Impact of Global Population Growth

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Table of Contents

Introduction3

Discussion3

Food & Agriculture3

Environment & Resources6

Economy & Quality of Life8

Conclusion10

Impact of Global Population Growth

Introduction

Global population growth is defined as the change in the statistics regarding the number of people in the world compared to the rate of time. It gives an outlook at how many people have been born, died, and the total number of people living on the planet today. For the last decade, the growth of population has been increasing to the extent that resources have become limited. According to statistics, the global population grew 7 times in the period of 1800-2011. It has been last reported to be approaching seven billion in 2011. Global population growth has impacted in three critical areas in the world today. Food and agriculture, environment and resources, and economy and quality of life will be discussed and evaluated to determine what impact they have on the population today (UNFPA 2012).

Discussion

Food & Agriculture

First, it is noted that during the period of 1950-1984, the harvest of wheat outweighed the size of the population. From 1985 until today, the output harvested has been declining per person. The declining growth of wheat is primarily due to lesser land availability and minimal growth found in fertilizer and irrigation due to lower expected returns. The solution for overcoming this increasing demand is to improve land productivity of grains. By utilizing more effective techniques such as better seed storage, crop rotation, and better germination, the production of wheat could increase fulfilling a growing demand of consumption. It is already seen today that high population areas such as China, India, and Pakistan are increasing harvests of wheat in order to compensate for their growing demands of hunger (United Nations 2012).

Second aspect to analyze is the quantity of cropland. It was found that 19% of cropland had increased but the global population had grown by more than 130%. This increase in population destroys farmland, minimizes productivity, and can even eliminate the crop production. This is due to fewer locations for crop farming as crop area per person declines. With more people coming and living in the world, there is a high risk of countries not being able to feed their people. This is clearly seen in places with high population density linked with poverty. Food is scarce in most of the population for areas like Pakistan, while only the middle and upper class consumes the available crops. Another country that is trying to make a change is India. They are employing strategies and innovation in farm sectors in order to improve productivity. The problem is that even with the growth of crops, the population is further increasing. This again limits consumption and is causing famine and poverty resulting from higher population growth (Winterbottom & Jadhav 2011).

A third key criterion is the availability of fresh water. Fresh water or drinking water is forecasted to be a scarcity for the future with growing population levels. It is highly important to see that the relationship found ...