Walsh, B. (2022, November 14). Are 8 billion people too many – or too few? . Vox. Retrieved January 25, 2023, from https://www.vox.com/the-highlight/23436211/overpopulation-population-8-billion-people 

The world will hit 8 billion people on November 15th of 2022, and the baby will most likely be in India. The world’s population will continue to increase and then curve off. The majority of hunger, poverty and infectious disease that were predicted to wipe out humanity in many books have not become as true as they once thought. India has done the opposite and has largely become richer, longer lived, and less starving. As oppositely predicted once again, China’s population will begin to decrease, and more people will not be working age as time passes. This possibly affecting many different countries’ economies.

As seen in the other articles, this addresses more of the same issues. It is interesting though seeing that many countries had different ending results than predicted by experts. The predictions are that as the population increased exponentially, hunger, poverty, and disease would destroy humanity as we would be less able to handle the issues of a growing population. But every article I have read suggests the same problems of China’s decreasing population affecting other countries’ economies. I’m glad that others are just as worried as I am about this topic because the United States has become so dependent on China’s economy and workforce we will have to hope that new solutions will be found in the future.

Jacobs, F. (2022, October 15). Global population will hit 8 billion on November 15, but it will begin shrinking around 2100. Big Think. Retrieved January 25, 2023, from https://bigthink.com/strange-maps/8-billion-people/ 

On November 15th, 2022, the world’s population will hit 8 billion. In 1804 we hit 1 billion, and by 2022 8 billion. While the increase is primarily due to the global fertility rate having dropped globally from 5 births in the 1960s to under 2.5 today. Just about every decade from the 1960’s we have added a billion just about every decade. Asia has over half the world’s population at 4.7 billion people and increasing as India continues to grow in size. Africa has 1.4 billion, Europe 700 million, the Americas combined about a billion, and Oceania 44 million. The UN predicts that by 2100 there could be under 500 million Chinese people and still over a billion people in India as India continues to increase and China decrease. 

Even though I’ve known that the world has hit 8 billion being passed the November 15th date, I am still astonished by this article and the numbers they laid out for the population of each region. I found it interesting that Europe has such a small amount of land yet a high population for the land mass. Also that Oceania was such a low population for the amount of land mass is interesting as well. But the “wow” factor of this article is that the UN predicts that the population size of China will decrease by a staggering billion people by 2100. While this date is farther out and will affect China itself, I hope that western economies begin finding solutions as China’s workforce will start to decrease as the population declines.

Rajvanshi, A. (2023, January 20). How India’s record-breaking population will shape the world. Time. Retrieved January 26, 2023, from https://time.com/6248790/india-population-data-china/ 

India’s population is the highest increasing population in the world. On New Year’s day, 67,000 births occurred, the most significant number worldwide. After seeing China’s decreasing population, many experts believe that India has overpassed China’s population. This population increase is because over half of the population is under 25, the perfect reproduction age, meaning India won’t reach its peak until 2065. This increase in population is also because of India’s extreme lacking of family planning because they tried implementing sterilization, and family planning was overlooked. Surprisingly the population growth in India has slowed from 24% between 1971-1981 to 17% between 2001-2011. As tension between the United States and Western countries increases with China, India’s growing population will become essential for the countries’ economies. India has an extremely high workforce and will continue to increase as population growth increases. The issue with this is that the workforce that is able to work is only 40% so, the country will have to make changes to grow India’s economy more.

This article was beneficial in showing the issues and positives of a country having such a highly increasing population. The article also explains why this population increase is happening helping to understand the factors that go into a country as large as India’s population increase. I believed the contrary, seeing that the population increase has decreased not increased, from years ago. I like to see the positives to things, and this article highlights the increase, possibly stimulating other countries’ economies as manufacturing may begin to switch to India over China.

Press, T. C. (2022, December 21). Canada’s population is growing faster than it has in decades. why? – national. Global News. Retrieved January 25, 2023, from https://globalnews.ca/news/9365263/canada-population-growth-statcan/ 

In 2022 Canada’s population grew more than it ever has since Confederation. The country grew by about 360,000 people between July and October. The government believes this is from people fleeing the war in Ukraine and the extreme rise in non-permanent residents. It’s the most significant population increase since 1957 because of a baby boom after the Hungarian War. The population growth in this quarter was even more significant than all population increase numbers in 2011 combined.

I found this article incredibly interesting in relation and comparison to China’s decrease in population. Canada has seen an increase that has never been seen before, and I wonder what this means for the economy’s future and the country itself. If it increases, this population will continually increase because as people realize it’s the place to live, people may leave America. It’s also shocking that the increase is more significant than the baby boom in Canada, which is some of the most considerable population increases ever seen worldwide after WW2. 

Yeung, J. (2023, January 19). China’s population is shrinking. the impact will be felt around the world. CNN. Retrieve; January 25, 2023, from https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/18/china/china-population-drop-explainer-intl-hnk/index.html 

China’s population will possibly no longer be the most populated country in the world. The population shrank for the first time since the 1960s, meaning China has a chance of falling behind India as the most populated country in the coming years. China’s population fell by 850,000 people. The last time it fell this much was during a famine in the 60s. This is a result of China’s one-child laws, which the government put in place to stop the country from growing rapidly. In 2015, China’s population began to decline; they increased to 2 children, and in 2021 increased to 3 children. As the country shrinks, the workforce will shrink as well, meaning China’s economic growth will slow and possibly decline. This means that the production of goods for other countries could potentially decrease and worsen other countries’ economies. The government is going as far as paying people for having more children, up to $15,000 per child.

This article was eye-opening, showing how much the world depends on China and its economy. It’s also extremely interesting to see how a law from the 80s has now seen effects on the country. The country’s decrease isn’t the end of the world or something that can’t be fixed with time, but there will be lows in economies and China itself. A decrease in the workforce is exceptionally worrying, knowing how much China produces and exports, affecting countries like the United States and many others purchasing from China. I find it incredibly surprising that a country like China is so worried that they have begun to pay families to have children. I hope that many other countries, including the United States, will stay aware of population growth, just noticing how much it affects a country.

Collins, L. M. (2022, May 26). Why Elon Musk thinks civilization could crumble without more babies. Deseret News. Retrieved June 22, 2022, from https://www.deseret.com/2022/5/26/23142871/elon-musk-population-falling-birthrates-japan-south-korea-us-fertility-italy 

Following previous statements, billionaire Elon Musk expresses concerns that people don’t have more babies. Discussing doubts for multiple countries, Musk warns that Italy could “disappear” and also shares his concerns regarding the declining birth rate(1.8 in the US) to replacement rate(2.1). Later, in an interview Musk claimed that educated people are too concerned about overpopulation when he tells us the exact opposite will be our downfall. The articles go on to detail the repercussions of fewer workers in the US and the negative economic impact it would have, affecting our stock and housing markets and education system.

This was a different article to read, in contrast with all the rest it was overall fewer logos based, and rather focused more on ethos. I do wonder when Musk was talking about educated people being more concerned about overpopulation than his views on that area. Because our Earth is currently overpopulated with humans, I do not think it is a concern to just turn the other way on, and while I do think that he is right to be worried about the population decline, I would be more worried about population growth and its effects on climate change as well as the economic problems it would and is presenting to us.

Written by Pablo Alvarez, L. and D. D. (2022, June 17). What does the global decline of the fertility rate look like? World Economic Forum. Retrieved June 22, 2022, from https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2022/06/global-decline-of-fertility-rates-visualised 

Over the past 70 years, Pablo Alvarez hypothesizes that fertility rates have declined incredibly as a result of an increase in women’s rights. Dr. Max Roser adds that the lowering of child mortality and increased cost of raising children are also at play. In addition, lower fertility rates combined with increased life expectancy has created an aging population, resulting in economic risks that in turn support the population growth decline, such as a rise in healthcare cost. As a result of the rise in an older population, there may be fewer workers which many speculate could lead to an economic slowdown. 

I found this article’s approach to the halt in population growth refreshing, rather than focusing completely on the economic and financial side of this topic, Pablo Alvarez instead focuses more on how the evolution of women’s rights has affected this development. Although the writing does discuss economic factors, their consequences, and causes, I found it interesting how the other articles did not focus on women as much as this one did. The charts included were also helpful in observing the decline and its timeline as well, I found that as time goes on, the decline has not stayed consistent, in fact, it has slowed in the past 10 years, going from a decrease of about 0.4% between 2001-2010 to a decrease of 0.1% from 2011-2020. Because other articles did not delve as deeply into women’s struggles in terms of population growth, this article was an insightful read into why we have not experienced much population increase and added more details as to one of the many facets of this issue that were crucial to understanding. 

Glausiusz, J. (2022, April 4). Global population is crashing, soaring and moving. Nature News. Retrieved June 22, 2022, from https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-00926-6 

The world’s population has been constantly increasing for decades, however, significant decreases in birth rates have been observed in locations such as China and sub-Saharan Africa. Common patterns found are high fertility and youth rates within countries in danger of collapse or large poverty populations; the opposite of wealthier countries, whose issue is finding a way to preserve economic growth. Researcher Jennifer Sciubba presents tactics for maintaining an economic increase while accommodating aging populations; focusing on immigration, Sciubba predicts a population shrink in the hundred millions, noting that countries consuming less often are those with higher population growth. 

I think this article offers an interesting perspective on the connection between global population increase and economic growth. Author Sciubba details in her writing how countries with poorer populations tend to have a greater population increase as they have fewer protections against the rising fertility rate, resulting in higher numbers of youth. Sciubba writes about how the more youths there are, the more people there are who can work, and so said countries can maintain their economies. However, in wealthier countries, Sciubba notes how there are longer life expectancies and lower fertility rates, thus resulting in fewer young people pushing the economy forward. This point is one she ties into immigration as well, stating that the more people move from dangerous areas or countries into larger, wealthier ones, not only will the economies start to improve, but the populations will also decline as a result of further protection and options. 

Wilmoth, J., Menozzi, C., & Bassarsky, L. (2022, February 26). UN DESA Policy Brief No. 130: Why population growth matters for sustainable development. United Nations. Retrieved June 22, 2022, from https://www.un.org/development/desa/dpad/publication/un-desa-policy-brief-no-130-why-population-growth-matters-for-sustainable-development/ 

Advancements in healthcare and high levels of fertility in the 1950s resulted in a massive increase in the world’s population, and although the trend slowed around 1970, low/middle-income countries lack of reproductive rights, accessible healthcare, and education, only increased the fertility rate. A hypothesis presented states that within 2020-2050, fertility rates may slow as a result of a more youthful and knowledgeable population, hopefully, dedicated to improving sustainability. It was found that higher standards of living and population growth are negatively affecting the earth, and the absence of sustainable action proportionate to the population accelerates the consequences of climate change.

I think this article was a little hard to understand at first because it presents the idea that population growth is both a cause and an effect within the same issue. I found that the discussions on the goals for sustainable development were also interesting, focusing on education as a root cause of population growth since it was found that women with higher education on average have fewer children. I agreed with not only that fact, but also the plan to attempt to disrupt the intergenerational cycles of poverty by providing more accessible healthcare and family planning, making it so that women in more challenging positions can have greater autonomy. Further, the discussion on how an increase of youth in the world would offer a sustained decline in the fertility rate was an idea presented that I personally found fascinating. I think that an increase in the population of working age would help to better the economy while the article also discusses how a younger generation with more resources available would perhaps be more dedicated to producing further options and developments for those in need, resulting in the decline of the overall world fertility rate. It is extremely important to discuss and understand the solutions to a problem when facing it; and in terms of this article, discussing ways to reach a sustainable decline in population growth is incredibly beneficial when hoping to understand why there has been such a rapid increase, as the contrast between what is happening and what needs to be done can help you to develop an idea of why the problem continues to perpetuate.

Kos, D. (2022, August 14.). Climate brief:the pop.’rate’to actually fall(since 2019 global pop. growth rate fallen-below 1%). Daily Kos. Retrieved August 15, 2022, from https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/8/14/2113976/-Climate-Brief-The-Pop-Rate-to-actually-FALL-Since-2019-Global-Pop-GROWTH-rate-fallen-below-1 

The world has been adding another billion people every 12 years since 1975. The world reached 7 billion people in 2011, and will have another billion by the end of 2022. Census Bureau estimates a historic low population growth of only 0.1% between July 2020 and July 2021. Simultaneously, during the covid pandemic, he number of deaths increased sharply, as the number of births declined. Immigration reached its lowest levels in decades. Studies show that over 20% of adults do not want children. The worldwide fertility rate has dropped close to one percent per year from 1960 to 2018.

It is hard to comprehend that in recent decades, the world population has been increasing by a billion people  every 12 years. Since I was born, the world population has increased by around 1.5 billion people and I am only sixteen years old. I wonder how much of an impact covid has had on the worlds population or on fertility/mortality rates. It is crazy to think that the world has only increased its population by 0.1% from 2020 to 2021 since its increased so much more than that in the decades leading up to then. I wonder if more people will start wanting no kids or if less people will start wanting more kids in the future. I wonder how the percentage of population increase will change throughout the rest of the century.