Population & Consumption

POPULATION AND CONSUMPTION

Our growing numbers – now 6.5 billion and expected
to grow to 9.1 billion by 2050 – require more space,
more food and more resources. There are more of us
consuming more, a pattern leading to the depletion of
the world’s limited natural resources. But consumption
is more than just a game of numbers. It is also part of
lifestyle choices and political, economic and social
structures.

Consumption is “all the resources used in an economy
by all consumers, both individual and institutional, and
the waste that accompanies resource use. It means
both end-products and their raw material and intermediate
ingredients.”1
There is nothing wrong with a nation meeting the
needs of its people or with companies using resources
to produce goods. The danger lies in the kinds and
methods of consumption and the impact of waste
production on the environment. In some areas of the
world, reckless and intense use of limited resources
has left areas without adequate access to fresh water or
arable land. The waste generated by consumption has
given rise to a new landscape of towering trash heaps
and infertile fields. New concerns about equity in consumption
have also brought into question resource
equity in sustainable development.

If we are serious about meeting our obligation to
improve the human condition now and for future generations
we must struggle to find a more equitable balance
between population growth, the environment
and natural resources.

CONSUMPTION PATTERNS: WEALTHY COUNTRIES
About 20 percent of the world’s population consumes
70 percent of the world’s material resources and possesses
80 percent of its wealth.

The majority of this
20 percent is located in wealthy nations, including the
United States, Canada, Australia, and Japan.2
One of the largest consumer nations is the United
States. The United States, with less than 5 percent of
the global population, uses about a quarter of the
world’s fossil fuel resources: The US burns up nearly
25 percent of the coal, 26 percent of the oil and 27
percent of natural gas.3
Policies guiding manufacturing can affect consumption
of natural resources. Japan, South Korea and
countries in Western Europe have the most energy
efficient manufacturing sectors, whereas developing
countries, the former Soviet bloc, and a few industrial
countries—particularly the United States and
Australia—have the least efficient manufacturing sectors.4
CONSUMPTION PATTERNS: DEVELOPING NATIONS
China is now the world’s largest consumer of
resources. Among the five basic food, energy and
industrial commodities—grain and meat, oil and coal,
and steel — consumption in China has already
eclipsed that of the United States in all resources but
oil. In 2003, some 11,000 more cars merged onto
Chinese roads each day — 4 million new private cars
during the year. Auto sales increased by 60 percent in
2002 and by more than 80 percent in the first half of
2003. If this pace continues, 150 million cars could
jam China’s streets by 2015 —18 million more than
were driven on U.S. streets and highways in 1999.5
In addition to energy, water shortages are a persistent
and growing problem in many developing countries.
Some 1.7 billion people, one-third of the developing
world’s population, live in countries facing water
stress, defined as countries that consume more than
20 percent of their renewable water supply each year.
If current population and consumption trends persist,
this number could increase to five billion people by
2025.6

Issue brief updates February 2005

References:
1President’s Council on Sustainable Development 1999
2World Wildlife Fund 2005
3Worldwatch Institute 2005
4Worldwatch Institute 2005
5Worldwatch Institute 2005
6 United Nations Development Program 2003