Discuss The Most Significant Impact That Human Population Size And Growth Have On The Environment

I believe overconsumption of resources is the most significant impact that human population size and growth have on the environment. As population size gets bigger, people's need of food, water and services also increases. Forests are being destroyed because of human's need of wood, different kinds of animals are getting killed because human's need of goods and food and fossil fuels are being used because of human's need for electricity and transportation. As a result, many habitats and species are lost, which impacts ecosystem a lot.

The country I chose is Germany. In the history, between 1870 and 1910, Germany's population increased significantly from 41 millions to 64.6 million in forty years due to the industrialization and urbanization

(Eric 1995). The number of large cities had grown from 8 in 1871 to 84 in 1910 (Eric 1995). Improvements in sanitary, working conditions and in medicine also played important roles in stimulating this population growth. From animated population pyramid, we can see that the overall population in Germany has decreased a lot from 1991 to 2015 and will continue to decrease in the future. The main portion of population has shifted from 20-40 age group to 40-60 age group, and at the same time, the newborn populations has bee decreasing in the past 24 years, which means Germany population is not only declining but also ageing. According to a study by the World Economy Institute in Hamburg (HWWI), Germany’s birth rate has collapsed to the lowest level in the world. The average number of births per 1,000 population dropped to 8.2 over the five years from 2008 to 2013 (Ambrose 2015).
The German government wants to deal with population decline with better family policies. It has been spent $265 billion a year on family subsidies to encourage families to have babies, however it is not working out really well. The problem could be due to a variety of factors including insufficient infrastructure and bad workplace conditions (Andre 2015). The German government is also trying to attract immigration to help with the population problem. Whether this policy will succeed is unclear because the memory of Nazi rule remains fresh in Germany, immigration and the role of minorities are still extremely sensitive issues in Germany (Anonymous 2015).

Economy plays a big role in affecting population growth too. Generally better economy means government can provide people better health care and people have enough faith in their job securities. People's willing to have and raise a child would be much higher, so would the infant survival rate. Between 1870 and 1910, Germany's economy was boosted because of industrialization and urbanization. Better economy helped the government make improvements in sanitary, working conditions and in medicine, which resulted in stimulating the population growth during that period.

Different societies also have different impacts on population growth. In agricultural and low-level industrial societies, children are a productive asset. Children is a source of income, and the more you have the more money you earn. Since there is no retirement plan other than family in such societies, a large family can more easily support parents in old age (George 2015). However, in a mature urban society like Germany has, the economic value of children declines. In fact, children turn from instruments of production into objects of massive consumption. In urban industrial society, not only are the opportunities for employment at an early age diminished, but also the educational requirements also expand dramatically. Children need to be supported much longer, sometimes into their mid-20s. Children cost a tremendous amount of money with limited return, if any, for parents. Thus, people have fewer children.