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Issue Description
As the world’s population passes the seven billion mark, population growth is an increasingly pressing issue for humanity. Responding to the population explosion means taking sustainability, human development and resource consumption into account, and with the EU allowing freedom of movement across European borders, migration is also a hot topic in the UK. This book looks at the numerous debates surrounding population and migration.
The information comes from a wide range of sources and includes government reports and statistics, newspaper articles, features, magazine articles and surveys, literature from lobby groups and charitable organisations.
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Key Facts
- Even though the world population growth rate has slowed from 2.1 per cent per year in the late 1960s to 1.2 per cent today, the size of the world’s population has continued to increase – from five billion in 1987 to six billion in 1999, and to seven billion in 2011. (page 1)
- Since 1950 the richest fifth of humanity has doubled its consumption of energy, meat, timber, steel and copper per person and quadrupled its car ownership, while the poorest fifth of humanity has increased its general consumption hardly at all. (page 5)
- Fertility, mortality, migration, economic development, poverty and governance are the main drivers of population growth. (page 9)
- A survey commissioned by Population Matters found that over four out of five (84%) thought the world population was too high, with over half (53%) thinking it was much too high. (page 10)
- In Africa, about one in five married women of childbearing age (22%) have an unmet need for contraception. (page 16)
- We live in the Age of Migration, with a record 200 million people, or 3% of the world population, now living outside their country of birth. (page 20)
- The percentage of migrants varies greatly from country to country. Countries with a high percentage of migrants include Qatar (87 per cent), United Arab Emirates (70 per cent), Jordan (46 per cent), Singapore (41 per cent), and Saudi Arabia (28 per cent). (page 21)
- Seven in ten (71%) Britons say there are too many immigrants in the country and just a quarter (27%) believe immigration is good for the economy according to new research from Ipsos MORI. (page 27)
- Typhoons, cyclones, floods and drought are forcing more and more people to migrate. In the past year alone, extreme weather in Malaysia, Pakistan, the People’s Republic of China, the Philippines and Sri Lanka has caused temporary or longer-term dislocation of millions. (page 38)
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Table of Contents
Chapter 1 Population Pressure
The world at seven billion, Population growth, Population and human development: the key connections, Population facts, Population: assessment of global megatrends, Most think UK population ‘too high’, The population explosion, The overpopulation myth, Population bomb or consumption explosion?, Facts on satisfying the need for contraception in developing countries, China considers relaxing one-child policy, Population goals.
Chapter 2 Migration Trends
Migration, Migration: facts and figures, Transatlantic trends: immigration, Targeting uncertainty? EU migration in the UK, Immigration cap fails to reduce numbers coming to UK, Britain’s animosity to immigration should be addressed, not exploited, Too many immigrants?, Immigration ‘could cost social housing £25 billion’, MigrationWatch claims migrants are driving social housing demand, David Cameron launches immigration crackdown, Recession causes drop in EU immigration: OECD, International brain drain: workers looking overseas for a better job in some key markets, Jobless immigrants prefer to leave, Mothers and money, What is forced migration?, Migration due to climate demands attention, Climate refugee ‘crisis’ will not result in mass migration – new research.
