Social, Cultural, and Technological Trends in the Contemporary World

Hamid Yeganeh

• Publisher: Business Expert Press
• Year: 2021
• Print ISBN: 9781637420720
• eBook ISBN: 9781637420737
• Edition: 2
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Business General
• Index: Business

This book offers a concise and analytical portrait of the contemporary world.

The author encompasses concepts and theories from multiple disciplines, notably sociology, anthropology, international relations, business, and economics, to examine the major transformations of the modern world, their underlying causes, and their consequences. The volume is organized into 20 chapters and five parts.

The first part discusses emerging trends in global demographics, culture, globalization, and emerging markets. The second part examines trends in global business, corporations, wealth distribution, and the future of work and organization. The third part discusses issues about commodities, water, energy, food, and the environment. The fourth part is dedicated to technological innovations. Finally, the fifth part analyzes major trends in global healthcare and the COVID-19's impacts.

This book is a timely and relevant reference for business leaders, managers, students, and all those passionate about understanding our rapidly changing world.

CHAPTER 1

Global Demographic Trends

An Incredible Growth of Human Population

Throughout most of human history, for thousands of years, the world population growth has been very slow. For instance, it is estimated that the world’s population grew slowly from about 2.4 million people in 10,000 BCE to 295 million in 1,000 CE [1]. Only 200 years ago there were less than one billion human beings living on earth. Since the 18th century with the advent of industrial revolution and advances in medicine, agriculture, and sanitation, the world population has increased exponentially. Around the 1830s, the world population reached one billion for the first time. It took another century for the world population to hit two billion around the 1930s. The third billion was reached only 30 years later in the 1960s. Since then, the world population has grown very rapidly soaring to a colossal number of seven billion in 2011 (see Table 1.1 and Figure 1.1). In other words, the world population has witnessed an astonishing surge of 133 percent only in 50 years between 1960 and 2011. At the time of this writing (mid-2021), the world population is estimated at 7.9 billion, and it is expected to rise another 100 million by the end of the year. Accordingly, the world’s population has increased by approximately one billion over the last 12 years.

The surge in population growth rates in the 1950s and 1960s was caused mainly by quick declines in death rates across the developing world [2–4]. According to the United Nations Population Division, the world’s population is expected to grow to 8.5 billion in 2030 and further to 9.7 billion in 2050 and to 10.9 billion in 2100 [5]. If these predictions come true, the world’s population will see an increase of seven billion in 100 years between 1956 and 2056 or an astonishing growth of almost 234 percent! To put it in perspective, 10 billion would be the equivalent of adding China and India’s populations to the present world population [6]. Because of a very fast population growth between the 1950s and the 1970s, many countries encountered difficulty in implementing their development plans and introduced birth control and family planning programs. Subsequently, population growth rate fairly slowed down in the 1990s. Due to the birth control programs and contagious diseases such as AIDS/HIV, currently, the world population grows more slowly than in the 1970s and 1980s.

Table 1.1 World population historical data

Year	Population	Yearly change (%)	Yearly change	Urban population (%)	Urban population
2020	7,794,798,739	1.05	81,330,639	56	4,378,993,944
2019	7,713,468,100	1.08	82,377,060	56	4,299,438,618
2018	7,631,091,040	1.10	83,232,115	55	4,219,817,318
2017	7,515,284,153	1.11	82,620,878	54.70	4,110,778,369
2016	7,432,663,275	1.13	83,191,176	54.30	4,034,193,153
2015	7,349,472,099	1.18	83,949,411	53.80	3,957,285,013
2010	6,929,725,043	1.23	82,017,839	51.50	3,571,272,167
2005	6,519,635,850	1.25	78,602,746	49.10	3,199,013,076
2000	6,126,622,121	1.33	78,299,807	46.60	2,856,131,072
1995	5,735,123,084	1.55	85,091,077	44.80	2,568,062,984
1990	5,309,667,699	1.82	91,425,426	43	2,285...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half-Title Page
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Description
• Contents
• Chapter 1 Global Demographic Trends
• Chapter 2 Globalization: Transformations and Consequences
• Chapter 3 Culture in the Contemporary World
• Chapter 4 The Changing Landscape of Global Affairs
• Chapter 5 Challenges to Security and Governance
• Chapter 6 The Environmental Degradation
• Chapter 7 The Giant Corporations
• Chapter 8 The Inequality, the Wealth Concentration, and the Super-rich
• Chapter 9 The Global Health and Well-Being
• Chapter 10 Food and Agriculture
• Chapter 11 The Sharing Economy
• Chapter 12 The Fourth Industrial Revolution
• Chapter 13 The Gig Economy
• Chapter 14 Consumers and Consumption
• Chapter 15 Labor, Work Organization, and Education
• Chapter 16 Innovation and Research
• Chapter 17 Emerging Technologies
• About the Author
• Index
• Backcover