Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Introduction
- 1 “We Are All Population Actors”: An Introduction to Demography
- 2 The Sources of Demographic Information
- 3 Fertility
- 4 Contraception and Birth Control
- 5 Mortality
- 6 Internal Migration
- 7 International Migration
- 8 Age and Sex Composition
- 9 World Population Change over Time
- 10 Population Change in the United States
- 11 Population Distribution
- 12 Cultural Adaptation and Growth
- 13 Population Policy
- 14 The Future of Planet Earth
- Glossary
- References
- Author Index
- Subject Index
14 - The Future of Planet Earth
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Introduction
- 1 “We Are All Population Actors”: An Introduction to Demography
- 2 The Sources of Demographic Information
- 3 Fertility
- 4 Contraception and Birth Control
- 5 Mortality
- 6 Internal Migration
- 7 International Migration
- 8 Age and Sex Composition
- 9 World Population Change over Time
- 10 Population Change in the United States
- 11 Population Distribution
- 12 Cultural Adaptation and Growth
- 13 Population Policy
- 14 The Future of Planet Earth
- Glossary
- References
- Author Index
- Subject Index
Summary
INTRODUCTION
From the chapters of this book, you have hopefully learned a good deal about population and demography. You likely now know more than you did when you first started to read the book. We have discussed the three demographic processes; we have discussed the basic population characteristics, especially age and sex; we have discussed population growth as well as population decline. In this final chapter, we look at the population itself, the number of inhabitants on this planet now and in the future, and how these may be related to other major factors of life on earth. We look at the future of the earth's population from the standpoint of ecology, sociology, and philosophy. Hence, this last chapter has less to do with demography per se and more to do with other topics.
In Chapter 9, we noted that the world population is estimated to number about 7 billion in 2013, 8 billion in 2026, and 9 billion in 2046 (United Nations, 2005). The 2050 population of the world is projected to be more than 9 billion. What do these numbers mean, and what are their implications?
ECOLOGICAL CONSIDERATIONS
We look first at resources, at pollution, and at technology. What might be the impact of 9 billion inhabitants of the earth were we to take an ecological view of the population?
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Population and SocietyAn Introduction to Demography, pp. 367 - 377Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2010