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The Aftermath of the Population Explosion
By the year 2050, the
global demographic transformation that began after World War II will
have resulted in a vast expansion in human numbers and the emergence of
a low-fertility, highly urbanized, and increasingly elderly world
population.Meanwhile, however,
variations in the timing, nature, and pace of change among countries and
cultures are giving rise to striking contrasts in demographic
conditions—in relative population sizes, in the pace of rural exodus and
city growth, in international migration pressures, and in dependency
burdens created by the very young, very old, or very ill.
Interacting with
inequalities in economic performance and with mounting environmental
threats, these demographic contrasts are an entrenched source of
international tension and political conflict. The resulting challenges
posed for national governments and international institutions, and the
responses those bodies have arrived at or must now formulate, are the
subject of The Political Economy of Global Population Change, 1950–2050.
A supplement to the
Population Council’s quarterly Population and Development Review (PDR),
the book was edited by PDR editor and Council Distinguished Scholar Paul
Demeny and senior associate Geoffrey McNicoll.
Essays assembled in the
book look back to the experience of the second half of the twentieth
century and forward to 2050.
Financial support for the volume was
provided by the Rockefeller Foundation.
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