FREE ESSAY ON EARTH POPULATION

EARTH POPULATION

Our Earth has changed more dramatically in the 20th Century then in any other time period
previous. During this time the health of our planet has also been both harmed and
improved in dramatic ways. Two examples are that in this century, we have produced more
air pollution then ever before, but our nature conservation efforts are working. Based on
that type of logic, it is usually very easy for a scientist to tell if a particular
change in our environment during the 20th Century, was good or bad for our planet. That
is where population growth comes in and breaks this idea. Is population growth good or
bad for our world? This is a question which scientists around the world have been
debateing about for decades. The purpose of this essay will address that question. It
will also talk about the future growth rate of our world's population, what if any
relationship can be drawn from over population and the GNP and literacy levels in a
country, what types of population control measures the four largest countries use, and
finally determine if there are any population problems and find solutions for them.
Despite extensive population control measures, the country with the largest population is
China. In fact China contains almost one-fourth of the world's people at around 1.2
billion. During the 1950's the population grew at a rate of 2% per year. The rate of
growth slowed to 1.3% by 1990, in part due to population control measures. China's
population control measures are based around a creul policy allowing parents only one
child. This policy has led to higher levels of abortion, sterilizations, and inficide
than in any other country in the world. The dramatic declines in China's population
growth rate have however taken place well before the one child policy went into effect in
1979. This further confuses experts who study population and try to determine why
population rates flucuate. Some of these experts suggest that aside from the one child
policy China's growth rate might have decreased from 2.0 to 1.3 percent because of major
improvements in infant mortality rates. Thus parents had more confidence that their
children would live to maturity. Also, as China has moved to become a more industrialized
country families have chosen to reduce family size. For example in our country 200 years
ago families were large because the more kids a family had the more successful the farm
would be. Those are a few reasons the population rate in China might be lower than in
years previous and continue to slow down.