slightly due to the demographic momentum, which means that because of the high fertility rates in the previous decades, the number of women of childbearing age had increased. Historically, the preference for large families in the developing nations was in part a result of either cultural or religious traditions. In some cases there were practical motivations, as children provided helping hands with farm chores and a security in old age. At present the situation is changing. A great majority of governments of the developing countries have recognized that no improvement of the living standard of their citizens will ever be possible without slowing the explosive population growth. By 1985, a total of 70 developing nations had either established national family planning programs, or provided support for such programs conducted by nongovernmental agencies; now only four of the world’s 170 countries limit access to family planning services. As result, 95% of the developing world population lives in countries supporting family planning. Consequently, the percentage of married couples using contraceptives increased from less than 10% in 1960 to 57% in 1997.


Author(s):  
Giovanni Andrea Cornia

This chapter reviews population trends over the last two hundred years and population projections to the end of this century. In 2100 the world population will have stabilized but its geographical distribution will have substantially changed compared to 2015. The chapter then discusses the five stages of the demographic transition, and different neo-Malthusian and non-Malthusian theories of the relation between population growth and economic development. It emphasizes in particular the effects of rapid population growth on land and resource availability, human capital formation, population quality, the accumulation of physical capital, employment, wages, and income inequality. The effects of rapid population growth rate over a given period were found to change in line with the population size and density at the beginning of the period considered.


Author(s):  
Weshah A. Razzak ◽  
Belkacem Laabas ◽  
El Mostafa Bentour

We calibrate a semi-endogenous growth model to study the transitional dynamic and the properties of balanced growth paths of technological progress. In the model, long-run growth arises from global discoveries of new ideas, which depend on population growth. The transitional dynamic consists of the growth rates of capital intensity, labor, educational attainment (human capital), and research and ideas in excess of world population growth. Most of the growth in technical progress in a large number of developed and developing countries is accounted for by transitional dynamics.


2015 ◽  
Vol 81 (1) ◽  
pp. 67-74 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ronald Lee

It was a different era when Gary Becker did his groundbreaking work on the economics of fertility, during the years from the late 1950 through the early 1990s. There was great concern then about the “population explosion” due to sustained high fertility in the developing world after mortality declined following World War II. In 1968, Paul Ehrlich published “The Population Bomb” predicting disaster and mass starvation due to rapid population growth: “The battle to feed all of humanity is over. In the 1970s, the world will undergo famines – hundreds of millions of people are going to starve to death. . . .” Robert McNamara, then the President of the World Bank, in 1984 said “Short of thermonuclear war itself, population growth is the gravest issue the world faces over the decades immediately ahead. If we do not act, the problem will be solved by famine, riots, insurrection and war.”


1966 ◽  
Vol 98 (8) ◽  
pp. 808-820 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. L. Putman ◽  
D. H. C. Herne

AbstractMore than 40 species of insects and arachnids attack Panonychus ulmi (Koch), Tetranychus urticae Koch, T. canadensis (McGregor), Bryobia arborea Morgan and Anderson, or Aculus cornutus (Banks) in peach orchards of the Niagara Peninsula. The most effective predators attacking P. ulmi are Typhlodromus caudiglans Schuster, Haplothrips faurei Hood, Stethorus punctillum Weise, and Chrysopa spp. Peach orchards lack the predatory mirids characteristic of apple orchards. A condition, presumably disease, caused heavy mortality in one year. Endemic densities of P. ulmi are maintained in that state by predators, chiefly T. caudiglans, that subsist to a considerable extent on other sources of food, whereas epidemics of P. ulmi are reduced largely by other predators, chiefly H. faurei and S. punctillum, that increase in numbers by feeding on the mite during its period of rapid population growth but exert their greatest effect later in the season by destroying the winter eggs.


1977 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 369-392 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barry Edmonston ◽  
Frank Wm. Oechsli

Venezuela has experienced significant economic development during recent decades, although rapid population growth has partially offset economic gains. During the five-year period 1969-1973, the gross national product increased at an annual rate of 5.0 percent, which, coupled with population growth, yielded real per capita increases of 2.6 percent annually. Relatively smooth transition in the nationalization of the Venezuelan oil industry in 1976 presents a favorable assessment for the economy during the next decade. Yet while there has been notable progress in conventional economic indicators, there have been less rapid improvements in education, nutrition, and health. This paper examines past trends in Venezuelan population growth within the context of general social and economic development. Because of the importance of fertility in affecting population growth, particular attention is paid to fertility trends.


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