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5�3 Human Population Growth

Key Concepts
  How has the size of the human population changed over time?
  Why do population growth rates differ in countries throughout the world?
Vocabulary
demography
demographic transition
age-structure diagram

Reading Strategy: Asking Questions Before you read, preview the graphs Human Population Growth, Demographic Transition, and Age Distribution. Make a list of questions about the graphs. As you read, write down the answers to your questions.

 

How quickly is the world's human population growing? In the United States and other developed countries, the current growth rate is very low. In some developing countries, the human population is growing at a rate of nearly 3 people per second. Because of this bustling growth rate, the human population is well on its way to reaching 9 billion within your lifetime.

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