1. World population: an overview -- Population growth rates -- Fertility -- Mortality -- World population-past -- World population-present -- World population-future -- Migration -- Urbanization -- Carrying capacity -- Population policies: pronatalist -- Population policies: antinatalist -- Population policy: China and India -- Global population policy -- 2. Problems and controversies -- Malthus and overpopulation fears -- Modern Malthusians -- Population optimists -- Problems of population density -- Population and the environment -- Optimum population -- Great population slowdown -- Depopulation worries -- Older and older -- Problems of a graying population -- Pronatal policies: can they work? -- 3. Special U.S. issues -- Is the United States an exceptional nation, demographically speaking? -- What makes American fertility different? -- Graying of America -- Threat to social security pensions -- Social security fixes -- Medicare and medicaid -- International family planning: early U.S. support -- "Mexico City" and abortion politics -- Principle and practice -- Fewer people, declining influence? -- Human numbers-not the whole story -- 4. Chronology -- 5. Biographical sketches -- John Bongaarts (1945-) -- Norman Borlaug (1914-) -- Ester Boserup (1910-1999) -- Lester R. Brown (1934-) -- Joel E. Cohen (1944-) -- Paul Demeny (1932-) -- Nicholas Eberstadt (1955-) -- Paul R. Ehrlich (1932-) -- Werner Fornos (1933-) -- He Kang (1923-) -- Thomas Homer-Dixon (1956-) -- Richard Jackson (1955-) -- Wolfgang Lutz (1956-) -- Carolyn B. Maloney (1948-) -- Thomas Robert Malthus (1766-1834) -- Thoraya Obaid (1946-) -- Walter Plowright (1923-) -- Margaret Sanger (1879-1966) -- Amartya K. Sen (1933-) -- Julian L. Simon (1932-1998) -- Steven W. Sinding (1943-) -- Christopher H. Smith (1953-) -- Marie Stopes (1880-1958) -- M. S. Swaminathan (1925-) -- Ben Wattenberg (1933-) -- 6. Statistics and graphs -- 7. Documents -- Essay on population (1798) -- Population growth, resource consumption, and a sustainable world: joint statement by the Royal Society of London and the U.S. National Academy of Sciences (February 1992) -- Warning to humanity, November 18, 1992 -- National security study memorandum 200 (December 10, 1974) -- World population prospects: the 2004 revision-highlights -- Census bureau projects doubling of nation's population by 2100 -- World population to 2300 -- Program of action of the international conference on population and development, Cairo, 1994 -- World population policies 2003 -- United Nations principles for older persons -- Madrid International Plan of Action on Ageing, 2002 -- 8. Directory of organizations -- 9. Selected print and nonprint resources -- Monographs -- Handbooks, yearbooks, and data sheets -- Nonprint resources -- Contact information for video distributors and vendors.