16 August 2010

Birthday finds Social Security rickety at 75
Hernando Today/Tampa Tribune - US

...Couple that with projections by the United Nations' Population Division that by 2030, there will be only 2.6 workers paying into Social Security for every man or woman receiving Social Security and Medicare benefits compared with 4.1 workers per retiree in 2000; and the picture of the future begins to look bleak. (14 August 2010)
In 100 years we’ll be a fully urban species
Deccan Chronicle - India

The population of the world’s countryside will stop growing around 2019, according to the UN Population Division’s more conservative estimates, and by 2050 will have fallen by 600 million because of migration to the city. India’s rural population, one of the last to stop growing, is set to peak in 2025 at 909 million, and shrink to 743 million by 2050...(16 August 2010)

11 August 2010

South and the Third World
Guardian - UK
Let's start with one obvious index of social well being, infant mortality rates. The international numbers below are from the UN Population Division, the state numbers from the Kaiser Foundation.…(10 August 2010)

10 August 2010

A Weakened but Resourceful Iran
Council on Foreign Relations - US
A third reason is that Iran has had, in the early years after the revolution, very, very rapid population growth. [According to the UN's Population Division, Iran's population rose from thirty-nine million in 1980 to nearly seventy-one million in 2005.] ,…(9 August 2010)

09 August 2010

Is Ahmadinejad Instigating a Demographic Catastrophe?
Huffington Post - US
Abbasi-Shavazi, M.J. (2002). "Recent changes and the future of fertility in Iran", Completing the Fertility Transition, United Nations, Population Division, New York, pp. 425-439.
,…(31 July 2010)
ICCI demands rainwater harvesting
Pakistan Observer - Pakistan
ICCI President Zahid Maqbool said the recent monsoon rains have caused heavy floods and destruction of great number of human and physical infrastructure. He said that had there been proper system of rain harvesting, these damages would have been minimized to sufficient extent. Pakistan’s population is growing fast as UN’s Population Division has projected that Pakistan will overtake Brazil and Indonesia by 2050. It would become the fourth largest populated country in the world, almost doubling to 335 million from its current more than 170 million, he added.…(6 August 2010)
What a Strong Yen Means for U.S. Investors -- and How to Profit
Street Authority - USA
The demographic data are sobering. According to the U.N.'s Population Division, Japanese households are having an average of 1.4 children (well below the 2.1 replacement rate), and when coupled with restrictive immigration policies, it has led to a steadily rising average age. Roughly 20% of Japan's population is 65 or older. By 2050, that figure should rise to 37%, according to the U.N.,…(4 August 2010)