Population Explosion Worksheet
[Author: Ivan Langton]
Introduction
This web page is designed to show you about:
How the world’s population is increasing
Why the world’s population is increasing
The impact of the population increase
How to reduce the rates of population increase
By completing the tasks below, you will get a better understanding of the world’s
population and how it can affect you.
Tasks
1. Open the web page by clicking http://www-popexpo.ined.fr/english.html
2. Click on ‘6 Billion human beings’
You are now ready to start answering these questions. (The titles inserted amongst the
questions are linked to titles on the web pages)
Remember this is an interactive web page and in completing the tasks you will find your
answers.
The world today
1. What is the population of the world when you opened this web page?
More than 6 billion people on earth.
2. How many people were on the earth when you were born and what percentage has
the population increased by since then?
No. Of people: 5.842.995.000
20% Increase
3. What is the predicted population in 120 years time?
48 billion people.
4. How many babies come to life everyday?
400 000 babies come
to life.
How many children in your lifetime?
5. How many babies is it possible for a woman to have in her lifetime?
24 babies.
6. If a woman became sterile at 45, how many babies is it possible for her to have?
21 babies.
7. What are the main reasons why women do not have this many children?
Marriage that delays the
first birth.
Breastfeeding.
Birth control.
8. Enter on the web page the best age for a woman to get married. How many does
this reduce the fertility potential (the number of babies you can have) by?
15-11 babies.
9. What is the average age of marriage in the regions listed below?
North America
Latin America
Africa
23
22
19
Europe
Asia
Oceania
23
21
23
10. Enter on the web page the number of months you think a woman should breastfeed
for. How much does the birth potential reduce by?
11 to 7.
11. How many months, on average, do women from each of the regions below
breastfeed?
North America
Latin America
Africa
1
9
18
Europe
Asia
Oceania
1
17
3
How many children in your lifetime?
12. Enter on the web page the number of children you want. If you do not use birth
control, how many children could you have?
12.
13. For each of the birth control methods shown below, write down their efficiency rate.
Efficiency rate
100%
60%
90%
99%
99%
100%
Have no sex
Withdrawal
Condoms
Pill
IUD
Sterilization
14. What is the most common form of birth control worldwide?
Sterilization.
15. What percentage of fertile-aged couples use birth control in the regions listed
below?
North America
Latin America
Africa
74%
67%
19%
Europe
Asia
Oceania
77%
60%
76%
16. How many people die every day?
140 000
17. What are the main causes of death?
50 000 people die from infection
35 000 people die from cardioscular
15 000 people die from cancer
10 000 people die from violent death
10 000 children die from diarrhea
30 000 children under 5
1 000 childbirth
Death, a game of chance?
18. What percentage of babies born the same time as you are already dead?
12%-13%
19. Now look at each of the regions below, what percentage are still alive?
North America
Latin America
Africa
97%
91%
77%
Europe
Asia
Oceania
96%
87%
96%
20. What percentage of the world’s population is older than you:
Now?
In 25 years
time?
In 50 years
time?
70%
36%
14%
21. Look at the regions below and work out the percentage of the population that is
older and younger than you.
North America
Latin America
Africa
Older
79%
68%
57%
Younger
19%
29%
40%
Europe
Asia
Oceania
Older
82%
69%
75%
Younger
16%
28%
22%
Towards stability
22. What was important about each of these periods in human history?
10,000BC
Most of the food is stable, mortality decrease and population
increase.
First
Millennium
The population grow slowly and some of the people die
because of famine, war, or disease.
14th Century
From 1358-1650 there is a massive declines.
1750
Famine disappears and epidemics are less serious, deaths
less than birth.
1930
In industrial countries the usage of contraceptive methods is
becoming worldwide from Europe and North America, the
population growing fast.
2000
In Africa and some part of Asia, now they get the benefits of
modern medicine and in China and India the number of
children per woman is decreasing but, still each year there
are 90 million more peoples.
Questions for our future?
23. Will our natural resources run out?
Yes, because natural resources was made in nature not by human our machine
if we keep using it someday the natural resources will run out. If everyone on
the planet today adopted a North America lifestyle, natural resources would
quickly be exhausted. Our survival depends on population control as well as a
better management of natural resources.
24. Will we all live in large cities?
In 1994 one of every two people lived in the city, while only one in ten did so
in 1900.
25. Will starvation increase?
In spite of the population increase, famines have become less frequent in the
past two hundred years, thanks to phenomenal agricultural yields, and global
economy.
26. Is population ageing a threat?
No.
27. Will AIDS decimate our population?
28. What is the population of the world now and how much has it increased by?
29. Using the information gathered on this worksheet, answer in detail, the following
question.
What do you think are the best ways of slowing population increase in the developing countries?
Birth Control.