Hi everyone,
Here is something on the growing UK population.
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-33882577****************************************************************************
The UK population grew by almost half a million last year to 64,596,800. What might happen if it continues to increase?
Since the end of the 1990s the UK has been experiencing a population growth spurt.
Between mid-2013 and mid-2014 its population rose by 491,100 people, compared to an increase of just below 150,000 in 1996-97.
For some this growth represents a strain on public services and quality of life, while others believe it underpins economic growth.
The Victoria Derbyshire programme has been hearing differing viewpoints.
1. "Half of the world's food that we produce is wasted," she says. "In the West, food is wasted after the point of purchase... and by cafes and supermarkets.
2. "I really am worried about the future. We've got a high birth rate, and we're living longer," he says. "If we don't start to stabilise our population the problems we're already facing will get much worse in terms of housing, transport, education and schools."
3. Family planning is very cheap, it's very reliable, it has great side effects in terms of empowering women, increasing household incomes and giving working women more time to work on their careers. "Getting people to have one or two children is dead easy, because that's generally that's what's happening across the world anyway. It's irresponsible to have more," he adds.
4. But Mr Ross also has another concern that is shared by many - immigration. Over half of the UK's population growth in 2013-14 came from an increase in net migration, totalling 259,700. That is compared to 226,200 from "natural growth" - births minus deaths. "We have to say to ourselves, 'why do we need to import all these workers to do our jobs'," he says. "Why haven't we got the skills in the UK?"
5. "We can find engineering solutions to manage food, water, shelter, energy."We need to find other ways to travel, we need to find better fuels and we need to find more sustainable ways to farm," she argues.
6. But Dr Baxter also believes a growth in numbers brings with it economic and social benefits."With every population increase most countries will also experience an economic increase. We are all better off by having more people," she says.
"We've also been able to advance technology and farming. [We've made progress] in medicine and in transport that has led to economic increases and making sure people live longer."
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Any views?
Cheers.
Sriram
