preview

Essay about Globalization and the Effects on Population

Best Essays

Globalization and the Effects on Population: A Look at Projections, Theories, and Global Population Practices. “We in the West do not refrain from childbirth because we are concerned about the population explosion or because we feel we cannot afford children, but because we do not like children.” Germaine Greer, an Australian feminist writer, may or may not have been entirely serious when she wrote this statement, but the statement is an insightful one nonetheless. Greer hits on three major underlying themes that affect the study of global population trends. The first and often most important concern in population studies is that of a “population explosion.” Other important factors including the economic impact on population …show more content…

Population Growth, “Explosion”, and the Forces of Globalization By the mid 1950’s it was already evident that a large population growth was occurring worldwide. Basic demographic statistics show unprecedented population growth in the twentieth century. “In 1900 global population was 1.7 billion, in 1950 it reached 2.5 billion,” long term projections from the United Nations estimate that human population will reach the 6 million mark by the end of the twentieth century and furthermore they project a growth to a population of approximately 11.6 billion around the year 2200 . Most scholars, and even the United Nations statisticians themselves, will acknowledge that such long-term projections are at best simply nothing more than guesses. Despite this fact, these projections must still be acknowledged in order to plan for a future in which 11 billion people may have to share the scarce land and resources left in our world. The debate over population growth is one that is fierce, often over exaggerated, and clearly centered around the Malthusian dilemma. Alarmists will warn that the population is far outgrowing our food sources, therefore population growth must be the main cause of hunger. “In 1985, at the height of a major African drought, Colorado governor Richard D. Lamm wrote in the New York Times that the United States should stop giving emergency relief to African countries that failed to reduce

Get Access