Population Facts

More People than ever! 

* over 6.8 people on the planet right now
* increasing by over 80 million per year
* by 220,980 per day (in 2009)
*14,000 births per hour
*90% of this population growth takes place in the developing countries of Africa, South and East Asia, and Latin America

Population...by the billions 

Life Expectancy

the average number of years to be lived by a group of people born in the same year.

High: Japan (82.6 total: 79 men: 86.1 women)
#38 - U.S. (78.2 total: 75.6 men: 80.8 women)
Low: Swaziland (31.9 total: 31.6 men: 32.2 women)

Measuring Population

crude birth rate: number of births per 1000 of the population
crude death rate: number of deaths per 1000 of the population
rate of natural increase (RNI)
* produced by subtracting the death rate from the birth rate, then dividing by 10
* this gives the natural growth rate - on percentage form - for a country or region
* But don't forget about migration ... ! 


More measuring of Population

Net Migration Rate: the difference between the number of persons entering and leaving a country during  a year

an excess of persons entering the country is net immigration 


* written as a positive number
* example: Canada has 5.63 migrants per 1,000 population

an excess of persons leaving the country is net emigration 


* written as a negative number
*example: Mexico has -3.61 migrants per 1,000 population

Why do people migrate? 


push forces
- civil war
-environmental degradation
-unemployment
-religious or ethnic persecution

pull forces
-better economic opportunity
-better health services
-religious freedom
-political freedom

Total Fertility Rate (TFR)


TFR: average number of children born per woman

for a population to remain the same, the TFR must be 2.1
higher than 2.1: population rises
lower than 2.1: population falls

World TFR: 2.05
US TFR: 2.05
Europe's TFR: 1.45
Africa's TFR: 5.14