7 Billion: How Did We Get So Big So Fast?
Watch as global population explodes from 300 million to 7 billion.
As NPR's Adam Cole reports, it was just over two centuries ago that the global population was 1 billion — in 1804.But better medicine and improved agriculture resulted in higher life expectancy for children, dramatically increasing the world population.
NPR 的 Adam Cole 報導,就在兩個世紀前,全球人口是1 億—1804 年。更好的藥物和農業技術的提升讓兒童有較高的預期壽命,也極大地提高世界人口的總量。
NPR explains how we reached a population of 7 billion.
Simply put, the world is making babies faster than people are dying, and with improved medicine and agriculture, people are living longer than before. The video above demonstrates the different birth and mortality rates, where each container represents a continent.
There has been a shift in recent years:
Much of that growth has happened in Asia — in India and China. Those two countries have been among the world's most populous for centuries. But a demographic shift is taking place as the countries have modernized and lowered their fertility rates. Now, the biggest growth is taking place in sub-Saharan Africa.
NPR(美國公共廣播電台)說明地球上的人口如何達到了70億。(註:在2011年11月1日達到這個數目)
簡而言之,世界上的出生速度比死亡快,而進步的醫藥及農業技術,讓人們活得比以前更長。
上面的影片演示了不同的出生率和死亡率,其中每個容器代表了一個大陸 。
近年來出現了轉變:大部分的成長率出現在亞洲--印度和中國。幾個世紀以來,他們已躋身於世界上人口最稠密的國家。但人口結構正在發生變化,這些國家開始現代化,並降低其生育率。
現在,最大的人口成長率是在非洲的撒哈拉以南。
Due in part to that region's extreme poverty, infant mortality rates are high and access to family planning is low. The result is high birth rates and a booming population of 900 million —
a number that could triple by the end of the century.
由於部分地區極端貧窮,嬰兒死亡率很高,家庭計劃成效不彰。其結果是高出生率和激增的人口總數-900 萬,這個數量可能在這個世紀末增加三倍。
雖然說台灣一直在提倡生育率,不過就全球資源分配不均的情況而言,
人口過剩是我們必須正視的一個議題。
牽涉到兒童人權的保護及生為一個人的基本尊嚴。過多人口也將造成水資源及糧食危機和對生態環境的人為破壞。前兩項造成廣泛的社會性問題,而生態的破壞則對地球造成無可逆轉的傷害。
禮記:人不獨親其親,不獨子其子,使老有所終,壯有所用,幼有所長,矜寡孤獨廢疾者,皆有所養。
社會新聞日復一日展示的那些貪婪及墮落,暴力虐待冷漠。
令人傷心。
為了下一代的未來及美麗的地球,我們必須要更努力才行。
[NPR via Graphic Sociology]
資料來源:節錄自 NPR網站 FlowingData網站 FACEBOOK熱臉貼冷世界
影片來源: YOUTUBE