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I am afraid that the Earth's population will be humanity's ultimate downfall. The people of China and India want to live just like we do here in the USA. I don't blame them, but it's unsustainable. We use so many resources and throw so much away. We only have so much room on this planet and all the good spots are already taken. It boggles my mind.
Personally, I try to recycle as much as possible and I only throw out one can a week, between me and my wife. But I see my neighbors putting out 5 or 6 cans a week. It pisses me off.
Sex isn't the problem. In our modern society, I could see having two or three kids max. It's these people who have 18 kids (Duggars) that disturb me.
Location: The western periphery of Terra Australis
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Actually the population density in China isn't that exceptional. If you take the population of Europe without Russia and divide it by land area it's actually comparable to China. If England was the size of China, it would have about 2 billion people. China just had a larger area of fertile land, as did India, so had more sheer numbers. Remember China is more like a continent than a country. Nothing to do with the Chinese having higher birthrates, birth rates in post-modern societies have always been high, in Europe, Africa.etc.
Actually the population density in China isn't that exceptional. If you take the population of Europe without Russia and divide it by land area it's actually comparable to China. If England was the size of China, it would have about 2 billion people. China just had a larger area of fertile land, as did India, so had more sheer numbers. Remember China is more like a continent than a country. Nothing to do with the Chinese having higher birthrates, birth rates in post-modern societies have always been high, in Europe, Africa.etc.
That's not entirely true. During chairman maos reign he was very against forms of birth control and believed china would be stronger with a larger population so he encouraged families to have as many children as possible thus china's population actually nearly doubled from over 500 million to over 900 million just during his time.
It was china's very high birthrates during this period that caused the government to enforce it's one child policy in the late 70's. You also have to keep in mind china's population is not spread out evenly it is heavily concentrated in the east, so while it's national population density is not very high where the majority of the population actually resides it is much higher.
Location: The western periphery of Terra Australis
24,544 posts, read 56,029,399 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Mhundred
That's not entirely true. During chairman maos reign he was very against forms of birth control and believed china would be stronger with a larger population so he encouraged families to have as many children as possible thus china's population actually nearly doubled from over 500 million to over 900 million just during his time.
It was china's very high birthrates during this period that caused the government to enforce it's one child policy in the late 70's. You also have to keep in mind china's population is not spread out evenly it is heavily concentrated in the east, so while it's national population density is not very high where the majority of the population actually resides it is much higher.
India didn't have a Chairman Mao. It's 1/3 the size of China yet has almost as many people, but the people are more spread out. The Ganges River Plain and North China Plain are the two most extensive areas of very high density population in the world.
China and India were always the two largest countries going back centuries however it was in the last century that their populations really took off. It was probably a combination of more access to food and lowered infant mortality that caused the big jumps in their population.
India had 271 million people in 1900 and 1.2 billion now. China had 415 million in 1900 and 1.3 billion today.
All of europe had 460 million in 1910 and and 739 million today. So as you can see india and china's growth over the last century has been much faster than europe's.
Location: The western periphery of Terra Australis
24,544 posts, read 56,029,399 times
Reputation: 11862
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mhundred
China and India were always the two largest countries going back centuries however it was in the last century that their populations really took off. It was probably a combination of more access to food and lowered infant mortality that caused the big jumps in their population.
India had 271 million people in 1900 and 1.2 billion now. China had 415 million in 1900 and 1.3 billion today.
All of europe had 460 million in 1910 and and 739 million today. So as you can see india and china's growth over the last century has been much faster than europe's.
Yes it's amazing how populous some of those European countries were at the time. I heard that Prussia at it's height had like 60 million, almost as many as Germany today! Even in 1900 the UK had something like 35 million, I believe.
The short answer is that the Chinese Empire prospered for a long time, allowing it to develop some really big city populations. The large rural population is mostly do to the size of the country.
The even shorter answer is "sex."
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