Middle Class Research Paper

The world’s population is constantly growing, and with this comes the growth of the world’s middle class. The growth of the world’s middle class is beneficial to those who are moving up in their social and socio-economic statuses, however, this global increase of middle classes can be seen to be linked with the global increase in ecological footprint. The amount of people living in a middle class status has increased dramatically, similarly to global ecological footprint which is also increasing at a high rate. These two things can be linked to each other, as the rising global amount of middle class people can be seen as a cause for the increase in global ecological footprint.

An ecological footprint is the measure of the relationship between human activity and the world’s biosphere, measuring the stress the biosphere endures due to human activity, in global hectares. An ecological footprint, more precisely, measures the amount of biologically productive land and water …show more content…
The main reason for the increase in people living in the middle class is due to the increase in global wealth and fall of people living in absolute poverty. The rise in the middle class comes with a rise in demand for consumer goods, such as electronic devices, cars, high speed internet and a greater variety of clothes and food products. When people become of a middle class, they generally will begin to demand more varied and ‘luxurious’ products, such as expensive cuts of meat and imported goods (IB DP Geography, 2018). This rise in consumerism, although benefiting the Transnational Corporations, has a disastrous impact on the environment. The environment will be greater impacted on by the rise in middle class as additional land will be required for rearing animals, increased demand for energy, and larger amounts of waste being