Name: ______

Period:______

WORLD POPULATION

Go to “All about Population” website at

Click on “Animations” → “Births and Family Size” → Launch Movie

“How many children can a woman have in her lifetime?” (Biological capacity)

  1. Each second ______women give birth.
  1. A woman’s reproductive years begin around age _____ and continue until menopause around age _____, so her reproductive life lasts for a maximum of _____ years.
  1. The number of children a woman can have in this time is limited by the interval between births. After birth, a woman is temporarily sterile for ______if she does not breastfeed. On average, it takes ______to conceive a child, and pregnancy lasts ______. Therefore, the interval between births is _____ months.
  1. In theory, a woman can have ______children in her lifetime but doesn’t because ______.
  1. This reduces the potential number of births from ______to ______.

“How does the role of marriage affect the number of births?” (Role of Marriage)

  1. In many societies, woman wait until they are married or in a stable union until they have children. On average, a woman could have _____ children. The later a woman marries, ______.
  1. On average, a woman starts living with a partner or marries at age ______which reduces the potential fertility to ______.
  1. Globally, women get married at age ______. What is the average age of marriage in N. America? ______S. America? ______Europe? ______Asia? ______Africa? ______Australia? ______

“How does breastfeeding affect the number of births?” (Influence of Breastfeeding)

  1. Why does breastfeeding make a woman temporarily sterile? ______
  1. Women who breastfeed for 1 year increase the period of sterility from ______to ______on average.
  1. The interval of births is then increased from ______to ______months, and the potential births are reduced from 11 to ______.
  1. Today in the world, ½ of babies born are breastfed for ______months, reducing the number of births to ______on average.
  1. In 2000, what was the median number of months that women breast feed their children in N. America? ______Europe? ______S. America? ______Africa? ______Asia? ______Australia? ______

“How does birth control limit the number of births?” (Birth Control)

  1. Birth control lets many couples choose when to have children and how many. Throughout the world, ______% of couples use contraception. What percent use it in N. America? ______S. America? ______Europe? ______Africa? ______Asia? ______Australia? ______
  1. What is the most common method of contraception in the world? ______In N. America? ______In Europe? ______In Asia? ______In Africa? ______
  1. As a last resort, some couples prevent unwanted births with an abortion. In the world today there is an estimated ______abortion for every ______births.
  1. Family sized has sharply decreasing in the world. In the 1950, the average family size was ______. Today the average family is ______and ______.

Close window. Click on “Understanding Length of Life” → Launch Movie

“How do we measure length of Life?”

  1. The world record for length of life is held by ______who lived in France and died in 1997 at age ______.
  1. A graph called a ______shows the proportions of individuals still alive at each age.
  1. In 1750, the median length of life in France was ______years.
  1. The median length of life has now increased due to: 1)______2)______

“Reducing Child Mortality”

  1. In 1970, the median length of life is _____ years due to a decline in infant deaths.
  1. Across the world, we are winning the battle against infection with the one exception being ______.

“A Longer Length of Life for Adults”

  1. In the year 2000, the median length of life is now ______years.
  1. The 2 main causes of death are: 1)______2)______

If we can combat these diseases, we will continue to increase the length of life.

“Future Length of Life”

  1. There are 3 scenarios for the future of length of life: 1)______2)______3)______

Which is the most probable scenario? ______

Which is least likely? ______

Close window. Click on “All About Population” → “Population Games” → “The Population and Me”→ Launch Movie

Enter your age. When you were born, the world population was ______and today it is ______. The population of North America was ______and today it is ______.

“My birth cohort” There were ______children born the same year I was in the world. Today, _____% are alive and ______% are dead.

“My place in the population” Today, _____% of the world population is older than me and ______% of the world population is younger than me.

In what year will 50% of the population be older than you and 50% of the population be younger than you? ______

Close window.

Bonus: In what year did the world population reach 6 billion? ______

What did you think about this website?