Reading to Be Done Before This Discussion: : Eberstadt, Nicholas.  2001. The population implosion.  Foreign Policy March/April, pp. 42-53.  Available  from library databases http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=4118574&site=ehost-live Note: Read the PDF version if you have the Adobe Acrobat Reader because it has all of the original maps and graphics.

Things to Bring to Class: Your own notes on the article and/or a printout.

Due in Discussion This Week: Answers to the questions below.

Due in Discussion Next Week: Questions as Usual.

Context: In Lecture we will examine many of the large political and philosophical questions surrounding population geography. You will be introduced to definitions and measurement techniques of the demographic conditions prevalent in particular places. In particular, you will be asked to understand and interpret two graphical models for the representation of population growth and change - population pyramids, and the Demographic Transition model.  The chapter on population in Knox and Marston provides a fairly thorough overview of the various issues involved in population growth, change, and politics.  As will become clear from lecture, your text book, and this reading, numbers and mathematical models are seldom simple neutral “facts,” but are used in specific contexts to support specific positions.

To Prepare for Discussion: During the later half of the 20^th century one of the major environmental concerns was the coming "population explosion."  While population continues to grow, author Nicholas Eberstadt argues that if current trends including declining birth rates, the aging of the world's population, and the emergence of epidemics like AIDS continue, the world may be headed for a "population implosion."  It is important to note that the declines in fertility are geographically uneven.  As you read think about what might account for different fertility rates in different places.  You will note that Eberstadt argues that most of the traditional explanations including the status of women and levels of development are contradicted by current trends.

The questions that begin on the next page will help guide our discussion.  Spend some time thinking carefully about answers to them.

Questions to be answered and turned in at the beginning of Class

Name:
Honor Code:

1.     In what regions of the world are fertility rates above replacement level?  Where are they below replacement level?

 

 

2.  What are the causes of fertility decline? 

 

 

3.  What are the implications of population decline in the United States and Europe for issues of migration?

 

 

4.  What caused the decline in life expectancy in Russia and the other former Soviet Republics? 

 

 

5.  This article focuses largely upon fertility rates.  Would the article be as optimistic if it had focused upon rates of natural increase/decrease? 

 

 

 

6.  What is one issue or question on this reading that you would like discussed in class?