Higher Population Growth Rates
Global population has skyrocketed since the beginning of the industrial era. from just under 1 billion in 1800 to 1.65 billion in 1900 and to over 6 billion 2000. World population topped 7 by 2012. Rapid population growth began in Europe and other now developed countries. But in recent decades, most population growth has been centered in the developing world. Compared with the developed countries, which often have birth rates near or even below replacement (zero population growth) levels, the low-income developing countries have very high birth rates. More than five-sixths of all the people in the world now live in developing countries; and some 97% of net population growth (births minus deaths) in 2012 took place in developing regions
But population dynamics varies widely among developing countries. Populations of some developing countries, particularly in Africa, continue to grow rapidly . from 1990 to 2008, population in the low-income countries grew at 2.2% per year, compared to 1.3% in the middle-income countries (the high-income countries grew 0.7% per year, reflecting both births and immigration)
Middle-income developing countries show great variance, with some having achieved lower birth rates closer to those prevailing in rich countries. The birth rate is about three times as high in the low-income countries as in the high-income countries. In sub-Sahara Africa, the annual birth rate is 39 per 1,000 -four times the rate in high-income countries. Intermediate but still relatively high birth rates are found in South Asia, the Middle East and North Africa, and Latin America and the Caribbean. East Asia and the Pacific have a moderate birth rate of 14 per 1,000, partly the result of birth control policies in China. The very wide range of crude birth rates around the world is illustrated in Table 2.7. As of 2010, the average rate of population growth was about 1.4% in the developing countries
A major implication of high birth rates is that the active labor force has to support proportionally almost twice as many children as it does in richer countries. By contrast, the proportion of people over the age of 65 is much