Page 566 - Sociology and You

536
Unit 5 Social Change
Section 2
PTreview Preview
World Population
Section
The Problem of Population Growth
Key Terms
• census
• doubling time
• exponential growth
• demographic transition
theory
• zero population growth
• population momentum • replacement level
• population control
• family planning
• population pyramid • dependency ratio
Section
homas Malthus (1798)
predicted that population size would ultimately outstrip the food supply, resulting in mass starvation and death. The demographic transition theory looks at economic development to predict population patterns. While the rate of world population growth is slowing, the world’s population will continue to increase for many years. Population control has be- come a concern of many governments worried about providing for their future citizens.
census
regularly occurring count of a particular population
World population figures are a composite of best estimates and na- tional census figures where available. While many countries count and cate- gorize people living in those countries, the quality of census data varies a great deal and can be very unreliable. Nevertheless, world population growth pat- terns can be identified.
N
o organization has actually ever counted all the people in the world.
If the counting of the population is a problem in developed societies, imagine the difficulty with obtaining accurate counts in developing societies.