Population Matters Policy Brief. Population and Environment. A Complex Relationship

Abstract

Between 1960 and 1999, Earth's population doubled from three billion to six billion people. In many ways, this reflected good news for humanity: child mortality rates plummeted, life expectancy increased, and people were on average healthier and better nourished than at any time in history. However, during the same period, changes in the global environment began to accelerate: pollution heightened, resource depletion continued, and the threat of rising sea levels increased. Does the simultaneous occurrence of population growth and environmental decline over the past century indicate that more people translate into greater environmental degradation?

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jan 01, 2000
Accession Number
ADA393197

Entities

Organizations

  • RAND Corporation

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Materials and Manufacturing Processes
  • Space

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Climate Change
  • Demography
  • Developing Nations
  • Dynamics
  • Energy Consumption
  • Energy Efficiency
  • Environment
  • Forests
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Greenhouse Effect
  • Greenhouse Gases
  • Human Population
  • Nations
  • Natural Gas
  • Production
  • Sea Level
  • Sea Level Rise

Fields of Study

  • Environmental science

Readers

  • Economics