Population Demographics
and Human Impact
Objectives:
1. Become familiar with standard criteria for characterizing human populations.
2. Explore various factors that may contribute to population growth potential.
3. Consider relationships between economic, population, and environmental factors and their implications
globally.
Introduction:
Humans have an impact on their environments greater than the impact of any other single species. How and
why populations grow, the distribution of these populations spatially, and the impact of individuals in different
societies or locations are all important topics in environmental science. Human impact can be characterized by
the equation:
Impact = P * A * T * S
where P is Population number, A is the level of Affluence of the population, T is the extent to which the
Technology used is environmentally friendly or destructive, and S is the sensitivity of the environment.
Because affluence (and the corresponding level of consumption) is so important in the impact equation, the
human impact problem cannot be addressed without considering consumption as well as population growth.
In this lab, you will evaluate population characteristics, measures of affluence and technology, to create a
description of environmental impact in 4 countries. The spreadsheet attached to this lab contains population
and other data for most of the countries of the world. These statistics are summarized from two sources: The
United Nations Development Program’s Human Development Report 2001 (www.undp.org/hdr2001)
specifically the tables from the Human Development Index and The World Resources Institute EarthTrends
information tables (earthtrends.wri.org)
In the lab you will have copies of photographs from the book: Material World: A Global Portrait, by Peter
Menzel. Compare the pictures for the four countries, and review the table of statistics for these countries and
their representative families.
Some of the statistics used to characterize population changes include:
Crude birthrate (births/1,000 population)
Crude deathrate (deaths/1,000 population)
Total fertility rate (number of children born per woman)
Infant mortality (number of deaths before the first birthday /1,000 live births)
Population growth rate (%growth /year)
Population doubling time (number of years to achieve doubling)
Age structure of the population
Some of the characteristics that could be used to evaluate affluence:
Adult literacy
Gross Domestic Product per capita (a measure similar to GNP)
Average annual salary
Percent unemployment or underemployment
Calorie intake per capita
Percentage of calories from meat
Automobile ownership per capita
Television, radio, or telephone ownership per capita
Energy consumption per capita
Proportion of energy consumption from traditional fuel sources (wood, dung, etc.)
Some of the characteristics that could be used to evaluate an environmental aspect of technology (there
are many others)
Electricity use per capita or per unit of GDP
Levels of air pollutants
Use of alternative energy sources
Energy efficiency of automobile fleet
Energy efficiency of industrial processes
Percentage of land in preserves
Percentage of species endangered/threatened
Degree of erosion of farmland
Ratification of international environmental treaties
Existence (and enforcement) of national environmental legislation
Deliverables:
1. One page that describes the human impact in these four countries in terms of population, affluence,
technology, and sensitivity. Your answer may be an essay, a table of information, a chart or concept
map. If you write an essay, it should be single spaced within paragraphs, double spaced between
paragraphs. You should consider the photographs and the population data spreadsheet in your response.
2. What differences did you notice about your reaction to the information in the population spreadsheet
versus the Material World photos?
3. If you could wave a magic wand and change one thing in each of these four countries to reduce the
human impact in the country, what would you change and why?
Family Statistics for the Four Countries
Mali
11
Haiti
6
Thailand
5
U.S.
4
Square feet of dwelling per family
member
Per capita income
90
54
145
400
$251
$374
$1697
$22,356
Most valued possession
bicycle
None of any
value
Motor scooter
Bible
1
0
0
0
1
0
0
0
0
0
3+3 stereos
5
2
1
4(in photo)
Automobiles 0
0
1
0
1
0
1 motor
scooter
0
60
55
30
1,721
42
42
40
20 + housework
2,365
3,609
Sweet
potatoes
Rice, shrimp
paste, bamboo
shoots, red
pork,
cucumbers
Meat, potatoes,
carrots, onions,
green beans,
pepper
Number of people in household
Number of:
Radios
Telephones
Televisions
VCRs
Bicycles
Length of work week per:
Father
Mother
Child
Average per capita daily calorie
consumption
Typical meal:
112
112
2,040
Rice, fish
3
1 computer
Source: Peter Menzel, Material World: A Global Family Portrait (San Francisco: Sierra Club Books, 1994), Per capita calorie
calories from: http://www.overpopulation.com/faq/Natural_Resources/Food/calorie_consumption_per_capita/north_america.html
(accessed January 16, 2002). Several UN organizations use 2,300 calories per day as the minimum level of acceptable nutrition
for a healthy population.