0 Mapping the History of Poverty

“Poverty has fallen faster over the past 50 years than in the previous 500.  But 1.2 billion people still live in extreme poverty.”  From http://www.povertyover.org/

Mapping the History of Poverty (and some other cool socio-demographic mapping projects)

This is an informative and innovative interactive map that lets you see an animated timeline of countries, showing when (and if) they transitioned out of poverty, as well as the degree of their development (symbolized by color intensity).  You can also tilt the map and see the poverty/development data symbolized by height, higher representing an increased degree of development. http://www.povertyover.org/

Check out Cuba!  It is one of the few countries that rises and falls, most others just rise as time goes by, or stay flat.  See if you can pick out a few other anomalous ones that go back and forth in development status. 

I’m not sure that I like the way that “development” is seen as the opposite of “poverty.”  As if those are the only two choices!  And that increasing development (however THAT is defined!) is the solution to poverty! The "growth is good" mentality, regardless of how that can possibly be sustained in even the short-run,  is what is sending this world of ours into the downward spiral. Not to mention the often-overlooked fact that if everyone in the world had the standard of living that we in the US, Canada, and western Europe enjoy, the earth would run out of resources in about 3 months.   But I’m not going to get all hung up on semantics – the concept of the map and the data are pretty interesting. 

MigrationsMap.net

Where are migrants coming from? Where have migrants left?

Another very interesting demographic website is: http://migrationsmap.net/  This interactive map shows you, for any given country, in flow map format, where people who are migrating OUT of the country are going TO (“Departures”), and conversely, where people who are migrating TO the country are coming FROM (“Arrivals”).  They also quantify the populations on the move.  The basis of these maps is something called the Global Migrant Origin Database, and you can download the actual spreadsheets used, and read about the methods and limitations in the construction of the database at: http://www.migrationdrc.org/research/typesofmigration/global_migrant_origin_database.html

Also, view more detail about the database in a World Bank Discussion Paper at: http://econ.worldbank.org/external/default/main?pagePK= 64165259&piPK=64165421&theSitePK=469372&menuPK= 64166093&entityID=000016406_20070306151900

Population Pyramids, 1950-2050

             This is extremely cool!  View pop pyramids for individual countries, as well as world regions and globally, looking back to 1950, and projected forward to 2050, in 5-year increments. 

http://populationpyramid.net/

             Population pyramids are one of the best ways we have to explore the basic demographic structure of a place – they provide us with information on age cohorts, male/female ratios, and in most cases, absolute numbers of various population sub-groups.  According to Wikipedia, “a population pyramid, also called an age structure diagram, is a graphical illustration that shows the distribution of various age groups in a population (typically that of a country or region of the world), which forms the shape of a pyramid when the population is growing.  It typically consists of two back-to-back bar graphs, with the population plotted on the X-axis and age on the Y-axis, one showing the number of males and one showing females in a particular population in five-year age groups (also called cohorts).  Males are conventionally shown on the left and females on the right, and they may be measured by raw number or as a percentage of the total population.”  From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Population_pyramid

Generic Population Pyramids, showing the four main stages in demographic transition:

From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Population_pyramid

Example of a population pyramid from the Stage 1 “expanding” population category.  Nearly half of Libya’s 2011 population consists of youths under age 20.

From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Population_pyramid

America’s Demographic Opportunity – the Demographic Dividend

And as an important aside to the population pyramids, many of the more affluent countries are currently in the position of having “contracting” populations (the last stage in the demographic transition model, the last of the generic population pyramids).  This means that there are more people at the upper reaches of the pyramid (older populations, living longer) than there are younger ones.  This has serious implications for those nations where this is occurring, in terms of economic growth, employment, taxation, innovation, support for the elderly, and future development.  An interesting blog posting from New Geography recently detailed what this might mean for some of those contracting nations (Japan, Italy, etc.) and why the U.S. is not quite as badly off in terms of population numbers skewed toward the elderly.  I had sent this link around to those on my Listserv, but I include it again here, even though there are parts of it that I don’t agree with (as I rarely do with most of the New Geography posts! Especially their pro-urban sprawl tendencies).  Nevertheless, it is worth a read. BTW, notice how in the graph above, the legend and the symbols are shown incorrectly (they are reversed).  This was pointed out to me by an observant Jon Jenkins.  Thanks Jon, for your gimlet editor's eye for detail!  I looked at this graph dozens of times (and carefully, I thought!) and never noticed the error.  Of course, the little "%" symbols next to the numbers make the meaning clear, but STILL!  Shame on New Geography or whomever put these graphs together originally!

“Among the world’s major advanced countries, the United States remains a demographic outlier, with a comparatively youthful and growing population.  This provides an unusual opportunity for America’s resurgence over the next several decades, as population growth elsewhere slows dramatically, and even declines dramatically, in a host of important countries.” From: http://www.newgeography.com/content/002492-americas-demographic-opportunity?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Newgeography+%28Newgeography.com+-+Economic%2C+demographic%2C+and+political+commentary+about+places%29

The Spread of Immigrant Groups in the U.S.

And another really nice one on U.S. immigrant groups and their spread across the United States.  http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2009/03/10/us/20090310-immigration-explorer.html
You can select specific nationalities or regions of origin, and the map changes from a multivariate choropleth to a proportional symbol map. You can also adjust the "bubble" size to see the detail better.  Thanks, Kristen Grady, for sending the link

Life expectancy across the U.S. / Global BMI and Diabetes

American women live an average of 2.5 years longer than men, but as life expectancies vary across the country, both men and women in certain counties, particularly in the South and Southeast, can expect to die more than a decade sooner than others.  See interactive map, where you can get data by county, at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/nation/life-expectancy-map/

        Thanks, Urban Demographics, for the link.  On the same page, there is another link to an animated scatterplot showing how global BMI (Body Mass Index) has changed for men and women, 1980-2008, as a metric for cardiac risk. You can look separately at each nation, also.  Weight of the World:  http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/health/weight-of-the-world-bmi/
Another tab on that page shows Diabetes worldwide and for each nation. 


Bottom of the Heap
And, lastly, a sobering look at social justice in various nations around the world.  The United States, one of the overall richest countries in the world, is very low on the charts.  What does this say about the so-called "American Exceptionalism"? 
Table from: The New York Times, http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2011/10/29/opinion/29blow-ch.html?ref=opinion
from the editorial "American's Exploding Pipedream by Charles M. Blow at http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/29/opinion/blow-americas-exploding-pipe-dream.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha212
"The differences in the prevention of poverty and access to educational opportunities are immense in the OECD.  The northern European countries are best of all at providing for equal opportunities for achievement. At the same time, many continental European and Anglo-Saxon states have considerable catching up." from the report at http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=de&u=http://www.bertelsmann-stiftung.de/&ei=dh2rTqy2KsLh0QGgtJWPDw&sa=X&oi=translate&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCIQ7gEwAA&prev=/search%253Fq%253Dhttp://www.bertelsmann-stiftung.de%2526hl%253Den%2526client%253Dsafari%2526rls%253
These (the successful nations) are the very countries that some of our would-be leaders in the U.S. deride as dangerous socialist welfare states.  Meanwhile, we (the U.S.) are literally at the bottom of the heap, just slightly above Greece, Chile, Mexico, and Turkey.  We are in the lowest category, "the bottom five," for Pete's sake!

Detail: Mapping the History of Poverty

0 Population and Climate Change

This map shows areas at the intersection of high population growth rates, declines in agricultural production, high water stress or scarcity, low resilience to climate change, and lack of available reproductive planning.  Source: Population Action International (Healthy Families Healthy Planet)

Continuing with the global perspective, the Population Action International (Healthy Families Healthy Planet) website has some nice interactive maps that show how the relationships amongst climate change impacts, demographic trends, and reproductive health needs are likely to affect countries’ abilities to adapt to climate change.  (Thanks, Elia Machado, for sending the link.) http://www.populationaction.org/Publications/Interactive_Databases/climate_map.shtml

So much is unknown about climate change - there are numerous predictive models used to estimate the magnitude of sea level rise and other likely climate change-related phenomena, but the predictions vary considerably in extent and severity.  However, we know that adverse health impacts resulting from climate change have the potential to be dire in many parts of the world, and will likely affect almost every place to some degree.  Climate change will be coupled with rapid population growth rates in some places, reduced agricultural yields due to drought, water shortages and water stress, and the inability of less developed countries to mitigate these effects through increased resources.  In some places, all these negative factors will converge at once, and these places tend to be areas already at risk.  People in poorer areas are generally more vulnerable to natural disasters, such as hurricanes, flooding, landslides, and other extreme weather-related events, which are likely to increase in both number of events and severity, with global climate change.  These populations have fewer personal resources; less support from their governments for disaster preparedness, planning and management, evacuation, mitigation, and recovery; less community support infrastructure; and are therefore less resilient to recover from the impacts of climate change.  Climate change is therefore an environmental justice issue - actually, it will probably become the grand-daddy of all environmental justice issues in terms of impacts and numbers of people affected.

Possible health impacts from climate change include:

a.) cardiovascular and respiratory disease from increase in air pollution;

b.) vulnerability to kidney failure and heat stroke from extreme heat events;

c.) proliferation of vector-borne diseases (e.g., malaria, West Nile virus, Dengue fever, Lyme disease, encephalitis) from increases in the extent of vector habitat due to warming trends;

d.) water-borne diseases (e.g., cholera, cryptosporidium, giardia, E. coli infection, dysentery, typhoid) from increased flooding and resultant contamination of water, as well as from water stress and scarcity;

e.) health impacts due to salt intrusion into groundwater from sea level rise;

f.) increased vulnerability amongst the disabled, elderly, immune-compromised, and those with other serious health conditions from floods and other climate change-related hazards.

g.) reduction in agricultural productivity, food security, and subsequent increase in famine, malnutrition, and food- and diet-related illnesses. 

All of these impacts are exacerbated by rapid population growth rates and failing environmental infrastructure. 

Age Structure/Population Pyramids

Shape of things to come – another nice interactive feature, click on country and get time-line of population pyramids. http://www.populationaction.org/Publications/Reports/The_Shape_of_Things_to_Come_Interactive_Database/Index.shtml

Reproductive Risk

Source:  International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD)

Narrowing the gender gap

“Improving the status of women is critical to achieving sustainable development. The ICPD Programme of Action advocates programmes and policies that increase women’s participation in government, promote education for girls, and increase employment opportunities for women, among other actions.”

Meeting health needs

“Promoting women’s health and safe motherhood is a key objective of the ICPD Programme of Action—and increasing women’s access to safe, affordable and effective reproductive health care and services is critical. These include family planning information and contraceptives, skilled care at childbirth, safe abortion services in countries where abortion is legal, and HIV/STI prevention, treatment and management.”  Source:  International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD)  http://www.populationaction.org/cd2015/reportCard/index.php

Human Planet: The most remarkable species of all, living in the wildest places on earth

Now, if you would like to see something totally uplifting, check out this short video from the BBC – it contains amazing photography of our planet (much of it taken from above) and the wildly varying habitats in which our species lives.  Soaring and achingly beautiful - even though most of us don’t live in any of these wild places anymore.  It makes you want to root for the humans!  (Thanks, Bobbie Menendez, for sending this.)  http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=2HiUMlOz4UQ&vq=large

Population Growth Infographic
And here is another short video, taken from Mr. Rozzy Roo's Science Blog: a Population Growth Infographic. "Overpopulation and overconsumption underlie every environmental problem we have today."  http://www.mrrozzyroo.com/2011/03/population-growth-infographic.html (Original source: MIND - Media Independent Network)

Detail: Population and Climate Change