Article: Human Population Growth and Impacts

Created: Jan 06, 2007
Updated: Feb 29, 2008

Human Population Growth and Impacts

Human population growth and impacts refers to those environmental, economic, and social impacts that result from human overpopulation on local, regional, and global scales. Such impacts include the environmental impacts of increasing demand from overpopulation for energy that exacerbates climate change, and of the degradation of natural resources from overfarming resulting in food scarcity.

A simple model has been used to sketch population consequences on sustainability: I = P x A x T, where I is environmental impact, P is the number of people, A is the affluence per person (a measure of consumption), and T is a measure of the effects of technologies on the extraction and use of resources. Currently, all are increasing over time, thus increasing local and global impact, thwarting sustainability.

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Featured Resources

2006 World Population Data Sheet: International Migration Is Reshaping United States, Global Economy

Featured Organizations

Population Connection is the national grassroots population organization that educates young people and advocates progressive action to stabilize world population at a level that can be sustained by Earth`s resources.

Population Communications International seeks to work creatively with the media and other organizations to motivate individuals and communities to make choices that influence population trends encouraging sustainable development and environmental protection.

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Environmental Education
Ecology
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Tags/Keywords

overpopulation, sustainability, scarcity, resource depletion, environmental impacts, carrying capacity, food supply, energy use, natural resource consumption, demographic alarmism, birth rate, death rate, rate of natural increase, population doubling time, infant mortality rate, total fertility rate, population under age 15, dependent population, life expectancy, percent urban population, age structure, sex structure, age at first reproduction, post-reproduction age, age classes, Ehrlich-Holdren Model, nonrenewable resources, marriage age, educational opportunities and fertility, family planning, U.N. International Conference on Population and Development, pronatalist, immigration, migration

Quote

We already have the statistics for the future: the growth percentages of pollution, overpopulation, desertification. The future is already in place.

-- Gunther Grass

Did You Know?

An estimated 4.3 people are born every second around the world - Population Reference Bureau's 2006 World Population Data Sheet.

Today, 31 countries, or under 8% of the world population, face chronic freshwater shortages. By the year 2025, however, 48 countries are expected to face shortages affecting more than 2.8 billion people, -35% of the world's projected population. Countries likely to run short of water in the next 25 years are Ethiopia, India, Kenya, Nigeria, and Peru. Other large countries such as China, face chronic water problems. - Overpopulation.org

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