ADDRESSING POPULATION ISSUES

ADDRESSING POPULATION ISSUES CHAPTER 9 Women at the Dakalaia Health Clinic in Egypt learn about Family Planning and birth control Read Success story of family planning in Egypt Page number 196

Overview of Chapter 9 • Population and Quality of Life

– Population and Chronic Hunger – Economic Effects of Population Growth

• Reducing the Total Fertility Rate

– Culture and Fertility – Social and Economic Status of Women – Family Planning Services

• Government Policies and Fertility

– China, India, Mexico, Nigeria, Europe

• Achieving Population Stabilization

What does 7 Billion mean?

what does 7 BILLION mean?

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Public residential buildings are seen in Po Lam, one of the "satellite towns" in Hong Kong, on September 14, 2011. This southern Chinese city is described as a concrete forest, famous for the number of high-rise commercial and residential towers. About 25 percent of the world's tallest 100 residential buildings stand in the territory. (Reuters/Bobby Yip) #

People gather to get water from a huge well in the village of Natwarghad in the western Indian state of Gujarat on June 1, 2003. (Reuters/Amit Dave)

Workers remove floating garbage from Three Gorges reservoir area in Yunyang County, China, on October 24, 2010. (Reuters/China Daily)

Motorists crowd at a junction during rush hour in Taipei, on October 29, 2009. There are more than 8.8 million motorcycles and 4.8 million cars on Taiwan's roads and nearly all motor vehicles and inhabitants are squeezed into a third of the island's area.

(Reuters/Nicky Loh)

Residents crowd in a swimming pool to escape the summer heat during a hot weather spell in Daying county of Suining, China, on July 4, 2010.

(Reuters/Stringer)

Population and Quality of Life • Difficult to meet basic needs in developing countries • Problems associated with overpopulation: – Environmental degradation – Hunger – Persistent poverty – Economic stagnation – Urban deterioration – Health issues

LDC

HDC

Rapid Population Growth

Pop clock

Earth in Peril

Impact of large population growth

Carrying Capacity The maximum number of individuals of a given species that a particular environment can support for an indefinite period, assuming no changes in the environment

• Overuse of land can cause a decrease in carrying capacity • Uncertain what the carrying capacity of the earth is for humans

Population and Chronic Hunger • Food security – Condition in which people do not live with chronic hunger and malnutrition

Effects of Chronic Hunger? •

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Weakened immune system Illness and disease • • • •

Malaria Measles Diarrhea Acute respiratory illness

FOOD INSECURITY=800million Intermitent FOOD INSECURITY= 2 billion

Famine and Hunger

World Hunger Facts • 1.02 billion people in the world are hungry. • 1 billion people in the world live on less than $1 a day.

• 27 percent of children under 5 are moderately to severely underweight in the developing world. • Nearly one in three people die prematurely or have disabilities due to poor nutrition and calorie deficiencies.

• One in nearly seven people do not get enough food to be healthy, making hunger and malnutrition the number one risk to health worldwide.

Population and Chronic Hunger Solving the Food Problem…. – Control population growth – Promote economic development of developing countries without adequate food supplies – Provide access to food and land resources to those who live in areas without them

Is Population Growth Good for Economics? • Two viewpoints from economists: 1. Population growth stimulates economic development and technological innovation 2. Rapidly expanding pop. hampers developmental efforts

• Most observations support the second viewpoint • Developmental efforts are also hampered by debt from past development attempts

Reducing the Total Fertility Rate In 1960 TFR was 7.0 In 2007 TFR is 3.1

Three major influences on total fertility rate 1. Cultural traditions 2. Social & economic status of women 3. Family planning Read Culture and fertility Page number 201 and 202 and share your thoughts

Cultural Traditions

• Culture influences and controls individuals’ behaviors • Marriage age • Couple is expected to have large number of children – Due to high infant and child mortality rates

• Children often work in family business

– Provide support for aging parents

• Religious values

Social & Economic Status of Women • Gender inequality is common worldwide • Disparities – Political participation – Social status – Economic status – Health status – Legal rights – Education – Employment and earnings

Illiteracy in 2002

Single most important factor affecting high total fertility rates is low status of women

Marriage Age and Fertility • The total fertility rate is affected by the average age women marry, which is determined by the laws and customs of the society in which they live. • In Sri Lanka the average age at marriage is 25, and the average number of children per woman is 2.0, whereas in Bangladesh the average age at marriage is 17, and the average number of children born per woman is 3.

Microcredit Programs This Bangladeshi woman feeds chicken at her poultry farm. She received her first microcredit loan to buy a few chickens 30 years ago and has built the farm into a thriving business. Read more on microcredit Page number 203. How do you think this can affect population growth?

MICROCREDIT

Educational Opportunities and Fertility • Women with more education – – – –

Marry later Have fewer children Delays the first childbirth Opens the door to many career

Opportunities

Family Planning Services • In many countries men make reproductive decisions regarding contraceptives – Family planning services offer information to both men and women on: Parenting Sexuality Contraception STDs

Contraceptive Use Among Married Women of Reproductive Age

Greater contraceptive use (green bars) among married women of reproductive age correlates with a lower fertility rate ( red bars) Data are for the year 2006.

Government Policies and FertilityChina • Largest population in the world • Controversial Family Planning Policy

– 1971- Chinese Government pursued birth control seriously, (It urged couples to marry later, increasing space between children, and limit the number to two) – 1979- Incentives to promote later marriages and one-child families • Medical care, schooling for child, preferential housing, retirement funds

– Brought about rapid and drastic decrease in fertility

Government Policies and FertilityChina • Law – controversial and unpopular

– Compromised freedom of choice – Social pressure to abort a second child – Pressure to abort/kill female first child Chinese culture is biasesd toward male children) •

o

More boys than girls in China

Law more relaxed in rural China

Government Policy and Fertility- India • Severe population pressure – 1950- first country with governmentsponsored family planning • Did not work due to language/cultural barriers

– 1976- introduced incentives and compulsory sterilization • Unpopular and failure

– Recent years- government focused on education • Much more effective, but TFR still above replacement level

Government Policy and Fertility - India • Population has pressure has caused the deterioration of India’s environment in the past few decades, and 805 of Indians live below the official poverty level. • Population experts predict that India’s population will soon exceed China’s. • This will exacerbate India’s poverty, environmental degradation, and economic underdevelopment.

Government Policy and FertilityMexico • Young age structure – Huge potential for population growth: 33% of population is under age 15 • Positive growth momentum

• 1974- government imparted educational reform, family planning, health care – Very successful

Government Policy and FertilityNigeria • Population challenge – Largest population of any African country

• Very high reproductive potential: 43% of population is less than age 15 • Current National Population Policy – Improving health care – Population education

Government Policy and Fertility- Europe • Population concern – Proportion elderly people in population is increasing – Due to low TFR

• Decrease in population could cause decrease economic growth

The Millennium Development Goals • Page numbers 209 and 210

Achieving Population Stabilization • How can developing country governments help? – Increase $$ allotted to pubic health and family planning services – Education on affordable, safe, effective methods of birth control – Increase average level of education • Especially for women

• How can developed country governments help? – Provide financial support – Supporting research and development of new birth control methods