West and Non-West Compared The 1974 Bucharest Conference on to population received bitter charges from the less developed countries that the rell’ problem w s not their own population increase but Uw ‘exaggerated consumerism” of the indu trivialized nations. As a rationale for the complacency about the population pressure in less developed countries, this is not very convincing, since there is no s~m…

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PROSPECTS FOR THE FUTURE Several of the industrialized countries have ‘already reached or approximated a stable population. These include East and West Germany, Austria, Belgium, and the United Kingdom. By 198~ it is probable that more than a billion people, one-fourth of the present world’s population, may live in countries which have ceased to have population growth. In the United States, the…

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Effects 0f Population Stabilization Many demographers and other scholars consider that a stable population and a relatively stable economy would be desirable (or.even inevitable, either by design or by catastrophe) [Meadows, 1972; Daly, 1973; Behrens, 1978]. But there are dissenting voices. The Japanese have been highly successful, in controlling population. growth, but some Japanese writers now warn of the cost of…

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Arttinatal Policies Governments may try to limit population worth by (1) providing facilities for contraception, abortion, and sterilization and encouraging their use; and (2) providing penalties for large families, and, less frequently,rewards for small families. Some would consider  that economic development, female emancipation, and reduced economic inequality. are ant fatalist. These developments probably encourage a ‘preference for smaller ‘ families aexcepted by…

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POPULATION POLICIES Although it is the personal decisions of men and women which determine the birthrate, governments have often tried to influence here decisions. Government policies have usually been prenatal, seeking to increase the birthrate. In Recent years some governments, like China, have adopted antenatal policies and sought to discourage large families women without husbands to have and keep children and still live on…

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The Marxist Critique Marxists belie~e that the Malthusian thesis’. that population must exceed the food supply may hold true but only.in exploitative social systems. They argue that capitalist colonialism has forced poor nations to produce and export specialty foods to rich countries, instead of concentrating upon producing foods needed to feed their own people [George,  977; Lappe  1977J. Marxists argue that when…

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Demographic Transition Theory Throughout most of history, birthrates and death rates have both been high, with very slow population growth. In most Western nations, advances in agriculture, science, medicine, and industry brought falling death rates beginning in the seventeenth or eighteenth centuries; meanwhile, birthrates remained high and rates of population growth multiplied enormously. Before’ long, however, the desire for a higher standard of living led…

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The Doomsday Debate How many people i~an .theearth support The earth’s “carrying capacity” involves three factors: (1) the ..resources available, (2) the level of technology, and (3),..the standard of living at which -people are supported. One estimate, for. example, claims that, at our present level of technology, the entire world could support only. 1 billion people at the American standard of living [Murdoch;…

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Catholics and Population Most Catholic pronouncements upon population policy acknowledge the existence of a population problem but denounce the most effective methods of birth control. It is often assumed that Roman Catholic teachings are a major obstacle to securing a lowered birthrate. This assumption is valid if one looks at ‘the effect of Catholic influence on government policies. However, if one looks at…

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Social Status and the Birthrate The folk proverb that the “rich get richer and the poor get babies” describes the relationship between social status and the birthrate. In general. urbanized, well-educated, and high income groups have lower birthrates, while rural, poorly educated, and low-income groups have higher birthrates (see Figure THE PLANNING ATTITUDE AND FAMILY SIZE. In the discussion of the deferred-gratification pattern…

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