Population Development, Demography and Historical Perspective

Abstract

Chapter 3 concentrates on demographical perspectives such as human population development in different regions. It also gives an historical background to human development. In most regions of the world the population increase dropped significantly as economy improved and political stability increased. The population is still increasing rapidly mainly in countries where the political stability is poor; especially in several African countries. Life expectancy has also increased dramatically over the last 100 years, giving many more old people close to 100 years, in relation to the total population. The historical development shows that steps were taken to dramatically increase productivity of crops in early farming, as well as during the “green revolution” over the last 50 years, with harvests more than doubling. We can also see that the population has dramatically decreased several times due to natural disasters like in 536 AC, due to volcanic activity as well as plague in the mid-fourteenth century.