Better to write for yourself and have no public, than to write for the public and have no self. - Cyril Connolly
Monday, January 17, 2005
This is News?
BBC reports that at least 2.5 billion people have been affected by natural disasters over the past 10 years - an increase of 60% over the previous decade, the UN says.
The 2000 growth rate of 1.4 percent, when applied to the world's 6.1 billion population, yields an annual increase of about 85 million people. Because of the large and increasing population size, the number of people added to the global population will remain high for several decades, even as growth rates continue to decline.
Between 2000 and 2030, nearly 100 percent of this annual growth will occur in the less developed countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, whose population growth rates are much higher than those in more developed countries. Growth rates of 1.9 percent and higher mean that populations would double in about 36 years, if these rates continue.
I'm not saying this isn't a serious issue or that we shouldn't be concerned and attempt to address it, but we shouldn't be surprised and should have been planning for it long before this.
