1 / 16

Human Populations

Explore the historical growth of human populations and the theories of Malthus and Marx on population limits. Learn about demographic trends, birth reduction pressures, and the role of family planning in controlling fertility rates worldwide.

tresa
Download Presentation

Human Populations

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Human Populations

  2. POPULATION GROWTH • Until the Middle Ages, human populations were held in check by: - diseases - famines - wars • Took all of human history to reach 1 billion • 150 years to reach 3 billion • 12 years to go from 5 to 6 billion • Human population tripled during the twentieth century. Populations grew slowly

  3. Human Population Growth Exponential Growth Curve

  4. LIMITS TO GROWTH • Thomas Malthus (1798) - human populations tend to increase exponentially while food production is plentiful. • Humans will outstrip food supply and eventually collapse. • Human population only stabilized by positive checks. • Humans are too lazy and immoral to voluntarily reduce birth rates.

  5. Karl Marx • Population growth is a symptom rather than a root cause of poverty and other social problems. • Real causes of these problems are exploitation and oppression. • The way to slow population growth and alleviate many social problems is through social justice.

  6. Malthus and Marx

  7. Human Population Density

  8. HUMAN DEMOGRAPHY • Demography births, deaths, distribution, and population size. • The current U.S. Census Bureau estimate for world population is ~ 7.4 billion.

  9. Two Demographic Worlds • 1) poor, young, and rapidly growing. • Developing Countries • Africa, Asia, Latin America, India, China • Contain 80% of world population, and will account for 90% of projected growth. • 2) wealthy, old, and mostly shrinking. • Developed Countries • North America, Western Europe, Japan • Average age is about 40. • Populations expected to decline.

  10. Age Structure Developing Developed

  11. Emigration and Immigration • Emigration and immigration play a large role in human population dynamics. • Immigration is a controversial issue. “Guest workers” often perform dangerous or disagreeable work, while being paid low wages with few rights. • Locals complain immigrants take away jobs and overload social services.

  12. Birth Reduction Pressures • Higher education and personal freedom for women = less children born • More opportunities to earn a salary = less likely to have children • Education and socioeconomic status are usually inversely related to fertility in wealthier countries.

  13. Birth Reduction Pressures • In developing countries, higher income = families can afford more children, thus fertility often increases. • In less-developed countries, adding another child to a family usually does not cost much, while in developed countries, raising an additional child can carry significant costs.

  14. Birth Rates in the United States

  15. p. 149 Demographic Transition

  16. FAMILY PLANNING AND FERTILITY CONTROL • Family Planning allows couples to determine the number and spacing of their children. • Birth Control - Any method used to reduce births. • Traditional Methods • Long breast-feeding, taboos against intercourse while breast-feeding, celibacy, folk medicines, abortion, infanticide.

More Related