Wealthy nations like the US constitute 20 percent of the world's population, yet they use more than 70 percent of its resources. Overconsumption by the wealthy in both industrialized and low-income nations, and to a lesser extent, pollution produced by the poor as a result of impoverished living conditions have a profound environmental impact. Environment Population growth interacts with consumption patterns to intensify environmental problems and compound human suffering in many regions of the world. A 1995 Food and Agriculture Organization study found that in 64 out of 105 low-income countries, food production lagged behind population growth and food production per person fell. More than 386 million people in 31 countries face water scarcity.
Habitat loss is the single greatest threat to species throughout the world.
Habitat loss is due to encroaching human settlements, unsustainable resource extraction by logging, mining, and other corporations, and environmentally harmful trade practices. Species are being lost fifty to one hundred times faster than the rate of natural extinction. The loss of plant and animal species within an eco-system will irrevocably alter that environment in unpredictable and potentially devastating ways. An estimated 585,000 women die in pregnancy or childbirth each year. Many of these deaths could have been averted had these women had access to adequate family planning and reproductive health care.