The Human Population

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Developing countries are in a situation immensely different than that of developed countries. Fertility rates in developing countries are generally declining, but still above the replacement level (Wright 2005). Population growth occurs when the births out number the deaths. At this population momentum, even after the total fertility rate is reduced to the replacement level, enormous growth is in store for developing countries (Wright 2005).

In developed countries like the United States, it is seemly different in that a developed population profile will increase and decrease accordingly (Wright 2005). This is due to demographic changes in comparison. As populations become larger and healthier we tend to see a decline in fertility rates. Declining fertility rates in the last three decades have resulted in decreasing rate of population growth, but growth still remains steady at 2.1 percent per year which is adding 77 million per year worldwide (Wright 2005).

Population growth of developing countries, half of which are poor low-income countries, will continue to grow, while populations of developed countries will stabilize or even decline (Wright 2005).

Epidemiological transition is a pattern of change in morality factors. We can consider it as the shift from infectious and deficiency diseases to chronic noncommunicable diseases (Wahdan 1996).

The epidemiological transition was thought to be a unidirectional process, beginning when infectious diseases were predominant and ending when noncommunicable diseases dominated the causes of death. It is now evident that this transition is more complex and dynamic where health and disease evolve in diverse ways. It is rather a continuous transformation process wi...

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Every ecosystem has a "carrying capacity", in saying that, there is a limit or a maximum population that a given habitat can support without the habitat being degraded over time (Wright 2005). As Malthus pointed out, an increasing population will outgrow its food supply. Increasing population increases the rate of resource depletion. This

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may lead to competition in other areas such as land to grow food, lack of shelter, lack of work, lack of medicine and also may lead to selection, predation and famine.

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References

Wahdan, M. (1996) The Epidemiological Transition. Volume 2, Issue 1. Retrieved January 14, 2005 at www.emro.who.int/Publications/EMHJ/0201/02.htm.

Wright, R. (2005) Environmental Science. Ninth Edition. Prentice-Hall.

Upper Saddle River, New Jersey. (pages 124-174).

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