Variation of Population Among Nation

Introduction

On Earth, the existence of life forms took more than 4,000 million years to occur. It took various chemical reactions on the earth's surface to have life forms on it. The real change occurred more than 600 million years ago when tremendous growth in life forms was seen on earth. Human beings are not too old; they have a history of a few million years back when they came into existence on earth.

However, the conditions on earth have always been more or less suitable for human beings and hence it found supportive life conditions on the ground due to which, its population grew enormously. The ability of human beings to change the environment according to their needs helped the population grow.

Another important question about human beings' population and existence is their future survival. As human beings need to depend on natural resources for existence and due to the fact that the resources are depleting with the passing of time, human beings would need to find a solution to balance the link with the environment without which the existence of humans on earth may be threatened.

Growth of Population

Growth of the population has been found to show characteristic patterns and the trends are hardly abrupt. It is found that when the growth of population over time is chalked on graph paper, it gets an S-shaped form. However, when the population growth is stopped suddenly, it shows a J-shaped pattern.

The population of a region usually grows slowly at the beginning which turns rapid after a certain time interval and finally, it becomes stable when the limiting point is reached.

When a graph is made with time on the x-axis and a population of organisms, including human beings on the y-axis, we get an S-shaped sigmoid curve. This turns into J-shape if the population growth is suddenly stopped.

It has been observed that after a certain level of increase, the process of growth cannot occur. In other words, population growth is limited in number. The maximum number beyond which no significant increase in population is observed is called the carrying capacity or saturation level of the population. The human being population is increasing rapidly even now which shows that it has not reached the carrying capacity.

Population Growth Patterns

Four possible states are found to occur in the population growth pattern in various regions. These are −

The period of a positive growth

In this phase the population grows slowly at the beginning and then grows rapidly, finally, it reaches equilibrium and becomes flattened. The overall curve is found to be of S-shape sigmoid. It is the most active state of population growth and is therefore important to study.

The equilibrium position

After a certain level of rapid growth, the population reaches an equilibrium state where the transition becomes flattened and no overall increase is observed. For the human population, it has been impossible to describe the equilibrium state as it has yet to be reached and the population is still growing.

Oscillations and fluctuations

Oscillations and fluctuations are two types of departures of the population figure from the standard S-shaped curve. Oscillations occur when symmetrical departures occur while fluctuations are asymmetrical in form. In other words, oscillations are predictable in nature but the fluctuations are not.

Decline and extinction

The decline is the phase of population growth where the population goes below the equilibrium or the natural fluctuations and oscillation levels. Extinction on the other hand is the phase of dying out of a population. In the phase of decline, the population may still grow but in reduced numbers while in the phase of extinction, population growth stops forever.

Conclusion

Studying population patterns and the variation of population among nations have been a subject of research for many years. It is important to notice populations to have an idea of whether a place has a population explosion that impacts the prospects of an economy negatively. By studying population patterns, the future population aspects can also be found which is necessary for the economic future of nations. In a nutshell, the variation of population among nations is an important research aspect for numerous reasons of human interest and it must be considered important by one and all.

FAQs

Qns 1. Why has the human population grown enormously on earth?

Ans. The conditions on earth have always been more or less suitable for human beings and hence it found supportive life conditions on the ground due to which, its population grew enormously. The ability of human beings to change the environment according to their needs helped the population grow.

Qns 2. What is the current population of Earth?

Ans. The current population of Earth is nearly 8 billion.

Qns 3. How much land area and population of the Earth do the Americas have?

Ans. Central, north, and south America occupy more than a quarter of the land surface but only one-fifth of the world's population (1.4 billion) lives here.