Population Growth-Is It Our Concern?

Barbara Peterson Sinclair, MN, RNC, OGNP, FAAN,

is editor of AWHONN Lifelines and the acting dean

of the School of Health, California State University,

Dominguez Hills.

nny o f today’s global problems are directly related to the profound social and environmental impact of population growth. This single M issue drastically influences the quality of life of all people in all coun-

tries-and some more so than others. Recently, the world reached the 6 billion people benchmark, and, according to the United Nations, one sixth of its inhabi- tants are lacking the elements of human dignity: sufficient food, clean water, safe housing, hnsic education, and health care.

An examination of frequently used rates to measure reproduction allows a comparison among divergent countries. For example, the fertility rate, or total number children per woman, is currently about 2.71 worldwide. For popula- tion to stabilize, the fertility rate must be less than 2.1 children. In several devel- oping nations, primarily in Africa, women raise an average of seven children dur- ing their lifetimes, whereas in some European countries, a little more than one child per woman is the norm. The fertility rate is 1.99 in the U.S. Although over- all worldwide population is growing by 1.3 percent per year, the rate has actually declined from its peak of 2 percent in the late 1960s. There is virtually no country that has not undertaken at least a modest fertility decline, and some countries have made significant progress in curbing population growth.

Although several reasons are involved, such as death rates and migration, the pri- mary factors in slowing the population surge are decisions by women and families to delay pregnancies and have smaller numbers of children. Even in rural countries such as Bangladesh, parents choose to have smaller families to accommodate the scarcity of land that must be shared among all offspring. Meaningful decreases are occurring as well in more advanced countries that historically have had large population rates. For example, in Mexico the average family size has dropped from seven in 1965 to 2.5 today. Although rates are slowing, it’s imperative that the decline continues and population stabilizes to prevent pressing environmental problems such as global warming, air pollution, depleted drinking water, and species extinction. Without sta- bilization, we may see a major collapse of the earth’s renewable resources.

As the birthrate drops, some experts fear that people and their governments will heconie complacent about population growth. That is where you, the reader, come into play; you must not allow complacency to happen. You can have direct and meaningful impact on the issue right here in the U.S. On the whole, Americans want small families, yet we do worse than most of the other developed countries in preventing undesired pregnancies, and, as a result, we have one of the highest rates of abortion and of unintended births in the developed world. Influencing factors include:

Fewer contraceptive options than in many other countries, primarily because contraception is ignored as a national issue A lack o f access to appropriate medical care Cultural/religious attitudes about sexuality and reproduction Lack of reliable information about sexuality, reproduction, and family plan- n i ng/con t race p t i on

To combat the above, nurses need to use the knowledge they have to educate and influence individuals, families, and the community. The reality is that it will be today’s teenagers who will positively or negatively impact the world’s population stnhilization of the future. They, in particular, need the information and counseling y o u can provide about prevention of unintended pregnancies and child spacing.

Achieving desired family size infers a better sharing of all resources with atten- dant increases in education, health care, and other positive societal parameters. C:ontrolling population growth is indeed our concern; I hope that you agree.

December 1999/January 2000 A W H O N N L i f e l i n e s 9