July 24, 2018

World population expected to grow nearly 50%

CQ Press The world's population, currently 7.6 billion, is expected to peak later this century at 11.2 billion, and possibly much more, before slowly declining. Countries such as Japan and Germany already are seeing declines, but others, such as Niger and India, are projected to explode in population in coming years. Some experts downplay the potential effects of a rising global count, but many say strains on natural resources will be intense, leading to conflicts over land, water, food and energy, and sparking mass migrations from poorer to wealthier regions. Yet experts differ on how best to manage the world's population pressures. Some say that with greater access to contraception, women in developing countries will choose to have fewer children. Others say a better approach is to conserve precious natural resources by reducing personal consumption. Meanwhile, the Trump administration, following through on a campaign promise, has cut off U.S. funding for international family planning programs, triggering an outcry from some aid organizations.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

John Boyd Orr, former director of the Food and Agriculture Organisation, was
candid in stating: ‘a world of peace and friendship, a world with the plenty
which modern science had made possible was a great ideal. But those in power had
no patience with such an ideal. They said it was not practical politics’
(Daily Herald, 29 July 1948).