Even though some say that Malthus’s theory was correct, I believe that Malthus’s theory on global overpopulation was wrong. Malthus’s theory was wrong because he didn't see the future of technology, birth rates or what the global population would look like in the future. However, even though I believe that Malthus's theories weren't correct a few hundred years ago, doesn't mean that they will always be incorrect.
First off, we will look at how birth rates are trending over the globe. With the United States, the birth rates have been declining for the past few years. Looking at the past six years, starting in 2008, the birth rate was 14.18 per 1000 persons. Looking at 2014 the birth rate was 13.42 per 1000 persons. The average number of babies women from 15 to 44 have over their life dropped to a record low last year, to 1.86 babies, well below the 2.1 needed for a stable population. For every 1,000 women ages 15 to 44, there were 62.5 births in 2013, compared with 63 the previous year. As we see here, these numbers are not heading in the right direction, but are not all that bad.
I have also came by the number 2.1 needed for a stable population. I wanted to learn more about that so this is what I found out. Replacement rate fertility requires each woman to replace herself. According to the CIA World Factbook, there are 107 boys born for every 100 girls. Meaning that each 100 women need to have 207 children, on average, in order to produce the 100 girls needed to replace
The most persistent theory written by Thomas Malthus in 1798 regarding population growth and the effects on humanity, which is rather ironic as it has a almost lack of connection to the actual history of humanity and its population growth. In 100CE the population of the Earth was estimated to be under one billion people, roughly at 200 million people, following on almost 2 millennia later to 1800CE the population had seen a mere growth to approximately 800 million. During this time Malthus wrote a piece regarding the slow growth in population and why this was rate was the way things would be for the rest of human life. He put forward that the limits of human population growth are due to
The world population of 7.2 billion in mid-2013 is projected to increase by almost one billion people within the next twelve years. It is projected to reach 8.1 billion in 2025, and to further increase to 9.6 billion in 2050 and 10.9 billion by 2100. This assumes a decline of fertility for countries where large families are still prevalent as well as a slight increase of fertility in several countries with fewer than two children per woman on average.
In 1950, were approximately 3.5 million births with women having an average of 3.8 children (“Measuring childbearing patterns in the United States 2010”.) As of the 2010 women on average have 1.9 children. This
Birth rates worldwide have been falling. In 2000, the birth rate was twenty two births per one thousand people (Indexmundi.com). This number is the crude birth rate and is used to gauge population
Overpopulation is an issue that many persons fail to bring attention, but don’t know the underlying effects that it can have on the United States itself. The hardships of overpopulation, affects the economy, the available of resources, and also the success of the future generations to come. Without much thought, someone may have children not knowing that it can affect the livelihood of the future generations who plan to land that job or that position they were aspiring to get. There are those individuals that continue having children, knowing that they are not financially capable of supporting another innocent child. In result this negatively affects the quality of living. If there are more births, it foreshadows that there are more jobs to be created, which causes employment hard to acquire, nevertheless, causing the economy to make a turn for the
Once a person has a baby that doesn't guarantee that the baby will live. With better technology we have birth control methods and abortions for people who don't have babies. People who do want to have babies have the risk of the baby dying from disease. "Millions of babies have died, a fraction from AIDS, more from malaria, pneumonia, even measles. More millions have been aborted." So people are having less children at higher ages combined with the fact that the baby can die from disease. That can dramatically lower the birth rate and it has because instead of the predicted 12 billion by 2050 only 9 billion is expected by 2050. That's means in a few decades 3 billion
Today in developed countries, an average of 2.1 births per woman would maintain a steady population.
Birth rate is defined as the number of live births per thousand of population per year. The US birth rate has dropped to the lowest point in over 10 years. In the first quarter of 2017, the rate fell to 61.5 births per 1,000 women aged 15 to 44. This has fallen from the previous year of 62.5 births per 1,000 women. (Emanuel, CNN, 2017)
This percentage is really alarming because unplanned births may lead to poverty and joblessness, can make teen mothers change their minds and stop studying in order to satisfy their necessities firstly and can cause several economic and home problems which may lead to a worst one. Furthermore, having a baby growing inside you and starting a family, or a new life, have to be a personal decision that must be based on knowledge and confidence instead of being
Additionally, the population of Caucasian Americans in Texas have the highest birth rates in the state and American Indians have the lowest birth rate. “Allan Johnson (2000) reports in addition to these birth rates, demographers use three hypothetical rates to get some idea of the future consequences of current patterns of reproductive behavior in a population. The gross reproduction rate (GRR) is the average number of daughters that would be born to a hypothetical cohort of women if current birth rates for women of various ages were to remain the same throughout their lifetime. In other words, it is the number of daughters they would have if they went through their twenties having babies at the current rate for women in their twenties, through
There are many key demographic indicators that make up each country. One of them is the crude birth rate. In Canada for example, the crude birth rate is 11 which is considered low. The crude birth rate is the number of live births per thousand of population per year. When this is compared to the world birth rate it is a little lower. According to the table provided the crude birth rate is a stable indicator. It is stable because it has not changed much in recent years and is pretty even to the region of Canada. Because it is stable, it is also a good environment to live in. The birth rate is low because in Canada there are higher standards of living, in addition to higher education levels. With the total fertility rate being low, that can come in the factor of the low birth rate from the last couple of years. 2.1 children per woman are required to replace the population in the absence of migration. Some key factors of why the fertility rate fell were for 3 costly events that affected a lot of countries. First in the 1930s it had a big decline due to the great depression. In the 1970s it also declined due to the energy crisis. The last major event was in 2011 and it was the Great Recession. With the Great Recession there were high unemployment rates. During the Great Depression period the total fertility rate was declining because there were many couples that used birth control to limit their family size.
Major progress has been made in curbing population growth. The United Nations Population facts August 2010 states that there has been substantial declines in fertility, total fertility in the rest of the developing world(excluding the least developed countries) declined by about 50 per cent between 1970-1975 and 2005-2010: from 5.0 to 2.5 children per woman. Additionally fertility in the least developed countries dropped by 34 per cent since 1970-1975, from 6.7 to 4.4 children per woman. Bangladesh is exceptional with a reduction of over 60 per cent, from 6.9 children per woman in 1970-1975 to an estimated 2.4 in 2005-2010.
“Overpopulation is an undesirable condition where the number of existing human population exceeds the carrying capacity of Earth. Overpopulation is caused by number of factors. Reduced mortality rate, better medical facilities, depletion of precious resources are few of the causes which results in overpopulation.” In today’s society most Americans have at least five children, this can include one person who has five kids that was from failed relationships, marriage, or mistakes. The amount of children that are born per year in the U.S is 3,999,386 last year alone. The U.S alone has over three hundred million people, making us the third largest nations. The U.s is the only population that is experiencing significant population growth. Its population may double before the end of the century. If the limitation of how much children each American can have decrease to two children then we can put a control on overpopulation.
The fertility rate of a country measures the average number of children capable of being born per woman. The rate gives an idea of the future growing or declining population trend. For Liberia the number stands at 4.7 children born per woman. The number is an indication that the population is growing and increasingly becoming younger. As stated earlier, people under the age of 14 comprises over 40% of the total population, which coincides with the younger growing trend predicted by the fertility
Thomas Robert Malthus is one of the most controversial figures in the history of economics. He achieved fame chiefly from the population doctrine that is now closely linked with his name. Contrary to the late-eighteenth-century views that it was possible to improve people’s living standards, Malthus held that any such improvements would cause the population to grow and thereby reverse these gains. Malthus also sparked controversy with his contemporaries on issues of methodology (by arguing that economics should be an empirical rather than a deductive science), over questions of theory (by holding that economies can experience prolonged bouts of high unemployment), and on policy issues (by arguing against free