Population Growth and Its Potential Significance
Introduction
Population growth and its potential significance for the developed and developing countries change all sectors of human life. The global demographic trends include several aspects that influence social development, well-being, and allocation of goods and services. Hence, here, there is a family size, fertility, the proportion of dependent children to working-age adults, and human density in peculiar areas. Despite the world has experienced a decline of birth rate in the recent years, the population continues to grow. It may reach more than 9 billion by the 2050. Although, the demographic trends in the developed and developing countries differ, their potential significance refers to four major consequences. The latter are altering human life worldwide and in these states, in particular.
Developed Worlds
Economic Significance
The highly developed countries with a huge level of industrialization and a high per capita income level experience the population decline. In addition to the low birth rates, the population becomes older. Therefore, the deaths rate soon can exceed the one of births’. Furthermore, the decline of population growth decreases the volume of the available labor force.
Moreover, among the major factors of the population growth, the decline is a decrease of immigration to the developed world. Primarily, the reason lies in the losses of working places in manufacturing and construction industries. Moreover, some countries like the USA enforce stricter immigration laws that shorten the amount of immigrants. For instance, the workers from Mexico, who have used to work in the USA, tend to return to their native country.
From the other side, the international immigration of citizens of the developed countries leads to the population decline in some states and a relatively stable birth rate in another. Immigrants are often working-age people who aid in the economic development of the countries they work in. Moreover, those people who immigrate for work, education or other reasons create families and give birth to children abroad. As a result, the growth rate of the “North America and Oceania will exceed those of Asia and Latin America and the Caribbean” within the coming years.
Social Significance
The population decline has a negative impact on a social sector of developed worlds. When the countries have a high level of development young people tend to move to urban regions in order to get better opportunities. Thus, the average age of citizens in villages and countryside areas they left increase. As a result, the businesses are less likely to promote their work there due to the older labor force. Hence, the demand for commodities, accommodation, and other facilities declines. Also, those who require these services or facilities have to go further to get them. The public transport becomes less required; and, therefore, the costs for its keeping become too high.
Hence, the governments of developed countries work on maintaining livability in the areas with the declining population. They merge schools with fewer pupils and locate retailing facilities in the areas with the highest concentration of population. Besides, since young people move to larger towns and cities, then the older ones remaining need more health care services.
Environmental Significance
The most developed countries consume so many resources that they cannot regenerate fast. The high level of life requires more products and goods since the developed worlds have higher standards. Thus, they need more raw materials and energy to maintain the life in an appropriate level. This global challenge impacts water resources and exhausts lands, causes deforestation and environmental pollution.
Therefore, the majority of developed countries enroll the sustainable development programs. They allow protecting the environment and using natural resources wisely. Furthermore, the developed countries can afford themselves the more environmentally-friendly industrial and agricultural technologies. Also, the population of such states tends to remain the same ones or decrease. However, in Japan, the population diminishes on one of the fastest rates.
Health Significance
The population aging makes the developed worlds’ citizens more dependent on health care institutions and services. For instance, the one-child policy in China significantly has decreased the population growth. However, now, the country faces another problem of demographic aging. The short number of children born within the last decade will not be able to support the needs of the elderly population. Moreover, it will lead to higher expenses on a health care system. According to the United Nations’ data, the developed countries spend “more in the health and education of every child than those with higher fertility”. Thus, the governments enroll health care programs preventing chronical diseases and long-term care delivery systems.
Developing Worlds
Economic Significance
The demographic and economic areas of developing states experience the most significant impact due to the growth of global population. Hence, the poorest countries of the developing world suffer from negative consequences of the rapid population growth. Thus, it leads to a decrease of economic development in terms of delay of per capita gross domestic product. Moreover, the developing countries are the main contributors to the global population growth due to the high birth rates and young population.
In contrast, the decline in the population growth can bring an explosive economic development into developing worlds. For instance, in the beginning of the 1990s, the citizens of Bangladesh made serious steps towards family planning and the reduction of national fertility. Consequently, the economies have risen; and citizens have got more access to education, health protection, and labor market.
The scientists forecast that in the future the population growth will center in developing countries. Moreover, the poorest states tend to be the leaders in the fertility and birth rates. The major ones of them are sub-Saharan African and Asian countries. According to the statistics, the fertility rate in developing worlds has started to decrease. However, still the population continues to grow. The families tend to have fewer children as far as life standards improve. Hence, people define a course of national development in developing worlds; and the economies have to adjust to these changes.
Social Significance
The potential implications of population growth in developing countries intensify social problems as well. Thus, citizens get inadequate social services and infrastructure. Transportation and communication facilities cannot respond to a growing demand of increasing population. Water supply, housing and other human needs overwhelm the available opportunities that these countries can offer.
The other major consequence of the population growth is unemployment and poverty. The bigger amount of working-age people requires more working places. Hence, the offer of the labor force is big; and the salaries are low as far as the number of volunteers ready to work for any pay is sufficient. That causes poverty and economic insecurity in developing countries leading to a decrease of economic opportunities. Hunger as a negative implication of the population growth is unfortunately a common issue in developing countries. Furthermore, the modernization of agricultural industry and food production is a necessary means. It assures nutrition of the population but not the economic growth.
Environmental Significance
The demographic trends in developing worlds have a direct influence on the environmental degradation. Hence, people tend to use more marginal resources that lead to the generation of a bigger amount of waste. The high population makes humans overexploit lands and forests diminishing national resources for future generations. Moreover, the rapid population growth increases these trends and makes it more difficult to find the solution and implement it. In North East India the “mass consumption is having a major, at times devastating” effect on the natural resources and environment.
In order to supply the growing population with food, the agricultural farming involves fragile soils and forest areas into cultivation. Therefore, deforestation and soil erosion harm local ecosystems. As a result, people compete for the fertile land and exploit limited natural resources. The growing population faces food insecurity. It is a major issue in developing countries. However, if people wisely use their resources it would be possible to divide them among 9 to 10 billion of humans by the end of this century.
Health Significance
Developing countries rarely pay much attention to the health security of their citizens. The expenses being necessary for the economic development usually exceed local opportunities. Hence, people suffer from various diseases; and the level of mortality among adults as well as infants increases. Sick and unhealthy people work worse. They are less productive in their personal impact into the development of the country. For example, in Russia, the health issues among youth are distinctly worsening. It occurs even though the country approaches the level of the developed countries.
With the development of health care in poor states the infant mortality rate significantly decreases. Thus, families prefer to have fewer children as far as they are less afraid that they would die before growing up. Moreover, the economic and industrial development allows humans to get education and job. Therefore, the families do not need a big amount of children who will work on behalf of a family or take care about their parents at an older age. Hence, an access to descent sanitation and health care informs about economic, social, and environmental achievements of the developing country. In contrast, a poor distribution of health services leads to a high mortality level and growth of the birth rate.
Conclusion
The demographic situation in the developed and developing worlds is antithetical. In the initial states, scientists observe a decline of population growth. Meanwhile in the developing states, the population rapidly increases. The management of assets in the world assumes economic infrastructure, social sphere, natural resources as well as human health and environment. Hence, the unstable demographic situation has some negative economic impacts for the both developed and developing worlds. In the initial worlds with the high economic standards the population decline shortens the amount of labor force. Thus, it leads to high immigration rates. At the same time, overpopulation in the developing world brings poverty, unemployment, and economic stagnation. The social significance for the developed countries includes aging of the nation and a decrease of working-age citizens. In the opposite countries, people are not able to meet their basic needs and suffer of hunger. The environmental significance of the population decline is positive. Fewer people require fewer resources and cause less damage to the environment. In contrast, the more people live in the country the more waste they produce. Moreover, the developing world overuses their lands and consumes many of their natural sources. Finally, though the health care in the developed country is on a descent level the expenses increase as far as the population becomes older. At the same time, people do not get a proper sanitation and health protection in developing states. Consequently, the world needs to have a stable population in order to provide the global community and coming generations with the descent future.
