CONTENTS
- The Earth and Its People
- Pollution and Health Risks
- Feeding a Future World
- Freshwater: Lifeblood of the Planet
- Oceans in Decline
- Forests: The Earth's Lungs
- Endangered Biodiversity
- Toward a Livable Future
HIGHLIGHTS
- Can development be sustained?
- Scientists point to environmental distress syndrome
- Cities grow ever larger
- Global temperatures rising
- Are we setting the stage for our own extinction?
- World population must stabilize
Population Reports is published by the Population Information Program, Center for Communication Programs, The Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, 111 Market Place, Suite 310, Baltimore, Maryland 21202-4012, USA
Fall 2000
Series M, Number 15
Special Topics
Demand for freshwater is rising rapidly as population grows and becomes more urban, and as water use per capita increases. Some areas already face shortages, and more will face them in the future unless steps are taken to manage water resources better.
The supply of freshwater on earth is finite. Thus, as population grows, there is less water per capita. In 1989 there were about 9,000 cubic meters of freshwater per person available for human use (37, 135). By 2000, because of population growth, that amount dropped to about 7,800 cubic meters per person (88). If the world's population grows to over 8 billion in 2025 as expected, the amount of water per capita will be just 5,100 cubic meters (45).
Even this amount of freshwater per capita would be enough to meet human needs if it were evenly distributed. But available freshwater supplies are not distributed evenly around the globe, throughout the seasons, or from year to year. Two-thirds of the world's population—around 4 billion people—live in areas receiving only one-quarter of the world's annual rainfall (87).
Throughout much of the world the renewable supply of freshwater—the amount available year after year on a sustainable basis—comes in the form of seasonal rains that run off too quickly for efficient use (185). India, for example, gets 90% of its annual rainfall during the summer monsoon season, which lasts from June to September. For the other eight months the country gets barely a drop (37).
 Lauren Goodsmith |
| In Morocco a girl loads water barrels onto a donkey. By 2025, about 700 million people in Africa will live in water-short countries. Worldwide, 48 countries, with about 3 billion people, are projected to face water shortages. |
