World population estimate up 2.38 billion by 2050

Just nine countries projected to account for more than half the growth.

In fact, fertility rates are going down in most places, except for Europe, which experienced a small bump in the last 5 years. The UN expects global fertility to drop from the current average of 2.5 children per woman to 2 children per woman by the end of the century. This will be especially noticeable for the least-developed countries, where the average will drop from 4.3 children per woman to 2.1 by 2100.

But these reductions aren’t going to just happen. The report calls for global investments in family planning and reproductive health. If fertility rates are only half a child per woman over the rates expected, the population will reach 16.6 billion by 2100.

The increase in life spans and decrease in fertility means that collectively, people are getting older. Today, about 12 percent of the population is over age 60, and that’s growing every year. By 2050, the number of children under 15 and the number of adults over 60 will be roughly equal, with potentially negative economic consequences for the work force.

Regardless of whether the population winds up exceeding, hitting, or dropping below the numbers predicted, one thing is for certain: we will all need to learn to share.

Article 4

Source: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2015/07/biocapacity-and-ecological-footprint/

Is Your State Consuming More Than Nature Can Provide?

Our never-ending appetite for food, water, and energy is driving the environment into the ground.

By Jane J. Lee, National Geographic

PUBLISHED July 14, 2015

Get too far into financial debt and creditors come calling. Fall into debt with nature and the consequences can be even more distressing: Hotter temperatures, shrinking farmland, and dried up reservoirs are only a few of the problems we're grappling with as a result of overtaxing the environment.

Data from a new report by the Global Footprint Network looks at which American states are running into the red with Mother Nature through such activities as burning fossil fuels, overfishing, and chopping down forests.

Our analysis looks at each state's ecological capacity—the ability of its environment to provide the resources that the state's residents use everyday, per capita. The numbers take into account how many acres of forest, pasture, cropland, and ocean each state controls. This is what's known as biocapacity. We then compare that to each state's demand for those resources—its ecological footprint.

Ecological creditors are states that use less than their environment can provide. They're staying within nature's budget. Ecological debtors demand more than nature can provide.

Дата добавления: 2015-10-28