Canada is a very large country. It is the second largest country in the world. By contrast it has a very small population. There are only about 29 million people there. Most Canadians are of British or French origin(后裔), and French is an official language of Canada as well as English. About 45% of the people are of British origin, that is, they or their parents or grandparents, etc, come from Britain. Nearly 30% are of French origin. Most of the French­Canadians live in the province of Quebec.

Over the years, people have come to live in Canada from many countries in the world. They are from Europe and also from China, besides other Asian countries.

However, Canada was not an empty country before the Europeans began to arrive. Canadian Indians lived along the coast, by the rivers and lakes and in forests. Today, there are only about 350，000 Indians in the whole country, with their own languages. In the far north live the Inuit. There are only 27，000 Canadian­Inuit. Their life is hard in such a difficult climate.

According to a recent report from the United Nations, the world population continues (继续) to grow. It could reach 8.4 billion in the year 2025. But during the past 10 years or so, there has been a large and rapid (快速的) drop in the world’s birth rate.

Families are smaller now than they were a few years ago. It is happening in both developing countries (such as China and India) and developed countries (such as America and England). Some families don’t want to have more babies because they believe that it’s difficult for them to raise two or more children.

China is such a country that it has already cut its rate of population growth since 1970. Most Chinese families have no more than one child. And it reached a zero population growth rate in 2010. But in 2021, the Chinese government passed laws to encourage (鼓励) families to have three babies, because there are too many old people now. Some factories can’t find enough people to work. That’s terrible.

Several countries in Europe already have a negative growth rate. Experts say that these countries could face a serious shortage (短缺) of workers in the future. And those who are working could face higher taxes (税) to help support the growing number of retirees (退休人员).

A very important world problem is the growing population on the earth. The population of the world today is more than 7,400,000,000. That is a great number and we know it quite well. The important thing is not how large the population of the world is now, but the rate of the growth. It is about 1.63 percent every year.

Every second, 4.2 babies are born in the world. Another baby! Another baby! Another baby! You can not speak quickly enough to keep up with the birth rate. The population is growing faster and faster. In one day, people have to find food for over 350,000 mouths. The rapid growth of population will make a big problem by the year 2025. There will be as many as 8.1 billion people on the earth! So this is one of the biggest problems that you are going to see in your life.