The world's population is forecast to hit 7 billion next year, the vast majority of its growth coming in developing and, in many cases, the poorest nations, a report released Wednesday said.
A staggering 97 percent of global growth over the next 40 years will happen in Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, according to the Population Reference Bureau's 2009 World Population Data Sheet.
"The great bulk of today's 1.2 billion youth -- nearly 90 percent -- are in developing countries," said Carl Haub, a co-author of the report. Eight in 10 of those youth live in Africa and Asia.
"During the next few decades, these young people will most likely continue the current trend of moving from rural areas to cities in search of education and training opportunities, gainful employment, and adequate health care," Haub continued, calling it one of the major social questions of the next few decades.
In the developed world, the United States and Canada will account for most of the growth -- half from immigration and half from a natural increase in the population -- births minus deaths, according to the report.
High fertility rates and a young population base in the developing world will fuel most of the growth, especially in Africa, where women often give birth to six or seven children over a lifetime, the report says. The number is about two in the United States and 1.5 in Canada.
A stark contrast can be drawn between Uganda and Canada, which currently have about 34 million and 31 million residents, respectively. By 2050, Canada's population is projected to be 42 million, while Uganda's is expected to soar to 96 million, more than tripling.
via World population projected to reach 7 billion next year - CNN.com.
Although I sometimes think about how great it would be to be a father, I have not reproduced because there are already too many of us. (And yes, I may adopt someday.) Unfortunately, my attempt to assist humanity had not made much of a dent.
6 comments:
This is indeed tragic news. It is not only of concern to the nations that are most at risk; it should be the concern of every country. People must be educated in birth control methods, and also about abortion, which should be legal and safe for all. Fundamentalists like Catholics simply must understand that the survival of our planet is at risk. We can not live by the Biblical instruction of 2,000 years ago--be fruitful and multiply. That will most assuredly destroy this world. Widespread starvation (even greater than we see now) and eventual war will occur.
How come you do not talk about the muslim world? R U some kind of ignoramus? The catholics can't hold a candle to the Muslim birthrates.
The likes of Arnold Swartznegger, Al Gore, and Nancy Pelosi have certainly done their part to increase the world population... the same people that encourage the rest of us to reduce our carbon footprints.
Oh I just had to say that poor Jeffrey is truly a simple man. He thinks the quote from the Bible is from the New Testament! Jeffrey get a life fellow, before they take it away from you.
I am personally not all to worried. I don't think that there will not be another global disaster or some other highly unfortunate event that would take lives. I am not saying the end of the world, or that I would enjoy a vast majority of death but i think that there will be some sort of environmental limiting factor.
Given that the mohamedumbians are so keen on spawning kids they can't afford to feed/educate, this subgroup appears to function more as a weapons factory for suicide attacks then the blooming of a fertile populace. The whole quantity/quality concept. Interesting to note the nations with the highest IQ (sorry, tests where everyone scores the same aren't tests) have the lowest birthrates; so why not take ten of the top from among us, give them a lab, and let them synthesize a genome that targets the alleles for arabianosis before further transcribing into a more deadly virus. Then drop the package over iran as a phase 1 trial. We could hypothetically repeat this for any number of subgroups as circumstances dictate, and mother nature will do all the footwork. Option B: close first world borders asap to stop the infection and let these throwback "1-crop" economies collapse through their own incompetence. There's still some wrinkles to iron out in this model, but it may be feasible.
muahhahhahahhahaaaaaa
fin.
Dr. Evil
Post a Comment