NOVA-World in Balance-The People Paradox

In Human Geo today, Mr. Schick told us a joke about how "he went to apply for a job to be a bell-ringer" for his church, and when he was there, there was also a man with no arms. He ran into the bell face first, knocked himself out of the building the first time etc etc, and then when everyone was looking at him on the ground wondering who he was, one guy said "I don't know him, but his face sure rings a bell."

Anyways, we took notes on NOVA- World in Balance- The People Paradox- today, and it's a documentary about the population and state of life in different countries/states around the world. Here are the notes I took:

• elders over 60 are expected to outnumber kids under 4
• older people need more healthcare 
• we saw one kid in a Japan classroom, because of the declining birth rate 
• Japan- population expected to decline by half 
• European countries- population expected to have 63 million less people 
• in developing nations, women are giving birth at an enormous rate, more children are surviving than ever before 
• the largest generation in human history is reaching their reproductive years 
• The Taj Mahal was actually built to honor a queen who died giving birth to her 14th child 
• "demographic divide" (ex.- high population vs low population; GDP) 
• India is soon to be the country with the largest population in the world (passing China which is now the largest) 

Uttar Pradesh- one of India's states 

• size of Colorado 
• india total fertility rate: went from 6.0 to 3.0 
• population could double by 2050 
• lives of women need to improve here 
• Gudi, an indian woman, 30 years old, told her story about almost dying due to giving birth to her 8th child
• doesn't want to have a baby/ wants to get sterilized 
• has the least impact on that decision^ her husband and mother in law are able to override her decision 
• her son has to take care of his parents once older, if something happens to him they are out of luck, they need at least one more son because they stay while the girls go off with their husband's families 
• 1 in 10 children die before turning 5 
• 95% of marriages here are arranged