Population Growth
Anthropologists believe that the human species dates back to at least 3 million years. The growth in human population till modern era can be viewed in four major periods.
Period 1
This period ranges between the first evolution of humans on this planet to the beginning of agriculture, when our distant ancestors lived a precarious existence as hunters and gatherers. During this period, it is estimated that the total population was probably less than a million, population density was about one person per 130-260 sq.km. in the most habitable areas.
Period 2
This period began some time between 9000 BC and 6000 BC and lasted approximately until the 16th century AD. The first major increase in population came during this period, when agriculture was introduced. The total human population of the World was approximately 100 million by 1AD and continued to grow at a moderate rate, which increased to about 500 million by 1600 AD. The population density increased to about 1 or 2 people per sq.km or even more.
Period 3
The second and more rapid increase in population started about 400 years ago with the industrial revolutions associated with the advances in medicines and health care, The total human population of about 900 million (90 crore) in 1800 AD increased to approximately 3 billion (300 crore) by 1960. The main reasons of this rapid increase in population were discovery of the causes of diseases, invention of vaccines, improvement in sanitation and advances in agriculture etc.
Period 4
In the modern era, though the rate of population growth has slowed down in developed countries, the population still continues to increase rapidly in developing countries. At inid 2002, the World Population stood at 6.215 billions. According to projections, the global population will be approximately 8 billions by 2025 and 10 billions by 2050 AD. In these projections, the developing countries will contribute 95% of the increase.
Variation Among Nations
The world's population is very ill-balanced in terms of continents and countries. More than half of the World's people live in Asia (approximately 3.7 billion), which accounts for only one-fifth of the World's land area. North, Central and South America together occupying more than a quarter of the land surface have only one-fifth of the population (1.3 billion). The African Continent also accounts for a quarter of the land surface but has just over one-eighth (840 million) of the World Population. Europe whose area is only one-twenty fifth of the total has about one-ninth (728 million) of the World's people.
The distribution within the continents is also uneven. In Asia, China (1.28 billions) alone accounts for one-third Asian and one-fifth of the World Population. The Indian subcontinent has a further 1.3 billion people-India, 1.05 billion, Pakistan 143.5 million, Bangladesh 133.6 million, Nepal 23.9 million, Srilanka 18.9 million, Bhutan 0.9 million and Maldives 0.3 million. In Europe too, the population is unevenly distributed. Far less people live in Northern European Countries than in other European Countries. The most Populous European countries are Russia, Germany, U.K., France, Italy, Ukraine, Spain and Poland. In Africa and America, people are for the most part spread very thinly across the land, leaving large sections such as Northern Canada, South West USA, the Sahara Desert and the Amazon Forest practically uninhabited. The population density varies widely to a large extent on the quality of land itself, which is very uneven.
Though population growth shows a general global decline, there are variations in the rate of decline in different countries. There are cultural, economic, political and demographic reasons that explain the differences in the rate of population control in different countries. It also varies in different parts of certain countries and is linked with community and/or religious thinking.
Population Explosion
Population explosion is a sudden spurt in the rate of population growth that occurs in the second stage of demographic transition due to a rapid fall in the mortality rate without a corresponding fall in the birth rate.
According to Theory of Demographic Transition, every country passes through three stages of demographic transition. In the first stage both birth and death rates are high and hence population remains more or less stable.. The main features of this stage are backward economy, low per capita income. low standard of living, inadequate and unbalanced diet, absence of educationa opportunities and presence of social evils like polygamy, early marriages etc
In the second stage, with the beginning of process of development, the living standards of people improve, education expands, medical and health facilities increase as a result of which death rate comes down. But as long as society remains primarily agrarian and education remains confied to a narrow section of the society, attitude of the people towards the size the family does not change and the birth rate remains high. In this situation, population increases at an alarming rate. This is called Population Explosion.
Population explosion doesn't mean over population or population density. Over population or population density is not the major problems. The problem arises when the economic development fails to maintain pace with population growth. For example, Japan has a high population density but it ranked first on the human development index formulated by UNDP.
Thus, the size, distribution and structure of the population within a country must be viewed in relation to its natural resources and the techniques of production used by its population. A country is said to have an "optimum population" so long as the number of people is in balance with the available resources of the country.
The effects of population explosion are numerous with far reaching consequences. Some of them are:
(1) Unemployment
(2) Low living standard of people
(3) Low per capita income
(4) Hindrance in the process of development of economy
(5) Lack of basic amenities like water supply, sanitation, education, health etc.
(6) High crime rate
(7) Migration to urban area
(8) Energy crisis
(9) Pressure on agriculture land and
(10) Over crowding of cities etc.
In order to overcome the problem of population explosion, a sound population policy is required with the following objectives:
(i) Quick economic development and raising the per capita income.
(ii) Significant reduction in birth rate by providing legal and fiscal motivations like raising age of marriage, legalizing abortion etc.
(iii) The planning of population must not aim merely at controlling the rate of multiplication but it should also include the improvement of the quality of the population by providing better facilities in education, health etc.
(iv) The death rate should be brought down further, as high death rate results in waste of human energy and resources.
(v) Integrating population planning with economic planning.
Family Welfare Programme
Alarming growth of population is one of the most formidable problems India is facing today, and is seriously threatening its economic development. The population explosion poses a serious threat to India as it has to maintain 16.9% of World's population on only 2.4% of the world's area. The present growth rate of 1.7% is much higher than the world population growth rate of 1.3% which is of great concern.
In response to our phenomenal population growth, India launched a nation-wide family planning programme in 1952 with the objective of "reducing the birth rate to the extent necessary to stabilise the population at a level consistent with the requirement of the national economy". During the First and Second Five Year Plans the programme took a "Clinical Approach to the problem, with emphasis being given to establishment of a few clinics and distribution of educational material, training and research for reducing the rate of population growth. However, during the Third Five Year Plan (1961-66), the emphasis was shifted from the purely 'clinical approach to the more vigorous 'Extension Education Approach' for motivating the people for acceptance of the 'Small family norm'. The introduction of Lippes Loop (contraceptive device) in 1965 necessitated a major structural re-organisation of the programme, leading to the creation of a Separate Department of Family Planning in 1966 in the Ministry of Health. During the Fourth Five Year Plan (1969-74), the Government of India gave top priority to the programme. The programme was made an integral part of Mother and Child Health (MCH) activities of Primary Health Centres and their sub-centres. During the Fifth Five Year Plan there have been major changes. The country framed its first 'National Population Policy' in 1976. The years 1975-76 and 1976-77 recorded a phenomenal increase in Performance of Sterilisation. However, in view of rigidity in enforcement of targets by field functionaries and an element of coercion in the 'implementation of the programme in 1976-77 (Emergency Period) in some areas, the programme received a set-back during 1977-78. As a result, in June 1977, the new Central Government made it clear that there was no place for force or coercion or compulsion or for pressure of any sort under the programme and the programme had to be implemented as an integral part of "Family Welfare" relying solely on mass education and motivation. The name of the programme also was changed to "Family Welfare" from Family Planning. The Family Welfare Programme aims at achieving a higher end that is to improve the quality of life of the people.
Although the performance of the programme was low during 1977-78, but it was a good year in the sense that it moved into new healthier directions. The launching of the Rural Health Scheme in 1977 and the involvement of the local people in the family welfare programme at the grass-root level were aimed at accelerating the pace of progress of the programme. The acceptance of the primary health care approach to the achievement of 'Health For All by 2000 AD' led to the formulation of the 'National Health Policy' in 1982. The policy laid down the long-term demographic goal of Net Reproduction Rate (NRR)=1 by the year 2000- which implies a 2-child family norm - through the attainment of a birth rate of 21 and a death rate of 9 per thousand population and a couple protection rate of 60% by the year 2000.
The successive Five Year Plans were accordingly set to achieve these goals. The Government of India evolved a more detailed and comprehensive National Population Policy in 1986 to promote it on a voluntary basis. It has given family planning the broadest possible dimensions which include not only health and family welfare but also child survival, women's status and employment, literacy and education, socio-economic development and anti poverty programmes. Reduction in the population growth rate has been recognised as one of the priority objectives during the ninth plan period. The objectives during the Ninth plan were: (i) to meet all the felt needs for contraception and (ii) to reduce the infant and maternal morbidity and mortality, so that there is a reduction in the desired level of fertility.