Mother Pelican
A Journal of Sustainable Human Development

Vol. 7, No. 10, October 2011 Luis T. Gutiérrez, Editor

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The Numbers: Population, Consumption, and Reproductive Health Victoria D. Markham Center for Environment and Population (CEP) This article was originally published in RH Reality Check, 17 August 2011 REPRINTED WITH PERMISSION RH Reality Check/Victoria Markham This fall, world population will reach 7 billion people at a time of accelerated environmental disruption, economic uncertainty, and social unrest. This article part of a series commissioned by RH Reality Check, with Laurie Mazur as guest editor, to examine the causes and consequences of population and environmental change from various perspectives and the policies and actions needed to both avoid (if possible) and mitigate the inevitable impacts of these changes. This article gives just the facts on consumption, population, and reproductive health as of 2011. All of the articles in this series can be found here. Global Consumption and Population at a Glance Percent of planet's ecosystems degraded by human activity in the past fifty years 60 Percent of per capita consumption by the richest 20 percent of the world's population 86 Percent of per capita consumption by the poorest 20 percent less than 2 U.S. rank in population growth and numbers among industrialized nations 1 Global rank of the US ecological footprint (1 = worst/heaviest impact) 1 Population, Energy and Climate Change U.S. share of global population 4.5 U.S. share of total global CO2 emissions 25 Amount of CO2 emissions each American generates compared to world average 5 times Expected date U.S. reaches 1 billion high-consuming Americans 2100 Global oil consumption, U.S. Rank 1 Expected percentage increase in amount of current oil consumption by 2025 43 Household energy use worldwide, U.S. Rank 1 Developing nations' share of global population 83 Developing nations' CO2 emissions per capita (metric tons) 2.3 US CO2 emissions per capita (metric tons) 19.87 US energy consumption per capita (kilograms oil equivalent) 7,921 Developing nations' energy consumption per capita 828 Total motor vehicles per 1,000 population, U.S. 675 Total motor vehicles per 1,000 population, less developed nations 25.5 Percent of species projected to become extinct from climate change by 2050 15-37 Population and Environment U.S. annual water withdrawals per capita (cubic meters) 1,682 Developing nations' annual water withdrawals 545 Percent of population with improved sanitation, U.S. 100 Percent of population with improved sanitation, least developed nations 49 U.S. annual per capita paper consumption (pounds) 678 Developing nations annual per capita paper consumption 44 Population, Reproductive Health, Status of Girls and Women Average births per minute U.S. 6 Average births per minute in developing nations 240 Percent of population under 25 in U.S. 20 Percent of population under 25 in Sub-Saharan Africa 43 Percent of women among the 1.3 billion people globally who live in absolute poverty 70 Percent women contribute to the world's working hours 66 Percent of world's income earned by women 10 Percent of the world's property owned by women less than 1 Percent of girls among the 77 million children globally not attending primary school 60 Poverty and Affluence U.S. gross income per capita $46,970 Less developed nations' gross income per capita $4,880 Percent living on less than $2 a day, U.S. 0 Percent living on less than $2 a day, less developed nations 51 Reproductive Health and Family Planning Total fertility rate (number of children born per woman of childbearing age), U.S. 2.1 Total fertility rate, less developed nations 4.5 Percent of married women using contraception, U.S. 73 Percent of married women using contraception, Sub-Saharan Africa 22 Number of women globally who want to avoid pregnancy but are not using an effective method of contraception 215 million Expected percent increase in demand for contraception globally by 2050 40 Amount needed for family planning globally per year $6.7 billion Amount of US military budget per day $1.9 billion Annual cost to achieve universal access to reproductive health $70 billion Average share of that amount contributed by donor governments less than 50 Percent of global health funding earmarked for reproductive health, 1994 30 Percent earmarked for reproductive health, 2008 12 U.S. funding for family planning and reproductive health programs, 2010 $648 million U.S. funding for family planning and reproductive health programs, 2011 $615 million U.S. funding for United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), 2010 $40 million U.S. funding for UNFPA, 2011 $25 million U.S. funding for Title X (family planning for low-income/uninsured people), 2010 $317 million U.S. funding for Title X 2011 $299 million Sources (all accessed 2011) UN Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, 2005 US National Report on Population and the Environment, Center for Environment and Population (CEP), 2006 US Population, Energy and Climate Change, CEP, 2009 AAAS Atlas of Population and Environment, 2003/2011 update Population Estimates and American Fact Finder, US Census Bureau National Vital Statistics System, US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention National Center for Education Statistics, US Department of Education Population Reference Bureau (PRB), World Population Data Sheets 2011 Population Reference Bureau (PRB), Women and Girls Data Sheet 2011 UNFPA reports, data and factsheets UN Population Division reports, data and fact sheets World Wildlife Fund (WWF) International, Living Planet Index Global Footprint Network database CARE, "Women's Empowerment" Factsheet World Resources Institute, Earth Trends Population Action International (PAI) fact sheets, communication Guttmacher Institute factsheets, communication Definitions: "Less developed" and "least developed" nations are defined by the United Nations. ABOUT THE AUTHOR Vicky Markham is Founding Director of the Center for Environment and Population (CEP), an independent non-profit research and policy organization that addresses the relationship between human population and its environmental impacts. Markham has over 25 years of experience in the fields of environment and population science, policy and public outreach. She started the American Association for the Advancement of Science's (AAAS) Population and Sustainable Development International Program, directed World Wildlife Fund International's (WWF) Population Program, and headed their delegation to the UN International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) in Cairo. Prior to WWF, Markham was International Planned Parenthood Federation's (IPPF) Information, Education and Communications Officer for London, Africa and Asia. She also worked for the Turner Broadcasting System on documentary films, and was Education Officer for the Secretary of Natural Resources in Puerto Rico. Markham is a graduate of Yale University, and has written and edited extensively on the topics, including the AAAS Atlas of Population and Environment, the US National Report on Population and the Environment, and the US Population, Energy and Climate Change report, all available on CEP's website, www.cepnet.org. |Back to TITLE| Page 1      Page 2      Page 3      Page 4      Page 5      Page 6      Page 7      Page 8      Page 9 Supplement 1      Supplement 2      Supplement 3      Supplement 4      Supplement 5      Supplement 6 PelicanWeb Home Page

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