Chart 1. Total World Population by Country
Income Group 1980, 1995, 2010

1. Study Chart 1 which shows the world population size by country income group for 1980, 1995, and 2010. What is the total world population for each year? How much will total world population have increased from 1995 to 2010?

2. Use the data in the table below to complete the following exercises.

	1995	2010
	(millions)	(millions)
Low-income economies	3180	3971
Middle-income economies	1591	1916
High-income economies	902	963
Total World Population	5673	6850

1. Calculate the percentage of the world population that lived in low-, middle-, and high-income countries in 1995.
2. Describe the general distribution of the world’s population among low-, middle-, and high-income countries.
3. Calculate the percentage of the world’s population that is projected to live in low-, middle-, and high-income countries in 2010.
4. Compare the percentages for each country income group and describe the change between 1995 and 2010.

3. Use the Data Table to identify the five most populous countries in 1995 along with their populations, their regions, and their income groups, and fill in the following table:

1. Which two countries had the largest populations?
2. To which income group did these two countries belong?
3. Which region had the most countries in the top five most populous nations?

4. Use the Data Table to fill in the population information for China and India in the following table. Next, calculate the percentage of the world’s population that is represented by China and India for 1995 and 2010 and add that information to the table. (Divide each country’s population by the world’s population and multiply the figure by 100.) Then answer the questions that follow.

1. Compare the population size of these two countries in 1995. How many times larger was China’s population than India’s? (Divide China’s population by India’s population.)
2. Compare the population size of these two countries in 2010. How many times larger is China’s population expected to be than India’s?
3. India has a smaller population base than China, yet the gap in their populations is expected to decrease significantly in the next few years. How can you account for this?
4. Add the projected 2010 populations of the two countries. What percentage of the world’s population will they represent?
5. Given the population size projections of these two countries, in what ways might they play important roles in the world economy? In your answer consider China and India’s potential as producers and consumers, and to what extent this potential depends on the development of their human capital and the use of their natural resources.

5. In 1995, four out of every five people in the world lived in low- and middle-income countries. As this percentage increases, what might be some of the impacts on the global economy? On the environment? On peace and security issues?  

Answers

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