This set of questions was done using SubEthaEdit with Mariko while incorporating class notes from Monday as well.
1. Note doubling times on table 4.1. Why is the doubling time in 2050 so high? Compare with fig 4.3.
The 20th century was a decade of social progress and economic advancement for many countries around the world, and so as more and more of the developing world achieve a demographic transition, fertility rates will start to drop. Closer towards 2050, there will be increasingly less countries that still have high fertility rates, hence why doubling time will take much longer. Others theorize that this is because humans are nearing their carrying capacity (see Cohen and Pimental below).
2. Compare Malthus to Marx to Cohen to Pimental.
Malthus believed that population increased exponentially while food production only increased linearly and that population growth will only stop with disease, famine, or other factors to lower birth rates. Marx thought that it was because of poverty and the conditions of an unjust society that caused population growth; only just treatment will slow or stop this growth. Cohen and Pimental theorize the existence of a carrying capacity that will ultimately be the cause of slowing population growth on Earth.
3. What is good and bad about IPAT?
IPAT states that impact on the planet is the product of population, affluence, and technology level. Increasing affluence and technology generally leads to a stabilizing population with decreasing fertility rates, but this often is at the cost of impact on the planet. However, affluence and technology can also be beneficial in that technology from developed countries can bleed off to raise the technology of other developing countries.
4. p. 80: Imagine life at your age in other countries.
If we are not going to school at this age in other countries, most like we would either be living life as a factory worker or a farmer in a rural area. Depending on the where in world (for example, the western parts of China), we may already be a parent to several kids.
5. Why is growth so low in Russia?
A demoralized population from the effects of a stagnant economy, low quality of life, and widespread corruption from the Soviet era has led to a rapidly falling fertility rate. Widespread alcoholism has also resulted in high incidences of fetal alcohol syndrome among those born, out of those that choose to produce children at all.
6. Look at appendix 2, p. 377: Which river valleys will be dry when the Himalayan ice pack is gone from global warming?
The Ganges, the Indus, the Brahmaputra, the Mekong, the Yellow, and the Yangtze river systems all flow from the Himalayas. Collectively, they provide sustenance for around 3 billion people.
7. Compare fecundity with fertility.
Fecundity is the potential reproductive capacity of an individual or population, whereas fertility is the actual number of offsprings of an individual or in a population.
8. Compare crude birth rate with total fertility rate.
The crude birth rate is simply the raw data for the number of births in a year per thousand persons. The total fertility rate is the number of children born to an average woman in a population during her entire reproductive life. Total fertility rate controls more for specific population characteristics.
9. What is the normal growth rate for zero population growth, and what happens when infant mortality rises?
The normal growth rate for zero population growth is strangely enough, zero (after taking into account also immigration and emigration in and out of the population). When infant mortality rises, the replacement level for children for couple rises accordingly to compensate, but this value is normally 2.1 for developed countries.
10. What recent changes has China seen in growth rate (since 1960)?
Since the implementation ofthe one-child policy in 1978, growth rate in China has fallen sharply. As of 2011, the fertility rate is down to only 1.54 children per woman. This was necessary for China, where a spiraling population towards the end of the 20th century would have stressed the country beyond what it could handle.
11. What is the global TFR?
According to the World Bank, the global total fertility rate as of 2009 is 2.52 births per woman.
12. Why do organisms have a life span? Why will yours be greater than your parents?
Some theorize that life span itself is a product of evolution; that is, life span is nature's way of building in "planned obsolescence". By having older organisms die off, it allows for newer and more evolved organisms to take their place, allowing for evolution of the species to occur. Ours will probably be greater than that of our parents because of medical advances that allow our life spans to be extended. For example, technology to preserve and repair mitochondrial DNA can reverse or even prevent the aging process that is happening now.
13. What was the life expectancy for an Indian man in 1900? Why?
The life expectancy for an Indian man in 1900 was 23 years. By 2007, it had risen to 63. This was because of better nutrition, improved sanitation, clean water, and education.
14. Why do the lifespans of men differ from those of women?
A higher proportion of men are in the workforce, and so they are more likely to be killed or hurt on the job. Also, men are also usually those that fight in wars or serve in the line of duty.
15. Explain dependency ratio, using Japan and Italy as examples.
The dependency ratio is where the number of young people need to balance out the number of old people. Japan and Italy are in trouble because they have a much higher population of older people than they do younger people. Social security is in trouble, as well as social services for older people for there will not be enough younger people to working to pay for them.
16. Using the demographic transition graph, give an example of each stage in present countries.
Stage I is almost nonexistent in present countries with most places having already transitioned to Stage II. Stage II is Afghanistan,Laos, and most of Sub-Saharan Africa. Stage III includes nations that are even more developed, such as Kenya, Yemen, Libya, Jordan. Stage IV are countries in the developed world such as Canada or the United States. Some people theorize the existence of a Stage V for nations where birth rates have declined past death rates; this would be Japan and Europe where population is now actually starting to shrink.
17. What happened in Andra Pradesh and Kerala? Why is this important for your wisdom about populations?
In Kerala, they completed a demographic transition by providing a fair share of social benefits to everyone. On the other hand, Andra Pradesh adopted a strategy of aggresively promoting birh control rather than social justice. Both ways provide ways of demographic transition, but in two totally different approaches.
18. Explain "unmet need."
Unmet need is defined as the percentage of married women that want to control their fertility, but do not use contraception. Meeting this need is one way to lower global fertility rates.
hoang phong
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