Question 1- Population
1. Population Growth
Population growth is “an increase in the number of people that reside in a country, state, county, or city” (BusinessDictionary.com, n.d.). As of 2015, the world’s population is estimated at 7.3 billion and will continue to grow. The UN estimates that by 2050, the population will grow to 9.7 billion and by 2100, 11.2 billion people will have to cram together on the face of this Earth (Becker, 2015). Natural increase occurs when the birth rate exceeds death rate and usually accounts for population growth. Surprisingly, even with a huge drop in global fertility rate from 4.45 in 1970 to around 2.5 in 2014 (The Astounding Drop in Global Fertility Rates Between 1970 And 2014, 2015), the world’s population
…show more content…
With more people residing on this planet, it means that the demand for resources such as food, land and non-renewable will be higher. However, there are not enough resources to support the world’s population (Guillebaud, 2014) as resources are limited but we have unlimited wants. One example will be the shortage of land in terms of housing which UK is currently facing. With the increase in population, it will aggravate the existing shortage of housing and cause the prices to rise, reducing affordability of the people (Pettinger, 2015). To make space for more infrastructures to be built, deforestation have to take place which results in habitat destruction, a reduction in soil fertility leading to decrease in biodiversity (Impact of population growth and natural hazards on biodiversity, …show more content…
This growth is reported to be the slowest in a decade, with an increase of only 1.2 percent. (Singapore population hits 5.54m but growth slowest in a decade, 2015). However, the number of citizens aged 65 and above is increasing rapidly, as population growth slows. The size of this group of citizens doubled from 220,000 in 2000 to 440,000 today (Ng, 2015). This means that Singapore will be facing a shrinking and ageing workforce which is also faced by China. China is the world’s most populous country with a population of 1,367,485,388 (World’s 50 Most Populous Countries, 2015). In China’s attempt to curb the explosive population growth and the restraints on resources, a one-child policy was introduced whereby each couple were only allowed to have one child. Little did they expect the policy to be the very cause of their ageing and shrinking workforce today.
An ageing and shrinking population will increase the economic burden of the working population, reduce the consumption of goods and services and point towards a less vibrant economy. Multi-national will therefore choose not to set up locally and local companies may relocate. This will affect the economic growth of a country drastically as there will be less jobs available, resulting in lesser income being generated (Issues Paper 2012- Our Demographics Challenges