the maximum number of people who could live in reasonable freedom and comfort indefinitely, without decreasing the ability of the earth to sustain future generations.

The question we should ask instead of how many people can the earth support indefinately. 

crude birth rate

crude death rate

used in place of total numbers of births each year, it is the number of births per 1,000 people in a populaion in a given year. it is taken midpoint,

same concept but with dead.

calculated by subtracting the # of people leaving a population from the # of people coming in through a certain amount of time.

Drawbacks: Not enought musle gain.

Populations grow or decline through interplay with births, deaths, and migration.

-importance of children as a part of the labor force (esp. less developed, makes sense for them to have more children to help with neccessary work)

-cost of raising and educating children( rate lower in more developed because raising children is more costly and do not start work until later in life)

-availability of or lack of pension (pensions reduce need for couple's to have more children to help support them later in life)

-infant deaths (more in poorer countries so must have more kids to inusre some survival)

- Urbanization (urban areas better access to family planning services so fewer kids)

- educational and employment opportunities available for women** (rates lower when women have access to education and paid employment outside home, better educated tend to marry later and have less kids)

- average age at marriage (later marriage=later first child=not as many)

- availability of legal abortions and birth control methods (more availability =less birth rate, allows womesn to control # they have)

- religious beliefs, traditions, and cultural norms (some favor large families, oppose abortion and birth control)