Wil Crane
Mrs. Bazz
27 Feb 2105
Period 3 What Will Our Planet
ACTUALLY
Look Like in 2050? 2011 was a historic year for the human population. That year, the 7th billion person was born. In 1800, there were only 1 billion, or 1/8th the population living on earth that are here today. This period of rapid population growth has many people wondering if the planet can hold and sustain all these people. Advancing technologies in medicine will increase life expectancy and decrease infant mortality. However, will we still have issues with extreme birth rates in less developed countries where knowledge and education are second to survival?
Less developed countries, or LDC’s, are countries in this world where the citizens don’t have access to natural human rights such as clean water, health care, or a stable food supply.
Another issue in these countries are the extremely high birth rates. According to the HDI packet, the average birth rate per mother in LDC’s like Southeast Asia and Central Africa are 6+. This may be due to the fact that families need more children to help work on the farms and do other chores just to help the family live day to day. But this may be due to lack of knowledge of how babies are really developed. In more developed countries, or MDC’s, birth rates are lower because families don’t need more children to help tend crops or livestock. Having two or three offspring is all families need.
Another problem LDC’s are having are superior infant mortality rates. HDI packet has reported the highest percentages of infant mortality in locations like Central Africa and Southeast
Asia. These are the same places that are having problems with birth rates as well. Perhaps the reason for such larges families is because most of the children won't make it to age 2. However, there are ways to change these growing problems. By spreading technologies in medicine to
LDC’s from MDC’s, mothers can have access to health care and reduce infant mortality rates and perhaps birth rates.
