Effects of Demographic Change
on Environmental Degradation: Evidence
and Implications for India
C.M. Lakshmana
Abstract In the recent decade, India has seen remarkable changes in the age
structure due to demographic transition. This has further influenced the society and
economy in a positive side and however, changing demographic trends and consumption pattern in India has been causing eco-degradation and environmental
pollution, and therefore an issue of changing demographics and its effects on
environmental degradation is a serious issue in the present pattern of population
dynamics. Though there is a currently fair understanding of the ways in which the
India’s population is changing as well as of the social and economic implications of
these changes, little attention has so far been paid to its possible environmental
impacts. In this background, this particular paper tries to understand how the
changing demographic trends have affected environment in India, and seeks to
identify measures both to mitigate environmental damage and increase resource use
efficiency.
1 Introduction
Currently the annual average world population growth has been increasing at 1.1 %.
It is slightly higher when compared to India. Though, India has 2.4 % of the world’s
geographical area, it is home to nearly 17 % of the world’s population. The
demographic trends such as increase in the total population, changing age structure,
change in household size, distribution, and size of urban population across various
segments have been seriously caused to environment decay, which directly
degraded the human welfare, health, and well-being. However, in India, demographic trends are not uniform across the country; the backward states such as
Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh, Orissa, and Rajasthan have
witnessed above the average growth rate of population while other states are
C.M. Lakshmana (&)
Institute for Social and Ecnomic Change, Dr. VKRV Rao Road,
Nagarabhavi, Bangalore 560072, India
e-mail: lakshmana@isec.ac.in
© Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2016
S. Nautiyal et al. (eds.), Climate Change Challenge (3C)
and Social-Economic-Ecological Interface-Building, Environmental Science,
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-31014-5_7
99
on Environmental Degradation: Evidence
and Implications for India
C.M. Lakshmana
Abstract In the recent decade, India has seen remarkable changes in the age
structure due to demographic transition. This has further influenced the society and
economy in a positive side and however, changing demographic trends and consumption pattern in India has been causing eco-degradation and environmental
pollution, and therefore an issue of changing demographics and its effects on
environmental degradation is a serious issue in the present pattern of population
dynamics. Though there is a currently fair understanding of the ways in which the
India’s population is changing as well as of the social and economic implications of
these changes, little attention has so far been paid to its possible environmental
impacts. In this background, this particular paper tries to understand how the
changing demographic trends have affected environment in India, and seeks to
identify measures both to mitigate environmental damage and increase resource use
efficiency.
1 Introduction
Currently the annual average world population growth has been increasing at 1.1 %.
It is slightly higher when compared to India. Though, India has 2.4 % of the world’s
geographical area, it is home to nearly 17 % of the world’s population. The
demographic trends such as increase in the total population, changing age structure,
change in household size, distribution, and size of urban population across various
segments have been seriously caused to environment decay, which directly
degraded the human welfare, health, and well-being. However, in India, demographic trends are not uniform across the country; the backward states such as
Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh, Orissa, and Rajasthan have
witnessed above the average growth rate of population while other states are
C.M. Lakshmana (&)
Institute for Social and Ecnomic Change, Dr. VKRV Rao Road,
Nagarabhavi, Bangalore 560072, India
e-mail: lakshmana@isec.ac.in
© Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2016
S. Nautiyal et al. (eds.), Climate Change Challenge (3C)
and Social-Economic-Ecological Interface-Building, Environmental Science,
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-31014-5_7
99