One of the extra courses I'm taking this semester is called "The Health and Wealth of Nations." It's extremely insightful and interesting! We are presented with statistics, which I find incredibly exciting, and try to answer questions about the world's population.
Today we were specifically looking at the population's growth and transition regarding wealth and health.
One of the key statistical examples of looking at population growth is demographic pyramids. By looking at these pyramids we can see that, for example, Scotland has transitioned from looking like a pyramid (in 1861) to almost oval shaped (in 2001). As we can see in the figures below:
What's interesting to think about is that in 2013 Ghana looked a lot like Scotland did in 1861. But why is this!?
If we look at the figure of the demographic transition below, we can clearly see that over the years, especially since the industrial revolution, birth rate has decreased immensely. However, the total population has increased. This is due to the fact that the death rate has decreased as well, we are able to sustain life for longer with the health care that is provided. The main point that can be discussed here is that high birth rates drive population growth. Most of the growth occurs in "less developed" and very large countries.
In June of 2013 the world's population hit 7.2 billion people! By 2025 it is estimated to be 8.1 billion people, by 2050, 9.6 billion people. The question here is, "Does earth have a carrying capacity?" Do we need to take action?
China is one example of action regarding this approach. They introduced the one-child-policy in 1979. It was introduced to alleviate social, economic and environmental problems in China.
However, the policy does have exceptions. For example, rural families can have a second child if the first child is a girl or is disabled, also, parents who don't have siblings are allowed to have more than one child etc.
Hans Rosling is a Swedish academic, statistician and medical doctor. Rosling is the co-founder of Gapminder, which developed the
Trendalyzer software that converts international statistics into moving and interactive graphics (have a look at the website, it's really interesting and well presented!).
In this
video, Rosling explains that the gap between the poorest and richest is bigger than ever! He argues that as the population in the poorest countries is constantly growing, we need to help them "move out" of that phase if we are to stop population growth for the sake of the earth. Our natural resources are running out, and statisticians and scientists are afraid that if the population keeps growing, the earth won't be able to sustain us any longer.
We also discussed the economic and health inequalities within nations. Wilkinson and Pickett (here is a
link to an interview of the two academic epidemiologists) argue that greater equality is the material foundation on which better social relations are built. Furthermore, they argue that key health and social problems are worse in more unequal countries. Also, the 5% of people at the top have as much between them as the 75% at the bottom. This is very interesting to consider.
So, how do the bottom 20% compare with the top 20%? We know that the poor tend to be less healthy, but why? Do their health problems drag them down economically?
I could go on and on about this topic, but I'll leave it at that. I have linked the main websites my lecturer used for the slides below, and also where I got further information.
References
http://www.gro-scotland.gov.uk/files1/stats/scotlands-population-2004-the-register-generals-annual-review-150stedition/j9085d05.htm
http://moodle.ties.k12.mn.us/course/view.php?id=780
http://www.gapminder.org
http://www.theguardian.com/books/audio/2009/mar/05/the-spirit-level
http://www.equalitytrust.org.uk/resources/multimedia/infographic-adam-frost-and-rosie-roche
