HUMAN

POPULATION
 KEY QUESTIONS AND CONCEPTS
1.How many people can the Earth
support?
2.What factors influence the size of the
human population?
3.How does the population’s structure
affect its growth or decline
4.How can we slow human population
growth?
 Human Population
 The human population is growing rapidly. For
most of human history, there were fewer than 1
billion people on the planet.
 During the time of the agricultural revolution,
10,000 B.C., there were only 5-10 million
people on Earth - which is basically the
population of New York City today.
 In 1800, when the Industrial Revolution began,
there were approximately 1 billion people on
Earth Shows the increase in human population size starting in 1750
and predicted out to 2050. The orange area represents the
human population in industrialized countries and the
blue/green area represents the human population in less-
industrialized (developing) countries. The greatest amount of
human population growth will be in less-industrialized
countries.
The world population, or the total number of
humans currently living, is estimated to have
reached 7.5 billions as of April 2017.

At the turn of the 19th, there were only one billion
people on the earth. The addition of more than
six billion since the notably the four billion from
the last five decades is truly exceptional

To date, the absolute growth rate of humans has

stabilized at 1.1% per year – this means that
approximately 150 babies are born every minute.
HUMAN
POPULATION
and its
impact
pose a major
problem for
the planet..
To survive , humans need to consume
materials and space.
We occupy land to reside in, to grow
food, to dump wastes.
The demands of the human population
has dealt the environment destructive
blows and the natural calamities we are
now experiencing is a reminder of the
environment’s needs to be attended to.
POPULATION
can be generally defined as a group of individuals
of the same species occupying a given area at a
given time.
change over time.
grow and shrink and the age and gender
composition also change through time and in
response to changing environmental conditions.
 Population Ecology
 Understanding the dynamics of human population
requires knowledge of the general principles of
population ecology.
 The subject of population ecology as a means to
understand the influence of populations to the
environment.
 Population Ecology is the study of populations and their
interactions with their environment.
 The environment influences populations in terms of its
density and distribution, age, structure, and size.
 The environment also imposes a limit on populations in
that no populations can continue to grow indefinitely on
a finite amount of natural resource.
 DISPERSION – is the pattern of spacing among individuals within
the boundaries of the population.

CLUMPED PATTERN – is the most common pattern of population

dispersion.
UNIFORMLY PATTERN – when individuals are evenly spaced over
the area they occupy. A pattern seen in species whose
individuals do not have close interactions.
RANDOM PATTERN – individuals of a population have an
unpredictable distribution. This pattern is common in species that
prefer solitary lives.
 POPULATION SIZE AND DENSITY
The study of any population usually begins by determining
how many individuals of a particular species exist, and
how closely associated they are with each other.
Within a particular habitat, a population can be
characterized by its population size (N), defined by the
total number of individuals, and its population density,
the number of individuals within a specific area or
volume.
Population size and density are the two main
characteristics used to describe a population.
 HOW MANY
PEOPLE CAN THE
EARTH SUPPORT?
- We do not know how long we can continue
increasing the earth’s carrying capacity for
humans without seriously degrading the life-
support system for humans and many other
species.

- Carrying capacity represents the maximum

population size that a particular environment can
support
 Three major factors account for this population
increase.

First, humans developed the ability to expand into

diverse new habitats and different climate zones.
Second, the emergence of early and modern agriculture
allowed more people to be fed for each unit of land
area farmed.
Third, the development of sanitation systems,
antibiotics, and vaccines helped control infectious
disease agents. As a result, death rates dropped sharply
 Human Population Growth Continues but It Is
Unevenly Distributed
Geographically, this growth is unevenly distributed.
About 1.2 million of these people were added to the world’s
developed countries, growing at 0.1% a year.
About 80.8 million were added to developing countries,
growing 15 times faster at 1.5% a year.
In other words, most of the world’s population growth takes
place in already heavily populated parts of world most of which
are the least equipped to deal with the pressures of such rapid
growth.
How Long Can the
Human Population
Keep Growing?
To survive and provide resources for growing numbers of
people, humans have modified, cultivated, built on, or
degraded a large and increasing portion of the earth’s
natural systems.
Our activities have directly affected, to some degree,
about 83% of the earth’s land surface, excluding
Antarctica as our ecological footprints have spread across
the globe
In other words, human activities have degraded the
various components of earth’s biodiversity and such
threats are expected to increase.
 Altering Nature to Meet Our Needs

 Reduction of biodiversity
 Increasing use of the earth's net primary productivity
 Increasing genetic resistance of pest species and disease-causing
bacteria
 Elimination of many natural predators
 Introduction of potentially harmful species into communities
 Using some renewable resources faster than they can be replenished
 Interfering with the earth's chemical cycling and energy flow
processes
 Relying mostly on polluting and climate-changing fossil fuels
 WHAT FACTORS
INFLUENCE THE SIZE
OF HUMAN
POPULATION?
Population size increases because of
births and immigration and decreases
through deaths and emigration.

The average number of children born to

women in a population (total fertility
rate) is the key factor that determines
population size.
FERTILITY – is the actual level of reproduction of a population per
individual, based on the number of live births that
occur.
FERTILITY RATE – also known as birth rate is the total number of
live humans births per 1,000 population divided by the
length of a period in years.
MORTALITY RATE – also known as death rate is a measure of the
number of deaths in particular population, scaled to
the size of that population per unit of time.
IMMIGRATION (INTO) – the act of someone coming to live
permanently in foreign country
EMIGRATION (EXIT)(OUT) – leaving own country to settle
permanently to another country.
TOTAL FERTILITY RATE - is the average number of children born to
each woman, over the woman’s lifespan, in a
population.
 EXPONENTIAL GROWTH

It is an accelerating pattern of increasing

population size
According to Malthus model once the
population size exceeds available resources,
population growth decreases dramatically.
 EXPONENTIAL GROWTH
Exponential growth is
when data rises over a
period of time, creating
an upwards trending
curve on a graph. In
mathematics, when the
function includes a
power (or an exponent),
the calculation would be
increasing exponentially
 DEMOGRAPHIC TRANSITION MODEL
shows the changes in the patterns
of birth rates and death rates that
typically occur as a country
moves through the process of
industrialization or development.
shows how birth rates and death
rates change over time as a
country becomes more
developed. Population Growth Rate = Birth Rate –
Death Rate

Population Change = (Birth +

immigration) – (Death + emigration)
 STAGES OF DEMOGRAPHIC TRANSITION
MODEL
STAGE 1
 is the preindustrial stage. In Stage 1 both birth rates and death rates are high. The high death
rates are because of disease and potential food scarcity.
 does not have good health care; there may not be any hospitals or doctors. Children are not
vaccinated against common diseases and therefore many children die at a young age. Infant and
childhood mortality rates (death rates) are very high.
 A society is based upon agriculture and most people grow their own food. Therefore, droughts or
flood can lead to widespread food shortages and death from famine. All of these factors contribute
to the high death rate.
 Partly to compensate for the high death rates, birth rates are also high. High birth rates mean that
families are large and each couple, on average, has many children. When death rates are high,
having many children means that at least one or two will live to adulthood.
 In Stage 1, children are an important part of the family workforce and are expected to work
growing food and taking care of the family.
 birth rates are high, but death rates are high as well. Therefore, population growth rate is low or
close to zero
 STAGE 2
 As a country develops, medical advances are made such as access to
antibiotics and vaccines. Sanitation improvements, such as proper waste
and sewage disposal, and water treatment for clean drinking water also
progress. Food production also increases. Together these changes lead to
falling death rates which marks the beginning of Stage 2.
 Death rates continue to fall throughout Stage 2 as conditions improve.
This means that people are living longer and childhood morality drops.
However, birth rates are still high in Stage 2. There is a time lag between
the improving conditions and any subsequent changes in family size, so
women are still having many children and now more of these children are
living into adulthood. In Stage 2, the birth rate is higher than the death
rate, so population growth rate is high. This means that population
size increases greatly during Stage 2 of the demographic transition
model
 STAGE 3
 A falling birth rate marks the beginning of Stage 3 in the
demographic transition model. As a country continues to
industrialize, many women join the workforce. Additionally, raising
children becomes more expensive and children no longer work on
the family farm or make large economic contributions to the family.
 Individuals may have access to birth control and choose to have
fewer children. This leads to a drop in birth rates and smaller family
sizes. Death rates also continue to drop during Stage 3 as medicine,
sanitation and food security continue to improve. Even though both
birth rates and death rates are falling throughout Stage 3, birth rates
are higher than death rates.
 This means that population growth rate is high and that
population size continues to increase in Stage 3 of the
demographic transition model
 STAGE 4

Birth rate and death rates drop to low, stable,

approximately equal levels in Stage 4. Death rates are
low because of medical advances, good sanitation,
clean drinking water and food security. Birth rates are
low because of access to birth control and many
women delay having their first child until they have
worked.
Childhood mortality is low, life expectancy is high,
and family size is approximately two children per
couple. With low birth rates and low death rates,
population growth rate is approximately zero in
Stage 4
LIFE EXPECTANCY
 is the average number of years that a
person in a particular population is
expected to live. Life expectancy at birth is
the number of years a newborn infant
would live if mortality rates at the time of
its birth did not change.
 As a country moves through the
demographic transition model, life
expectancy increases.
 Overall, life expectancy has increased for
most countries and regions over the past
100 years. However, there is still a
significant amount of variation in life
expectancy in different regions of the
world.
 HOW DOES A
POPULATION AGE
STRUCTURE AFFECT IT
GROWTH OR DECLINE?
 AGE STRUCTURE DIAGRAMS
 It is one of the tools that demographers use to
understand populations.
 It provides a snapshot of the current population and
can represent information about the past and give
potential clues about future problems.
When interpreting,
 If the base is very wide compared to the upper parts
of the diagram, then this indicates a lot of young
people in the population compared to older
generations i.e. a high birth rate and a rapidly growing
population.
 If the base is smaller than the upper parts of the
diagram, then this indicates few young people in the
population compared to older generations. This
population has low birth rates and is shrinking.
pre-reproductive ages (0-14 years old),
reproductive ages (15-44 years old), and
post-reproductive (45 and older).
HOW CAN WE SLOW
HUMAN POPULATION
GROWTH?
As countries develop, their
populations tend to grow more
slowly.
Planning for babies works
Empowering women can slow
population growth
 GLOBAL POPULATION - The world
population refers to the entire number of
people of all ages, living in all countries
throughout the world.
 DEMOGRAPHY – the study of human
populations
 DEMOGRAPHERS – collect and process
information about population processes such
as fertility, mortality, and migration.
 MIDTERM LEARNING TASK 1
1. List five factors that can affect the birth rate and fertility rate of a country.
2. Distinguish between life expectancy and infant mortality rate and explain how they affect
the population size of a country.
3. What is migration? Describe immigration into the United States and the issues it raises.
4. What is the age structure of a population. Explain how it affects population growth and
economic growth. What are some problems related to rapid population decline from an
aging population?
5. What is the demographic transition and what are its four stages? What factors could
hinder some developing countries from making this transition?
6. What is family planning? Describe the roles of family planning, reducing poverty, and
elevating the status of women in slowing population growth.
7. Describe China’s and India’s efforts to control their population growth.