Populations grow exponentially.
For most of the life of humanity, population growth remained relatively slow and stable. However, since the Industrial Revolution, global population has exploded from 1 billion to well more than 6 billion as of 2010, according to the University of Michigan. Population growth has five crucial concepts that explain this phenomenon and its effects on the world.
Features
Population growth rates are determined by the size of the current population and birth and mortality rates. You can figure out about when the population should double with the equation 0.69 divided by (birth minus mortality rate). Although the doubling-time equation looks simple, dozens of factors affect birth and mortality rates, such as medical technology and food production.
Sustainability
Eventually, Earth will run into problems with providing space and resources for its population, leading to sustainability issues, according to Rider University. Earth can probably hold up to 100 billion people, but this would lead to most having a very low quality of life. For a desirable average standard of living, Earth should have no more than 20 billion people.
Effects
Population growth affects resources planning for future generations. It is also the biggest environmental concern, according to Carleton College. More people means an increasing amount of trash and pollution from burning fossil fuels. Population growth also means more competition for Earth's current resources. If the developing countries wish to reach parity with the developed countries, Earth needs to quintuple resource production.
Geography
Populations do not expand uniformly throughout the globe. One part of Hong Kong, for example, has a population density of about 1,924,563 people per square kilometer of land, according to Carleton College. Winnebago County, Wisconsin, on the other hand, has a population density of about 138 people per square kilometer.
Considerations
The basic concepts of population tell us that the developed world cannot sustain its current habits of trashing natural resources and burning fossil fuels. We can likely provide for growing populations, but this requires developing a clean, renewable energy and promoting activities such as recycling and water conservation, according to Rider University.
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