-Caveat Lector- 2/28/01 9.3 billion people can be comfortably accommodated on this planet. BUT NOT WITH CAPITALISM AS ITS ECONOMIC SYSTEM. Get rid of Capitalism and you get rid of waste. Get rid of Capitalism and you free up resources held and controlled by a very few. Get rid of Capitalism and you can decentralize economic power, thus returning democratic power to more people in the developed countries. Once these countries are democratically controlled, other countries could develop as they need to and see fit. The ONLY VOLUNTARY proven and demonstrable weapon against overpopulation, IS ACHIEVING MIDDLECLASS-HOOD. This is not possible in a system which encourages concentration of wealth. Where, as in the US, 1% of the population owns 40% of its wealth. But the beneficiaries of such a system won't give up their spot at the trough. So instead, they try every other available method to reduce the numbers of poor. None of which achieve the desired effect. You simply can't have Capitalism AND a livable planet with 9.3 billion inhabitants. Our children and grand children. Will they bless or curse your memory? It depends on what you leave them. Joshua2 ======================================================== Wednesday February 28 6:32 PM ET World to Be More Crowded, Older, Poorer in 2050 By Irwin Arieff UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The world will be far more crowded by midcentury, its people older and poorer than they are today, the United Nations' chief demographer said on Wednesday. Over the next 50 years, the world's population will likely soar to 9.3 billion from 6.1 billion, although it could be as high as 10.9 billion or as low as 7.9 billion, said Joseph Chamie, director of the U.N. Population Division. Of the total, 88 percent, or 8.2 billion people, will live in developing nations, compared to 80 percent, or 4.9 billion people, today, Chamie told a news conference. Most of the growth will come in Asia and Africa, while the world's wealthy nations, where about 1.2 billion people now live, are expected as a group to remain about the same size or even shrink a bit as birth rates stay below replacement level, he said. Therefore, the richest nations' share of the global total will shrink to 12 percent by 2050 from the current 20 percent, Chamie said, elaborating on his division's latest report on ''World Population Prospects.'' Just six African and Asian nations, India, China, Pakistan, Nigeria, Bangladesh and Indonesia, will account for half the world's growth between now and 2050, he said. Within the group of industrialized nations, however, there are sharp divergences. In contrast to most other wealthy nations, the United States will grow rapidly over the next five decades, soaring to 400 million people from 283 million last year because of a relatively high birth rate and a steady flow of immigrants. Canada and Australia are also expected to increase in size, while Japan and Europe will be shrinking, Chamie said. Although AIDS is having a devastating impact on life expectancy and population loss in the 45 mostly African countries hardest hit by the epidemic, those countries' overall population will nonetheless grow steadily over the next 50 years. Growth is predicted even in Botswana, where the AIDS infection rate is 36 percent, and in Swaziland and Zimbabwe, where infections rates hover above 25 percent. But South Africa, whose fertility rate is lower than its neighbors, will shrink between 2010 and 2025 before growing again between 2025 and 2050. Ranks Of The World's Elderly Will Mushroom The ranks of the world's elderly will mushroom over the next 50 years, with the number of people age 60 or older jumping by 2050 to nearly 2 billion, 33 percent of the total population, from 606 million, or 20 percent, today. The number of people age 80 or over will rise to 379 million by 2050, accounting for 4 percent of the total world population and more than five times as numerous as the 69 million people aged 80 or over alive in 2000. This trend will hit the rich nations hardest, causing labor shortages and sending health care and pension costs through the roof in Europe and Japan, Chamie said. But the labor market will be less affected in the United States because it welcomes about 1.1 million immigrants a year. With the population growing so rapidly in the developing world, Africa and Asia will be more urbanized, ``with mega-cities growing largely in developing countries,'' Chamie said. ``And finally, we will see a world more ethnically and culturally diverse than today,'' he added. ``Rapidly growing populations have less time to prepare for change,'' Chamie said. ``These pressures and strains are creating all kinds of challenges for governments,'' he said, ranging from reassessments of pension requirements and the retirement age to health care budgets and immigration policy. Sources: Reuters | AP | AP U.S. | The New York Times | ABCNEWS.com <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! 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