Ah - just what we need - more poor people
Guardian Unlimited | The Guardian | World faces population explosion in poor nations
They don't relate this to the war on terror directly - but for me it's one of th ebig reason why we need to change directions fast and star creating something at least vaguely resembling a level playing field.
Posted by Greg Stone at August 18, 2004 02:50 AMThe world is heading for wildly uneven population swings in the next 45 years, with many rich countries "downsizing" during a period in which almost all developing nations will grow at breakneck speed, according to a comprehensive report by leading US demographers released yesterday.
They predict that at least an extra 1,000 million will be living in the world's poorest African countries by 2050. There will be an extra 120 million more Americans, and India will leapfrog China to become the world's most populous country. One in six people in western Europe will be over the age of 65 by 2050.
But the populations of some countries will shrink. Based on a number of factors, including analysis of birth and death rates, Bulgaria is expected to lose almost 40 per cent of its population.
Britain is expected to grow faster than any other major European country. Within 20 years, the authors expect it to have four million more people, at which point its growth is expected to tail off, adding only a further 1.5 million in the next 25 years to eventually reach 65 million. By then it will have overtaken France as Europe's second or third largest country, depending whether Russia is classed to be in Europe or partly in Asia.
The changes, considered inevitable given present trends, will transform geo-politics and fundamentally affect the world's economies, people's lifestyles and global resources, suggest demographers with the Washington-based Population Reference Bureau.
