8Chapter

250 Chapter 8 • Study Guide

Lesson 1 trends in human population Growth• Technological advances of the Industrial Revolution, espe-

cially in agriculture and industry, changed the ways people lived and triggered remarkable increases in population size. Improvements in sanitation and medical technology led to lower death rates.

• The human population’s growth rate has decreased over the past several decades, but the population still continues to grow.

• Demographers study the size, density, and distribution of human populations. Density describes how many people live in a square mile or square kilometer, and distribu- tion describes how and where the human population is clustered.

Industrial Revolution (229) infant mortality (230) life expectancy (230) growth rate (231) demography (232)

Lesson 2 predicting population Growth• Fertility rate helps demographers predict the rates at

which populations will grow in the future. Total fertility rate is the average number of children a woman has during her lifetime. Replacement fertility is the total fertility rate required to keep a population size stable.

• Age structure and sex ratios define a population’s potential for growth.

• The demographic transition may explain the reason that some industrialized nations have experienced a large drop in birthrates and death rates.

• Social factors, such as wealth and education, affect a nation’s population growth and its resource use. Popula-tion growth rates in developing nations are usually higher than in developed nations.

total fertility rate (235) replacement fertility (235) demographic transition (238)

Lesson 3 people and their environments • People have an enormous impact on their environment,

but the types of impacts can differ based on the character-istics of a particular society. Affluent societies consume a lot of resources. Poor societies may place great demands on fragile environments to meet their needs for food, water, and other resources.

• Technology can have both negative and positive impacts on the environment. Many modern-day technologies have involved short-sighted exploitation of resources such as soil, fossil fuels, forests, and oceans. A new trend is to use technologies that take advantage of solar, wind, and geothermal energy to produce cheaper, cleaner, renewable energy.

wealth gap (244)

InquIry LABs And ActIvItIes• Longevity How do local obituaries compare to national figures on

life expectancy? Graph the two to find out.• Using Census Data Find census data on age structure for your town, and

compare it with national and historical data. • Interpreting Age Structure Read age structure diagrams for Haiti and Japan to

compare trends in population growth.

Lesson 1 Why do we study human

populations?Lesson 2

How might the human population’s growth rate

change in the future?

Lesson 3 What factors influence the

impact a population has on its environment?

How does the human population affect the

environment?

Study ReSouRceS

Chapter 8 Self Test • Chapter 8 Worksheets • Chapter 8 Overview Presentation (for PowerPoint)

Human Population 251

Consider both the benefits and costs associated with China’s one-child policy. Do you think governments should be able to enforce policies like China’s? If you think they should, explain why. If not, explain other ways a government might deal with the resource demands of a quickly growing population.

6. The model that describes how industrialized nations undergo a large drop in birthrates and death rates is called

a. life expectancy. b. demography. c. the fertility rate transition. d. the demographic transition.

7. Which of these factors does NOT affect population growth?

a. educating women b. poverty c. statistics d. policy

8. Regions of the world with the largest populations tend to

a. have the largest share of global wealth. b. have a smaller share of global wealth. c. use the most resources per person. d. have the largest ecological footprints.

9. Which of the following does NOT affect a person’s quality of life?

a. replacement fertility b. access to education c. available living space d. food supply

10. How can technology affect human impact on the environment?

a. It can both increase and reduce human impact. b. It always increases human impact. c. It always reduces human impact. d. It rarely affects human impact.

Modified True/FalseWrite true if the statement is true. If it is false change the underlined word or words to make the statement true.

11. The study of human populations is called demography.

12. Population size describes how a population is clumped, spatially.

Review Concepts and Terms 1. The human population today is approximately a. 300 million. b. 1.3 billion. c. 6.8 billion. d. 10 billion.

2. For most of human history, the population has been relatively

a. small and stable. b. small and rapidly growing. c. large and shrinking. d. large and rapidly growing.

3. Recently, the size of the human population has been

a. decreasing slowly. b. decreasing exponentially. c. increasing slowly. d. increasing exponentially.

4. Which fertility rate keeps the population size stable?

a. replacement fertility b. stable fertility c. balanced sex ratio d. total fertility rate

5. How individuals of different ages are distributed in a population is called the population’s

a. age ratio. b. age structure. c. sex ratio. d. sex structure.

ANSWERS

Chapter Assessment For answers to the Chapter Assessment, see page A–12 at the back of the book.

8Chapter

252 Chapter 8 • Assessment

13. A population’s total fertility rate is the average number of children a female member of the population has during her lifetime.

14. The number of males compared to females in a population is the population’s age structure.

15. Affluent individuals tend to consume more resources than those from poorer societies.

Reading Comprehension Read the following selection and answer the questions that follow.Everywhere in sub-Saharan Africa, AIDS is under-mining the ability of developing nations to make the transition to modern technologies because it is removing many of the most productive members of society—young adults. In 1999 Zambia lost 600 teachers to AIDS, and only 300 new teachers gradu-ated to replace them. In Rwanda, more than one in three college-educated residents of the city of Kigali are infected with HIV. South Africa loses an estimated $7 billion per year to declines in its labor force as AIDS patients fill hospitals.

The result is a slow economy with high unem-ployment, a shortage of trained workers, and a high level of poverty. The loss of productive household members to AIDS causes families and communi-ties to break down as income and food production decline, while medical expenses and debt skyrocket.

16. What do you think has happened to estimated life expectancy in parts of sub-Saharan Africa?

a. It has fallen dramatically in the past few decades.

b. It is just starting to fall. c. It is on the rise. d. It has stabilized.

17. According to the selection, what is one way that the AIDS epidemic has affected education in sub-Saharan Africa?

a. More people are enrolling in training programs. b. Teachers have been lost to the epidemic faster

than they can be replaced. c. There aren’t enough children to keep schools

open. d. There isn’t enough food for schools to operate.

Short Answer 18. What is the difference between population density

and population distribution? 19. Explain why even though the global human

population’s growth rate is declining, the human population is growing.

20. What does replacement fertility mean? 21. What might the age structure diagram of a rapidly

growing population look like? 22. What is one hypothesis proposed to explain why

the naturally occurring human sex ratio has slightly more males than females?

23. What is the demographic transition model used to explain?

24. How does an increase in population size affect the impact of that population on the environment?

25. Describe two factors that affect a person’s quality of life.

Critical Thinking 26. Synthesize Why does examining population size,

density, and distribution together give you a bet-ter understanding of a population than looking at these characteristics separately?

27. Form an Opinion Do you think human popula-tion growth is a problem? Why or why not?

28. Infer Why do you think the human replacement fertility in many nations is 2.1 rather than 2.0?

29. Explain How does the demographic transition explain the increase in population growth rates in recent centuries in some nations? How does it explain the decrease in population growth rates in recent decades in some nations?

30. Form an Opinion Do you think that all of today’s developing nations will complete the demo-graphic transition? Why or why not?

31. Review Explain how both poverty and affluence affect the environment in different ways.

32. Form an Opinion When forming population-control policies, do you think it is important for governments to consider quality of life issues? Why or why not?

Ecological Footprints

1970

17.6

29.6

17.2

15.4

20.2

25.8

32.6

16.5

14.2

10.8

5+ people4 people3 people

2 people1 person

Perc

enta

ge o

f hou

seho

lds

2000Data from U.S. Census Bureau.

Brazil Ethiopia Japan Mexico Russia United States

$8230 $1000

$31,410 $10,030 $10,640 $41,950

186.874.8

127.8108.3142.3299.1

2.10.84.42.64.49.6

392.3

2871.4

A�uence(per person income)

Nation Population(millions of people)

Personal Ecological Footprint (ha/person)

TotalEcological Footprint (millions of ha)

Data sources: Population Reference Bureau. 2006. World population data sheet 2006; and WWF–World Wide Fund for Nature, 2006. Living planet report. Gland, Switzerland: WWF.

Human Population 253

Read the information below. Copy the table in your notebook and record your

calculations. Then, answer the questions that follow.

Population size and affluence each affect a nation’s environmental impact. The data (from 2006) in the table will help you to explore how population, affluence, and impact are related. 1. Calculate the total ecological footprint for

each nation. (Hint: Multiply the population size by the personal ecological footprint of each person.)

2. Look at the affluence and personal ecological footprints of people in each nation. Do you observe a relationship between these two factors? Explain.

Analyze DataAs the population of the United States has increased, the average number of people per household has also changed. The graph shows the percentage of U.S. house-holds of different sizes in 1970 and 2000. Use the graph to answer Questions 33 and 34.

33. Interpret Graphs Did household sizes generally increase, decrease, or stay the same from 1970 to 2000?

34. Draw Conclusions How do you think these changes in household size may have affected resource consumption?

Write About It 35. Review Describe how the human population has

grown over time. 36. Compare and Contrast Define the term ecological

footprint. Describe how the ecological footprint of an average American differs from that of a person living in a developing nation.

37. Explain Why do environmental scientists consider limitless human population growth a problem?

38. Apply the BIGQUESTION Suppose you are liv-ing in the year 3000. You are a reporter writing an article about the quality of life of the average person. Write two versions of the article. In one article, you are living in a global population that has continued to grow. In the other article, you are living in a global population that has leveled off at the current population size.