Population Growth

Global population has been growing exponentially over time.
Especially in developing countries, population is still growing rapidly.
In the last 70 years, the global population has tripled.
It is one of the biggest threats to our species as a whole as we might reach a point where it is physically impossible for the world to sustain everyone

Population

Population refers to the people living in a particular area. These areas can be municipalities, countries, continents or the whole world.
The world's population is currently over 8 billion people.
We can't exactly keep track of this value as there are a lot of unregulated areas.
For example slums or countries that share incorrect values or keep them confidential affect the accuracy of estimates.
Although the pace of population growth has slowed, world population is still rapidly increasing.
Population growth is slowing and even decreasing in many developed countries and undeveloped countries.
In most undeveloped countries however population is still increasing, even if the population growth rate is slowing down.
Population has been increasing over time with improvements in agriculture, hygiene, healthcare, infrastructure, etc.
These all increase life expectancy and decrease child mortality, making more of the children born survive.

Natural population growth depends on birth rate and death rate.
As long as there are more births than deaths, then population growth will be positive.
In some countries, for example Finland, population slowly decreases, this is usually due to the lack of births.
However, this can be counteracted with immigration.

Actual population growth includes the natural population growth of a country or other region, as well as migration into and out of that region.

Healthcare and hygiene improvements lead to less deaths, which consequently reduces the birth rate as fewer births suffice to have children.
Less child mortality leads to lower fertility rate.
Health and hygiene improvements also lead to longer life expectancies.
Improved education and opportunities also motivate people to study or work, giving them less time to raise kids.

Generally a birth rate of 2.1 is required to keep a stable population.
Over time life expectancy has been increasing, while birth rate has been decreasing, most notably in developed countries.
In developed countries the population is thus ageing.
This leads to a big problem as there are more retired people who require pension but less people to work and provide that pension.
There is more pressure put on healthcare systems.
In developing countries population growth is rapid.
Lack of health care, education, educated people and resources.

A region's demographic structure refers to the number of people of different ages and sexes in the total population.
The demographic structure is represented by a population pyramid.
It is a diagram that shows the size of the population in relation to its gender and age groups.
At the bottom of the pyramid are the youngest age groups, whereas the oldest age groups are found at the top.
Men usually form the left side of the pyramid, whereas women are found on the right side.
In developed countries the population pyramid looks more vertical, this is due to the high proportion of elderly compared to youth and middle-aged people.
In less developed countries the population pyramid looks very triangular.
Knowing the age structure is useful for the development of regions and countries.
It can be used to plan for the organization of age-related services, such as nurseries, schools, care for the elderly, health care and the payment of pensions.

Continued population growth poses a variety of challenges.
Economic, social and political problems and opportunities will occur.
The world's growing population will increase the demand for food, water and diminishing natural resources.
Scarcity of resources in rapidly growing countries can lead to population displacement, famine or even war.
There will also be an increasing demand for living space, which will either lead to more destruction of the environment or changing out city layouts.
On the other hand, the working-age population and the number of consumers are increasing, both of which will boost economic activity.
Rapid population growth poses some of the greatest challenges and risks to human development in the world.
To solve these, we require an understanding of what causes population growth and how it can be limited.