World population to keep growing this century, hit 11 billion by 2100

Author: University of Washington
Publication date: September 18, 2014
URL: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/09/140918141446.htm

Summary

The United Nations discovered that there is an 80% chance that the population in 2100 will be between 9.6 billion and 12.3 billion people. They say that the population will most likely not stabilize this century and will continue to grow rapidly. Scientists at the United Nations also discovered that Africa is where the huge population boom will occur because the birth rates still continue to grow in Africa, especially in the Saharan region. Rising populations are not a good sign. They can create major problems such as climate change, diseases, poverty, and more. Scientists presented a solution so the populations doesn’t rise so rapidly. They say education is one of the ways to prevent a rise, especially in Africa. Africa doesn’t benefit from a high-class education system, which is why birth rates are increasing so much all over the continent.

Connection

This article relates to chapter 35 because it talks a lot about population density and the effects of it. We learned that population density can increase demands for water, food, energy, and other supplies. As we take in more and more resources, we will start to have less of them in later years. An increase in water use would lead to severe shortages of water. By creating more heavy industry and factories, we learned that that there would be more CO2 in the atmosphere, trapping heat, and causing an overall rise in Earth’s average temperature. This overall rise is known as global warming. Also, this article connects to age structures and how they function. We learned that a country that has a higher population of people below 30 would have an increasing population. An example of a country that has this age structure would be Kenya.