Population 3- Population Issues Flashcards
Issues with an Ageing population
Puts pressure on health resources
Compression of morbidity (health costs compressed into final years of life)
Offset by people becoming healthier
Strategies for an Ageing population
Pensioners become poorer, taxes & NI contributions increase, average retirement age increases, rate at which people save for retirement increases
Overpopulation
There are too many people in an area relative to the amount of resources and level of technology locally available to maintain a high standard of living
A reduction in the population would result in a rise in living standards
Underpopulation
There are too few people in an area to use the resources efficiently for a given level of technology
An increase in population would result in an increase in living standards
Optimum population
The theoretical population which, working with all the available resources, produces the highest standard of living
This concept is dynamic; can change as technology improves
Optimists
Boserup, Simon & Lomborg
Pessimists
Malthus, Elrich & the Club of Rome
Boserup’s view
Environments have limits which can be altered with technology
Production increases as demand increases, pressure forces humans to create more efficient systems
‘Necessity is the mother of invention’
Evidence to support Boserup
Green Revolution in India and Mexico
More intensive forms of agriculture
Simon’s view
The supply of natural materials is infinite
As a resource runs low, the price will rise and humans will invest time into creating solutions through the use of technology
Evidence to support Simon
Natural gas supply in North Sea is running low
Fracking is a new method to extract gas from slate under the ground
Lomborg’s view
The development of technology can help solve world problems but we need to prioritise the major world issues from an economic perspective
Evidence to support Lomborg
$150 billion could postpone global warming for 6 years
$75 billion could solve all major basic problems: clean water, sanitation, health and education
Malthus’ view
The population increases geometrically whilst the food resources only develop arithmetically
The population/resource balance will be maintained by various checks like famine, disease and war
Evidence to support Malthus
Over 800 million people are chronically malnourished
Ethiopian and Sudan famines
Wars in SSA e.g. The Republic of Congo
