Essay on World Population Growth

Nowadays demographers believe the number of population can rise to more than 9 billion in the next 50 years. We believe that human population increased after World War II when the population of less developed nations began to accelerate dramatically. As a result, world population entered the twentieth century with approximately 1.6 billion people and left the century with 6.1 billion.

In the next 50 years the annual growth will take place in the less developed countries (Asia, Africa, and Latin America) whose population growth rates are much higher than those in more developed countries. However, Europe’s population will decline sharply and can drop even more during the 21st century. In some European countries population rates are negative (Hungary, Estonia, Russia, Ukraine and others). Some demographers suppose, Africa is expected to capture the greatest share in the world population. Population growth in more developed countries is already low and is expected to stabilize.

According to the most recent UN estimates, between now and 2050 world population growth will be generated exclusively in developing countries. However, human population of the developed countries will decline.

Human population increase is mainly concentrated in China, India, Pakistan, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Indonesia, United States of America, Bangladesh, Zaire, and Iran. According to the most recent (medium variant) UN population projection these ten countries will contribute most to world population growth over the next 50 years.

According to UN survey Europe’s portion of the world population has sharply declined from 21.7 to 12.8 percent. On the other hand, Africa’s portion has increased from 8.9 to 12.7 percent. As far as we know Europe and Africa are each home of about one eighth of the human population. This is expected to change significantly in the future. Consequently, Europe’s portion of the world population in 2050 will be the same as that of Africa in 1950 – one century of human population growth will completely reverse Europe’s and Africa’s position. Hence, we can expect a dramatic change in the global balance of population – in some 50 years only Western Africa will have more population than all the countries of South America, the Caribbean and Oceania combined.

As far as we noticed population has a tendency to increase in the developing countries because of several reasons. The first argument is hunger. The main reason for hunger is poverty. The poor are usually hungry, and there is very little money that can be spent on agricultural development. Another reason for hunger is population. The greatest impact of a growth in population has been on the world’s poorest countries as such countries have been experiencing exponential growth in their population. This growth puts an enormous strain on our ability to provide resources and services to a starving world. Thus, the problem of the world hunger is exacerbated by population growth.

The problem of world hunger along with the problem of global population growth is going to increase rather than decrease. Moreover, as our weather conditions continue to be erratic and as terrorism and persecution intensify around the world, problems with hunger will intensify.

Today developed countries are going to find ways to help the people and countries that are suffering. Part of the solution of this global problem is to provide help through foreign aid, including food and resources to the needy. The problem of world hunger is evident, and we must do everything possible to solve this problem.

The main solution we see in the problem of world population growth is that many countries facing this problem must control their populations. We know that in China families usually have one child because the population in this country is more than a billion.

Modern societies must change their attitudes, and make everyone aware of the problem of population growth in the developing countries. They are to find necessary solutions to help these countries. On the other hand, European nations must be aware of population decline in their countries.

Bibliography:

• Population, Resources and the Environment: The Critical Challenges. United Nations Population Fund,. 1991. 154 p
• Population, Environment and Development: Proceedings of the United Nations Expert Group Meeting on Population, Environment and Development, United Nations Headquarters, 20-24 January 1992, United Nations, New York, 1994