08-31-2014, 07:14 AM
Lately I've been thinking about world population and one thing in particular has struck me. Is there an easy, if rough, way to figure out how a population would grow or shrink based on fertility rate and life expectancy? I've been trying to look this up, but I must not be wording my searches right.
I've seen some estimates on Earth's future population less dire than most suggesting it'll actually start shrinking within the next century and that go me wondering about similar patterns. For example, let's say people started normally living to about 120 and the fertility rate of the planet dropped below the 2.1 replacement value. How fast does the population drop?
I've seen some estimates on Earth's future population less dire than most suggesting it'll actually start shrinking within the next century and that go me wondering about similar patterns. For example, let's say people started normally living to about 120 and the fertility rate of the planet dropped below the 2.1 replacement value. How fast does the population drop?