Overview
When considering the growth of the world’s population there Is a concentrated look at Four Main factors with a fifth element now ,slowly becoming a large factor.They are fertility rates, mortality rates (life expectancy), the initial age profile of the population (whether it is comparatively old or relatively young to begin with), migration, and now religion, where focus is placed on migrating to or from a particular faction.
The forces behind population change
Population Change:A view at Growth
Fertility has been on a slow descent over the last decade and is expected to continue declining.As a result,the world,s population rate is also slowing down. But from the year 2010-2050 ,the world’s population is expected to rise some 35%.That is approximately 2 Billion people.Fertility patterns may differ between countries, and larger geographic locations for a myriad of reasons, including cultural standards,degrees of economic improvement, education systems and government policies that encourage ,or discourage, family planning. Female reproductive rates may also be a result of infant fatality rates, participation in the labor market, income levels and social status, among other factors.(“Main Factors Driving Population Growth | Pew Research Center,” 2015)
Life Expectancy,which is the expected life term we are given from infancy,has been on the up-rise, and is expected to continue its ascent over the next four decades.Research has shown that people are living longer, due to better access to health-care, modifications in diet and hygiene, efficient response to infectious disease, and numerous other factors.These developments, however have a limited span throughout the world ,and is not afforded to everyone ,and this has had an impact on the life expectancy in many under-developed and third world countries.(“Main Factors Driving Population Growth | Pew Research Center,” 2015)
Age Structure will cause a significant increase in world population as people begin living longer lives.As global population ages,age distribution determining those who have longer life expectancy will change, with those 60 and older living longer lives than those in younger groups.This is cause for considerable concern because the youthfulness of a population is important based on the presumption that, a population that begins with a larger percentage of those in their childbearing years will grow faster and carry on into the next generation with hopes that this trend continues.(“Main Factors Driving Population Growth | Pew Research Center,” 2015)
Religious Shifting is commonly done as we age from childhood to adulthood and decide to switch the religion they were born into,and into one of their own choosing.Although the degree of change is different for men and women, they tend to follow similar patterns.Presently ,the larger demography shows that Christianity is at the forefront of the religious shift. Religious switching may have a large influence on the religious constitution of individual countries ,and will have a comparatively minor impact on the projected size of major religious groups.(“Main Factors Driving Population Growth | Pew Research Center,” 2015)
Migration(Regional) Patterns can change the religious composition of individual countries, but has no effect on the global size of religious groups as a whole.Migration practices also depend on change in economic conditions.
The effects on the environment when population change results in urbanization
With the increase of the Global population ,has come an increase in the effects of our agricultural and economic actions.But maybe even more troubling is the increased urbanized population, which research has shown will more than triple in he next few years.Until recently,Urban areas were considered unhealthy to live in, with a onslaught of infectious diseases ,resulting in high death rates among the populace.They essentially maintained their existence by moving into other parts of their region to settle down in different parts of their state or towns.Contributing to Urban growth growth are fertility rates, and the migration of females from rural areas ,though research suggests this may be somewhat exaggerated.
Urban population is also shown to experience change through the intake of food, energy, water, and land and the polluted environment in-turn affects the health and social station of life of the urban population. Owing to the fact that people in Urban areas have very different eating habits than those from rural areas, electricity, transportation, cooking, and heating is much higher in urban areas.(Torrey, 2004)
The effects
of population change from the structural-functional, social-conflict, and symbolic interaction approaches
Structural-function regards population growth and its diverse factors (IE.birth, death, and migration) as natural and necessary predicaments for any society.It also considers pollution and other environmental issues as predictable outcomes of the world we live in. The importance of population growth is woefully dependent on society’s economy ,but its growth rate ,if too exponential, can cause dysfunction, and lead to environmental problems ,while not having enough of a youthful new population , can lead to having fewer workers when those of age retire.So too much, or too little,both create their own separate issues.
Social-conflict works on the assumption that earth has enough food to sustain us all and enough resources to meet a growing population,and does not consider population growth an issue.Social-Conflict theorizes that if there is a shortage of food it is due to unfair distribution, and at least in some small part, this has proven to be true. It also theorizes that most nations ,have population growth that is more than workable or necessary, and this is blamed on the governments lack of dispensing of contraception.There is a wide supposition in this possibility that ,these issues arise from international corporations engaging in exercises that contaminate the air, water, and ground and that, the systems fail to have strong regulations to limit corporate environmental conditions.
Symbolic Interaction looks to understand why people do or not engage in activities in relation to population growth because in order to understand population growth, we first have to understand what engages or disengages people in becoming involved.After grasping this understanding Symbolic-interaction seeks to underline people’s concepts of population and biological problems.Last,it concludes that people from different social backgrounds and different cultures could potentially just have different understandings of population and environmental issues.(Barkan, 2012, p. 706-744)
Summary
In summation, the population movement is of great importance to the study, and fact finding equated with the different factors involved in the effects growth has on the economy ,and vice verse.Whether cause or effect is the dominating issue, both are indicative of the traits connected to profitable growth, in the provision that necessary allowances are made for the changing moods of the generation.(Spengler, 1961, p. xx)