Massive Population Growth Research Articles

Second Units and Housing Crisis in California

California is undergoing massive population growth. Accompanying this growth is a need for affordable housing. Unfortunately, housing costs are still out of reach for many Californians. To these people, the American dream of home ownership is and will always be simply a dream. Even rental costs lie outside the reach of many individuals. This article examines the way in which California, in general, and San Diego County municipalities, in particular, are reacting to changes in the housing market and to the pressing need for more rental housing. Allowing second units in single-family or multifamily residential zones offers one way of providing affordable rental housing to some segments of the population.

The aesthetics and education of landscape planning in China

China was the first country to follow a “natural” approach to garden design. Furthermore, the love of, and the sensitivity towards, the aesthetics of nature were widespread in the areas of philosophy, art, literature and painting for more than 3000 years. This traditional aesthetic idea of landscape design in China had a great influence over the world. In modern times, due to heavy industrialization and massive population growth, China is faced with such critical problems as rapid urban expansion and the destruction of natural and historic environments. China now has 324 cities and has decided to establish 494 National Nature Reserves with a total area of 16.8 million ha occupying 1.75% of the total land area of China, and has approved a first list of 40 National Landscape and Historic Sites. Yet, with much landscape planning to be done, China has few professional landscape planners.

Population and Marketing Settlements in Ch'ing China

The historical records of Ch'ing China (1644 1911) contain numerous statistics concerning the population in local areas and the distribution of markets. These figures provide information on two of the most important and least understood factors that were to affect China's modern development: the massive population growth prior to 1850 and the tenacity of small-scale markets as the focus of commercialisation. This book presents and evaluates the data from northern China to ascertain the quality of available records and to determine what they can tell is about variations from area to area and from period to The analysis of population centres on sex rations, age distributions, mean household size and growth rates. Without overlooking limitations in the data, this study emphasises the implications of the findings for general problems in the social history of the Ch'ing period.

Much ado about nothing: urbanization, predictions and censuses in Papua New Guinea.

Urbanization trends in Papua New Guinea are analyzed using official data from the 1971 and 1980 censuses. The author suggests that the massive urban population growth rate for 1966-1971 was a figment of post-enumeration miscalculation. However, the data indicate that the annual urban growth rate for the period 1971-1980 was nearly four times higher than the growth rate for the population as a whole.

Population and development: fact, fancy and politics.

Massive population growth is an accepted fact in developing countries at a time when developed, Western countries, i.e., the U.S., have become increasingly disenchanted with foreign aid. The gap between the very rich and very poor becomes wider and sharper. Most people live either in countries where the per capita income is below $320 or above $1,280. Lowering fertility rates would be favorable to economic conditions in the long run but with little short-run effect, population control is not a high priority government activity. The theme of the 1974 Bucharest Conference was that if development were encouraged, fertility would take care of itself. Programs which directly influence fertility rates are needed to improve development. Family planning programs are low cost compared to other development policies, and they improve maternal and child health. Women cannot be educated or employed unless they have the freedom of choice not to have children or when to have children. Western enthusiasm for fertility control has been met with suspicion in many devleoping areas. Western attitudes should be balanced by restructuring world trade and constructing relationships which would hasten economic development.

The Modern Rise of Population

Thomas McKeown presents here an explanation of the massive population growth that began around the end of the 17th century and has continued to the present. McKeown's principal focus is Great Britain, but he applies his findings to other areas of the world as well. He writes with greatest confidence about the period since 1838, when regular registration began providing accurate data of the causes of death. However, he has also attempted, with some success, to extrapolate back another 150 years on the basis of piecemeal evidence. McKeown concludes that by far the most important factor in the population explosion has been the steady decline in mortality from infectious diseases. This resulted chiefly, he believes, from a substantial increase in food supplies during the 18th and 19th centuries, which permitted better nutrition, and from 19th century improvements in public hygiene. He finds that fertility change has not been particularly noteworthy

"Thinking the unthinkable": the prospect of compulsory sterilization in India.

The National Population Policy Statement adopted by the Government of India in April 1976 gave states the mandate to adopt coercive and compulsory sterilization measures toward the end of bringing under control the nation's massive population growth. Many states have since adopted stringent measures which penalize couples having three or more children, and four states additionally have proposed legislation for compulsory sterilization. While the demographic impact of compulsory sterilization after the third child is undisputed, the administrative feasibility of such and undertaking has been widely questioned, particularly in light of the inadequacy of India's medical infrastructure in the rural areas. Critics further have raised questions concerning the social and ethical implications of compulsory sterilization and of measures which penalize the poor through means which may have adverse effects on their health and welfare. Finally, opponents of the new sterilization measures have suggested that they divert attention from the need for more basic changes in the nation's economic and social structure. While the need for bringing down India's continued high birth rate is widely recognized, alternative population measures-e.g. increased abortion facilities and an enforcement of the raised age at marriage-have been advocated in lieu of the compulsory sterilization measures currently being proposed.

Prospects for Reducing Natality in the Underdeveloped World

The prospects for reductions in birth rates in the less industrialized countries are improving owing to the increas ingly favorable climate of opinion relating to birth control, the invention of better contraceptives, and the adoption of national family planning programs. Some twenty-three countries, in cluding over half the population in the developing countries, now have such programs. These are too new to have had a measurable effect on the birth rate in most countries. Never theless, the birth rate is already falling in a few of the eco nomically more progressive countries in East Asia such as Taiwan, Korea, and Singapore. These reductions in the birth rate may be expected to deepen and spread, accelerated by national family programs operating within the context of rapid socioeconomic change. In two decades the solutions to the world population problem may well be in sight, though not yet fully achieved. But these changes will not occur fast enough to forestall massive population growth and continuing critical problems of population at least through the next decade.

Anticipating the Health Needs of Americans: Some Demographic Projections

Barring a major catastrophe, the health services will have to provide for massive population growth in the decades ahead. A reasonable forecast gives increases of 19 per cent for the present decade and 44 per cent for the period 1960-1980, with a corresponding increased need for medical services. This will be added to existing unfulfilled needs for the care of the aged and those suffering from chronic illness. The aged will continue to increase rapidly in number, but the largest absolute growth of population will be among children and, later, among young adults. Contrary to popular impres sions, the greatest percentage increase in future need for medical services may well be in the treatment of acute condi tions rather than chronic conditions more characteristic of the aged. Further, the general upward trend in social and eco nomic characteristics and expectations means an increased demand for all medical services over and above those arising from population change. There will be a much larger popu lation, better informed and better able to command improved medical services. Fortunately, demographic changes offer part of the solution as well as part of the problem. During the next decade, there will be a rapidly growing reservoir of young people from which to recruit nurses, doctors, and other health service personnel.