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Overpopulation: Cause and Effect

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Conversations about overpopulation can quickly become controversial because they beg the question: Who exactly is the cause of the problem and what, if anything, should be done about it? Many population experts worry discussions around overpopulation will be abused by small-minded people to suggest some are the “right people” to be on the planet (like themselves), and some people are “the wrong people” (usually people in poverty, people of color, foreigners, and so on—you get the drift). But there are no “right” or “wrong” people on the planet, and discussing the problems of global overpopulation can never be an excuse, or in any way provide a platform, for having that type of conversation.

Each human being has a legitimate claim on a sufficient and fair amount of Earth’s resources. But with a population approaching 8 billion, even if everyone adopted a relatively low material standard of living like the one currently found in Papua New Guinea , it would still push Earth to its ecological breaking point. Unfortunately, the “average person” on Earth consumes at a rate over 50% above a sustainable level. Incredibly, the average person in the United States uses almost five times more than the sustainable yield of the planet.

When we use the term “overpopulation,” we specifically mean a situation in which the Earth cannot regenerate the resources used by the world’s population each year. Experts say this has been the case every year since 1970, with each successive year becoming more and more damaging. To help temper this wildly unsustainable situation, we need to understand what’s contributing to overpopulation and overconsumption and how these trends are affecting everything from climate change to sociopolitical unrest.

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The causes of overpopulation.

Today the Earth is home to over 8 billion people. By 2100 the population is on track to hit 10.8 billion , according to the United Nations — and that’s assuming steady fertility declines in many countries. Interestingly, if extra progress is made in women’s reproductive self-determination, and fertility falls more than the United Nations assumes is likely, the population in 2100 might be a relatively smaller 7.3 billion.

For now, the world’s population is still increasing in huge annual increments (about 80 million per year), and our supply of vital non-renewable resources are being exhausted. Many factors contribute to these unsustainable trends , including falling mortality rates, underutilized contraception, and a lack of education for girls.

Falling Mortality Rate

The primary (and perhaps most obvious) cause of population growth is an imbalance between births and deaths. The infant mortality rate has decreased globally, with 4.1 million infant deaths in 2017 compared to 8.8 million in 1990, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). This is welcome public health news, of course.

At the same time, lifespans are increasing around the world. Those of us who are alive today will likely live much longer than most of our ancestors. Global average life expectancy has more than doubled since 1900 , thanks to advancements in medicine, technology, and general hygiene. Falling mortality rates are certainly nothing to complain about either, but widespread longevity does contribute to the mathematics of increasing population numbers.

Underutilized Contraception

The global fertility rate has fallen steadily over the years, down from an average of 5 children per woman in 1950 to 2.4 children per woman today, according to the UN Population Division . Along with that promising trend, contraceptive use has slowly but steadily increased globally, rising from 54% in 1990 to 57.4% in 2015. Yet, on the whole, contraceptive use is still underutilized. For example, according to the WHO, an estimated 214 million women in developing countries who want to avoid pregnancy are not using modern contraceptives.

These women aren’t using contraceptives for a variety of reasons, including social norms or religious beliefs that discourage birth control, misconceptions about adverse side effects, and a lack of agency for women to make decisions around sex and family planning. An estimated 44% of pregnancies were unintended worldwide between 2010-2014. Getting more women the access and agency to utilize family planning methods could go a long way in flattening the population curve.

Lack of Female Education

Although female access to education has increased over the years, the gender gap remains. Roughly 130 million girls worldwide are out of school currently, and an estimated 15 million girls of primary school age will never learn to read and write, compared with 10 million boys.

Increasing and encouraging education among women and girls can have a number of positive ripple effects, including delayed childbearing , healthier children, and an increase in workforce participation. Plenty of evidence suggests a negative correlation between female education and fertility rates.

If increased female education can delay or decrease fertility and provide girls with opportunities beyond an early marriage, it could also help to mitigate current population trends.

The Effects of Overpopulation

It is only logical that an increase in the world’s population will cause additional strains on resources. More people means an increased demand for food, water, housing, energy, healthcare, transportation, and more. And all that consumption contributes to ecological degradation, increased conflicts, and a higher risk of large-scale disasters like pandemics.

Ecological Degradation

An increase in population will inevitably create pressures leading to more deforestation, decreased biodiversity, and spikes in pollution and emissions, which will exacerbate climate change . Ultimately, unless we take action to help minimize further population growth heading into the remainder of this century, many scientists believe the additional stress on the planet will lead to ecological disruption and collapse so severe it threatens the viability of life on Earth as we know it.

Each spike in the global population has a measurable impact on the planet’s health. According to estimates in a study by Wynes and Nicholas (2017) , a family having one fewer child could reduce emissions by 58.6 tonnes CO2-equivalent per year in developed countries.

Increased Conflicts

The scarcity brought about by environmental disruption and overpopulation has the potential to trigger an increase in violence and political unrest. We’re already seeing wars fought over water, land, and energy resources in the Middle East and other regions, and the turmoil is likely to increase as the global population grows even larger.

Higher Risk of Disasters and Pandemics

Many of the recent novel pathogens that have devastated humans around the world, including COVID-19, Zika virus, Ebola, and West Nile virus, originated in animals or insects before passing to humans. Part of the reason the world is entering “ a period of increased outbreak activity ” is because humans are destroying wildlife habitats and coming into contact with wild animals on a more regular basis. Now that we’re in the midst of a pandemic, it has become clear how difficult it is to social distance in a world occupied by nearly 8 billion people.

Discover the real causes and effects of overpopulation

What can be done about overpopulation.

When addressing overpopulation, it’s crucial to take an approach of providing empowerment while mobilizing against anybody advocating for the use of coercion or violence to solve our problems. The combined efforts of spreading knowledge about family planning, increasing agency among women , and debunking widely held myths about contraception will measurably change the trajectory of the world’s population.

As we carry out our work at Population Media Center (PMC), we see first-hand that spreading awareness about family planning methods and the ecological and economic benefits of having smaller families can change reproductive behavior. For example, listeners of our Burundian radio show Agashi (“Hey! Look Again!”) were 1.7 times more likely than non-listeners to confirm that they were willing to negotiate condom use with a sexual partner and 1.8 times more likely than non-listeners to say that they generally approve of family planning for limiting the number of children.

CELEBRATING EARTH DAY WITH CONVERSATIONS ON OVERPOPULATION

In the spirit of Earth Day, it’s crucial to approach discussions about overpopulation with sensitivity and inclusivity. Overpopulation conversations should focus on the collective responsibility to steward Earth’s resources sustainably, rather than assigning blame or dividing communities. By fostering understanding and promoting access to education and reproductive health services, we can work towards a more equitable and sustainable future for all.

At PMC we harness the power of storytelling to empower listeners to live healthier and more prosperous lives, which in turn contributes to stabilizing the global population so that people can live sustainably with the world’s renewable resources. Discover how PMC is taking action against overpopulation today!

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A Brief on Overpopulation – Why it Matters and What You Can Do About It

Erin Brown | April 4, 2023 | Leave a Comment

Photo by Candace McDaniel on StockSnap

As humanity has surpassed the 8 billion people milestone, it is more important now than ever to talk about population. What will we do if we continue to grow at exponential rates? What are ethical, viable strategies to decrease population?

“First off, let me get this straight, discussing addressing overpopulation does not mean discussing killing people. The goal is actually to prevent it.” – Dr. Jane O’Sullivan

Current world population in January 2023: 8 billion

The current rate of population growth is around 80 million people per year. There are over 8 billion people on the planet, the last billion added in less than the last 12 years.

The Earth’s first billion people milestone took from the beginning of human history until the 1800s to be achieved. Then, due to the industrial revolution, humanity reached the second billion mark by 1930 (taking only 130 years), reached the third billion in 1960 (only took 30 years), then reached the fourth billion by 1974 (only took 14 years), and the fifth billion by 1987 (only took 13 years). We hit 6 billion in 1999 (which took 12 years) and hit 7 billion in 2011 (which took about 12 years). At the current growth rate, the world population will reach 9 billion by 2037 and 10 billion by 2057.

The growth rate is declining, but not at a fast enough rate to combat the exponential compound growth. The growth rate was 2% in the 1970s. Now it is 1.05%. Any growth rate above 1% means we are still adding more people to the planet every year.

What is overpopulation?

Overpopulation is a human population in numbers high enough to cause environmental deterioration, impaired quality of life, or population crash.

Why is overpopulation an issue?

Overrun natural resources can only lead to death by starvation, conflict, and disease, and the only viable alternative is voluntary restraint on human births.

What is carrying capacity?

Carrying capacity is defined as the maximum population of a species that an area will support without undergoing deterioration.

Paul R. Ehrlich and other scientists estimate the world’s optimum population for carrying capacity (at a comfortable standard of living – editor’s note) to be less than two billion people – 6 billion fewer than on the planet today. “But the longer humanity pursues business as usual, the smaller the sustainable society is likely to prove to be. We’re continuously harvesting the low-hanging fruit, for example by driving fisheries stocks to extinction” – Paul Ehrlich says.

How do we revert population overshoot to a sustainable population level?

Geologist Art Berman explains population overshoot this way: “Overshoot means that humans are using natural resources and polluting at rates beyond the planet’s capacity to recover. The main cause of overshoot is the extraordinary growth of the human population made possible by fossil energy. Concerns about overshoot and population raised more than 40 years ago were dismissed. Climate change has captured public awareness more recently although many doubt that it is an emergency. Overshoot is more difficult to dispute; it destroys rainforests, leads to the extinction of other species, the pollution of land, rivers, and seas, the acidification of the oceans, and the loss of fisheries and coral reefs. People understandably want to know the solutions. Overshoot is the problem we must address. Any plan that includes continued growth is doomed to fail.”

What can we do? Jane O’Sullivan outlines the two options for addressing population overshoot – i ncrease the Earth’s carrying capacity or decrease population.

Increasing Earth’s carrying capacity

We are already doing this by (a) using fewer natural resources per person, or (b) increasing productivity by finding more ways to use resources. This only defers the problem and creates collateral damage.

Decreasing population numbers

If we talk about this now, the hope is to increase our options for solutions. One of the biggest challenges to facing overpopulation head-on and discussing a decreasing population are the stigmas and myths associated with reducing human population numbers. An elaborate set of myths has emerged in opposition to reducing population levels. These myths may prevent even environmentalists from viewing overpopulation as an issue. Jane O’Sullivan elucidates on the following six myths that make inaction a virtue.

Myth 1 – The human population is stabilizing, and birth rates are decreasing

Truth – Birth rates started declining in the 1970s-90s due to family planning, but not low enough. The number of mothers is still increasing faster than family planning is decreasing the birth rate . We are still having more births per year than ever before. The total fertility rate has decreased, but as fertility decline has slowed to a trickle, the number of total births has continued to increase.

Myth 2 – China is the only one with the problem and they used cruel methods (one-child policy)

Truth – Family planning programs have helped many countries successfully reduce births through voluntary means, including China, before the one-child policy.

Myth 3 – Poverty causes population growth, therefore development is the best contraceptive

I.e., family planning is unnecessary and inefficient as long as there is development.

Truth – If this was true, we would see the population decline as development increases. However, it is the decrease in fertility rates that drove economic development, not the other way around. This myth is therefore “correlation implying causation” in the wrong direction. The poorest countries could lower their population by family planning just as quickly as rich countries if they choose to prioritize it.

Countries of families with four or more children, on average, have the lowest level of development; in families with 3 children or fewer the level goes up by some degree, and with two or fewer children development soars. The current focus should be on expanding provisions for teachers, doctors, equality, etc. instead of just giving people what they need.

Myth 4 – Educating girls is the key to ending population growth

Truth – Another indirect approach that excludes a discussion on the benefit of small families and ending population growth. Educating girls helps but not much unless it is also flanked by family planning efforts. Family planning has a stronger effect on women regulating their fertility, decreasing the fertility gap between the educated and uneducated, and with family planning, girls are more likely to stay in school.

Myth 5 – Population growth is good for the economy

Truth – This makes people poorer as shown under Myth #3.

Myth 6 – Population growth in poor nations does not matter because of their “tiny carbon footprint”

Truth – Population growth is a greater threat than climate change. The best way for anyone to decrease their carbon footprint is to have one less kid.

Therefore, family planning is the most economical way to a sustainable future.

What action can each of us take?

1. Discuss smaller family sizes with your partner, family, and friends – how do we aim for birth rates lower than two children per couple?

2. Share information about the environmental impacts of population growth with friends and family. Advocate for action to reduce and reverse population growth.

3. Reassess concerns about aging – how can we shift away from worshipping eternal youth, to accepting and valuing the entire life cycle?

4. Celebrate population decline – what are possible depopulation dividends?

5. Support organizations and efforts that support family planning and women’s education.

Damien Carrington, an environmental editor at The Guardian, interviewed Prof. Paul Ehrlich about the solutions:

“The solutions are tough,” Ehrlich says. “To start, make modern contraception and backup abortion available to all and give women full equal rights, pay, and opportunities with men. Focus on overconsumption and equity issues. Specifically women’s rights and the explicit countering of racism.”

Ehrlich also says that an unprecedented redistribution of wealth is needed to end the over-consumption of resources, but “the rich who now run the global system – that hold the annual ‘world destroyer’ meetings in Davos – are unlikely to let it happen…Too many rich people in the world is a major threat to the human future, and cultural and genetic diversity are great human resources… It is a near certainty in the next few decades, and the risk is increasing continually as long as the perpetual growth of the human enterprise remains the goal of economic and political systems. As I’ve said many times, ‘perpetual growth is the creed of the cancer cell’.”

If cultural and genetic diversity are great human resources, how can the rich and the poor come together across the world to solve this issue?

Anne and Paul Ehrlich expand on their “vision for a cure” :

“Rich white people love to hold meetings to discuss the ‘population problem’ which always ends up focusing on the very real demographic difficulties of those with darker skin tones, especially people who live in Africa and Latin America. But isn’t it really time for the poor people of the world, especially those not in need of tanning beds, to extend a helping hand to the major villains of the destruction of humanity’s life-support systems? Could they not hold an educational conference in Washington, D.C. to explain why civilization is going down the drain, to the per-capita most environmentally destructive giant nation on the planet? Leaders from the “South” could both organize the event and supply experts to educate the wealthy and middle class on their ethical responsibilities and ways to meet them. We envision learning sessions on topics such as:

Avoiding the second child.
The population problem beyond numbers: inequality and waste of talent.
Are borders ethical?
Population shrinkage for politicians.
GDP shrinkage for economists.
Do Trump and his colleagues prove that the lighter your skin, the lighter your brain?
Citizens United: It’s time for euthanasia for corporations.
Redistribution and survival.
Disbanding “Murder Incorporated”: gun manufacturers and big pharma.
How to end plastic production.
The historical contributions of the global South to the food enjoyed by the North.
How biodiversity loss is accompanied by the loss of human cultural diversity.
We know our populations are growing too fast; how to help us help ourselves?
Why anti-abortion laws kill poor women.

You can doubtless think of others. The possibilities are endless”.

References:

Berman, Art. The Climate-Change Trip to Abilene. July 13, 2022. https://mahb.stanford.edu/library-item/the-climate-change-trip-to-abilene/

Carrington, Damien. Interview with Paul Ehrlich: Collapse of civilization is a near certainty within decades. July 9, 2020. https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2018/mar/22/collapse-civilisation-near-certain-decades-population-bomb-paul-ehrlich

Ehrlich, Anne H.; Ehrlich, Paul R. Overpopulation In America -And Its Cures. November 14, 2019. https://mahb.stanford.edu/blog/overpopulation-america-cures/

O’Sullivan, Jane. The tenth presentation at the Delivering the Human Future Conference. Titled: The Future of the Human Population. March 21, 2021. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=shUNJPLpXpQ

Population Statistics. https://www.worldometers.info/world-population/

The MAHB Blog is a venture of the Millennium Alliance for Humanity and the Biosphere. Questions should be directed to [email protected]

Home — Essay Samples — Social Issues — Overpopulation — The Causes, Effects, and Consequences of Overpopulation

The Causes, Effects, and Consequences of Overpopulation

Categories: Overpopulation Population Growth

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Words: 683 |

Published: Jan 29, 2024

Words: 683 | Pages: 2 | 4 min read

Causes of overpopulation, effects of overpopulation, consequences of overpopulation, potential solutions, references:.

Cohen, J. E. (1995). How many people can the earth support?. Norton & Company.
Daniels, R. J. (2008). The effects of overpopulation on environment and society. Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society, 105(2), 212-218.
Ehrlich, P. R. (1968). The population bomb. Sierra Club/Ballantine Books.
Mazur, L. A. (1998). A concise guide to the world population. ABC-CLIO.
World Population Prospects 2019: Highlights. (2019). United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division.

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Home Essay Examples Sociology Overpopulation

Overpopulation: Causes And Consequences

Category Sociology
Subcategory Human Populations
Topic Overpopulation

The concept of global challenges is very ambiguous as it encompasses multifarious types of challenges, consequences and solutions. However, Professor Kristen Gelsdof succinctly defines a global challenge as “any major trend, shock or development that has the potential for serious global impacts” (1). I would like to extend this definition with “and can only be solved with global compliance and collaboration”, as I believe that no global challenge can be solved by any one nation or institution alone. They require collaborative action among all members of the international community, including IGOs, NGOs and corporations (2).

A significant challenge facing us today is world population, which can be characterised as overpopulation and as a growing threat to human survival on Earth. From the beginning of human history, it took until 1804 to reach a world population of 1 billion people, but only approximately 200 years after that to reach 7 billion (see Figure 1). Now, humans are reproducing at an unprecedented rate, with the population expected to increase by 2 billion in the next 30 years and peak at 11 billion by 2100 (3). The Industrial Revolution was a pinnacle point of human history that brought advancements in science, technology and transport worldwide. These advancements have enabled more people to reach the reproductive age and have reduced the fatality rate. As a result of this, increasing worldwide population growth has become a major contributor to climate change, rising sea-levels, exhaustion of natural resources and rising living costs and unemployment (4). It is now more important than ever before to face overpopulation with global solutions, otherwise the consequences will be devastating.

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In her report The Population Explosion: Causes and Consequences, Carolyn Kinder defines overpopulation as “the condition of having more people than can live on earth in comfort, happiness and health and still leave the world a fit place for future generations” (6). With more than 220 000 consumers being added to the planet daily (7), the disparity between human consumption and renewed global resources is increasing at an extremely unsustainable and alarming rate.

Earth Overshoot Day is the date which marks the depletion of the global allowance of the Earth’s yearly quota of natural resources. These resources include clean water, clean air and carbon sequestration (8). In 2019, Earth Overshoot day was July 29th, the earliest date recorded. To put this into perspective, in 1987 the date was October 23rd and in 2005 it was August 26th (9). This current usage is equivalent to 1.7 Earths, and if this trend continues, with more people using more resources, three Earths will be needed by 2050 (see Figure 2) (10).

The first step in solving overpopulation is recognising it as a global challenge and acknowledging that it’s growing beyond its limits. When looking at Gelsdorf’s definition, it is quite evident that the concept of overpopulation cannot be denied as a global challenge. This trend has the ability to effect any area of the globe and has the ‘potential for serious global impacts’, such as resource depletion. Furthermore, because overpopulation is “trans-institutional in solution” (12) it can only be solved with ‘global compliance and collaboration’.

The 1994 International Conference of Parliamentarians on Population and Development recognised this fact. The conference identified that there is a “delicate balance between population and natural resources” (13) and it urges national governments to take responsibility to resolve their own population issues “in a way that respects their own national and cultural identity, values and tradition” (14).

A prominent example of a nation taking specific action to tackle population growth is China and it’s one child policy. Introduced in 1980, this unique and unprecedented domestic measure established strict government monitoring to ensure that Chinese couples were having one child only. Incentives were offered to those who complied with the policy, including paid vacation and priority housing. With China making up 19% of the global population alone, the policy has been effective in preventing approximately 400 million births (15), but despite this success, China has suffered from some negative side effects, including a skewed male population, an aging population and a shrinking workforce. The policy framework focused on numbers only and did not – or was not able to – take account of entrenched cultural biases that favoured survival of male children over female children. So, resolving the challenge clearly lies within shrouds of moral, religious, political and practical circumstances, as well as numbers.

Recent modifications to the policy now allow couples to have two children if either parent is a single child. A study published by The Lancet by Professor Yi Zeng and Professor Therese Hesketh highlighted that the two-child policy will “not result in a baby boom, but rather a moderate increase in fertility” (16), because of the low fertility culture in China due to the previous policy. Currently, China’s birth rates are at 1.9 children per mother (see Figure 3) and if this rate is sustained, it will lead to depopulation. However, the rate of decline will not mean a dramatic reduction in total population numbers, which still stands at 1.4 billion (17).

For the global community to benefit the most out of this solution, other nations should follow suit and implement their own birth policies within the bounds of their culture and awareness, especially nations with higher populations like India, the United States and Indonesia (18). It’s a non-disruptive way to slowly decrease the population as it doesn’t impact individuals who are already alive, but instead prevents births.

Another international solution is the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which outline 17 goals for the international community to work towards that are “the blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all” (20). Because of state sovereignty, the SDGs are not legally binding. Instead, they are an innovative and effective way to exert pressure on nations and hold them accountable to accomplish the goals within their own borders (21). Additionally, compliance with the SGDs allows nations to create or maintain ties with other countries and establish a positive reputation within the global community. Although there is no specific SDG for overpopulation, the interconnective nature of the goals ensures that progress of some SDGs, especially ‘gender equality’ and ‘quality education’, is progress towards reducing overpopulation.

In his documentary Bill Nye Saves the World, scientist Bill Nye discusses the link between empowering women and overpopulation, stating, “by empowering women, we can lower the birth rate and keep population growth manageable” (22). Giving women access to a quality education and career is an impactful and ethical way to lower the birth rate. Not only is an education a vital way to gain knowledge about the many birth control options, but having a career usually means a woman can choose to have children later in life, which usually is linked to having fewer children. While this is a desirable aim, it is unfair for the female population to address this alone. The attitude and expectation of the male cohort must change if increased population levels are to be stabilised or reduced over time.

If the UN were to modify the SDGs to add a specific overpopulation goal, it will increase awareness about this issue and hopefully encourage nations put in place their own policies to sustain their precious resources and ensure the future of the world. Such an approach requires some sort of incentive which may include attaching achievement of population goals to financial assistance levels. World lending and aid organisations need to link their practices to a more sustainable level of population growth in spite of the moral and ethical issues that such an approach presents and the financial implications of doing so.

The actions we as a global community take now to combat overpopulation will determine the future of humankind and the environment. We have the power to decide whether we want to prosper as a race or succumb to irreversible environmental degradation and resource depletion. It is vital for all members of the international community to collaborate, cooperate and comply to ensure that the global solutions put in place are effective and sustainable.

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Human Overpopulation: Still an Issue of Concern?

The jury is still out as to whether the growth of human population is a positive factor or a dominant ill that could spell environmental and social catastrophe

EarthTalk® E - The Environmental Magazine

Dear EarthTalk : Is it true that human overpopulation isn’t such a big issue anymore, as numbers are expected to start declining in a few decades? —Melinda Mason, Boone, Iowa Ever since Thomas Malthus published “An Essay on the Principle of Population” in 1798, positing incorrectly that humans’ proclivity for procreation would exhaust the global food supply within a matter of decades, population growth has been a hot button issue among those contemplating humankind’s future. Indeed our very success going forth and multiplying, paired with our ability to extend our life expectancy, has meant that we are perpetually pushing the limits of the resource base that supports us.

When Malthus was worrying about the planet’s “carrying capacity,” there were only about a billion of us on the planet. Today our population tops seven billion. While better health care and medicine along with advances in food production and access to freshwater and sanitation have allowed us to feed ourselves and stave off many health ills, some so-called Neo-Malthusians believe we may still be heading for some kind of population crash, perhaps triggered or exacerbated by environmental factors related to climate change.

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But others are less concerned given projections that world population will likely start to decline once the world’s less developed nations urbanize and start lowering their birth rates, as has already happened in Europe, the U.S., Australia and parts of Asia. For example, Europe’s “fertility rate” between 2005 and 2010 was just 1.53 live births per woman (the standard replacement rate to maintain a stable population is 2.1). Without immigration, Europe’s population would already be shrinking.

Of course, the immigration that continues to fuel population numbers in developed countries is coming from somewhere. Indeed, population numbers are still growing in many of the world’s developing countries, including the world’s most populous nation, China, and its close rival, India. Also fertility rates in Africa continue to be among the highest in the world, as many countries there are growing fast, too. Poverty and health problems due to poor sanitation, lack of access to food and water, the low social status of women and other ills continue to cripple these regions. Overpopulation could plague us indefinitely if fertility rates don’t drop in these areas, especially as they ramp up their Western-style development. Globally, the United Nations estimates that the number of humans populating the planet in 2100 will range from as few as 6.2 billion—almost a billion less than today—to as many as 15.8 billion on the high end. Meanwhile, other researchers confirm the likelihood of world population levels flattening out and starting to decline by 2100 according to the lower UN estimate. To wit, the Austria-based International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) recently unveiled research showing that if the world stabilizes at a fertility rate comparable to that of many European nations today (roughly 1.5), the global human population will be only half of what it is today by the year 2200, and only one-seventh by 2300.

It is difficult to say which way the global population pendulum will swing in centuries to come, given ever-changing cultural, economic and political attitudes and the development demographics they affect. As such the jury is still out as to whether human overpopulation will become a footnote in history or the dominant ill that stands in the way of all other efforts to achieve sustainability and a kinder, gentler world. CONTACTS : Thomas Malthus, www.esp.org/books/malthus/population/malthus.pdf ; United Nations, www.un.org/esa/population/‎ ; IIASA, http:// webarchive.iiasa.ac.at/Admin/PUB/Documents/IR-08-022.pdf .

EarthTalk® is written and edited by Roddy Scheer and Doug Moss and is a registered trademark of E - The Environmental Magazine www.emagazine.com . Send questions to: [email protected] . Subscribe : www.emagazine.com/subscribe. Free Trial Issue : www.emagazine.com/trial .

Can We Talk About Overpopulation?

As numbers soar, scholars revisit a thorny debate.

Twenty years ago, farmers looked out at the tropical woodlands and savannahs of Uganda and saw endless virgin territory. A young man, upon starting a family, would clear a patch of wilderness near where he was raised and plant his own fields of sorghum, millet, groundnut, plantains, or cassava.

Now, after decades of unprecedented population growth, the land is running out. In southern Uganda, as in many parts of sub-Saharan Africa, farm communities are bumping up against one another and against dry lands, mountains, and rain forests. Pockets of arable land can still be found, but only in malaria-ridden hinterlands where nobody wants to live. Many farmers, rather than relocating long distances, are clearing rain forests near their homes, despite the fact that a tropical forest’s acidic soil is poorly suited to growing grains, fruits, and vegetables. Other farmers are subdividing their parents’ land, reducing the typical-sized farm plot in some parts of Africa to half an acre.

“That’s too small to feed a family,” says economist Jeffrey D. Sachs, who directs Columbia’s Earth Institute.

Africans will never be able to grow enough food for themselves, Sachs argues in his latest book, Common Wealth: Economics for a Crowded Planet , unless they start having fewer babies. Subsistence farmers in sub-Saharan Africa today raise an average of six children, which is causing the populations of some nations to double every 20 years. Few of these farmers are able to feed their children properly, let alone afford their education. Children thus grow up desperately poor and have huge families of their own. Shrinking farm plots add yet another burden: Food production on a per-capita basis is declining and malnutrition is worsening, which means that children are likely to grow up even less healthy and less productive.

“The poorest places in the world right now are stuck in a demographic trap,” says Sachs. “A family of subsistence farmers with six or seven kids doesn’t stand a chance.”

The only way to break this cycle of overpopulation and misery, Sachs writes in Common Wealth , is for wealthy nations to provide birth control to the world’s poor. Sachs recommends that rich countries quadruple foreign assistance for reproductive health programs to roughly $25 billion annually. That’s enough money, he estimates, to provide birth control, as well as maternal health care and STD treatment, to some 200 million women who lack it; most of them live in rural Africa.

The prospect of giving poor people contraceptives so they can lift themselves out of poverty might not seem particularly controversial, aside from the opposition that might be expected from some religious conservatives. Yet Sachs is the first mainstream economist in decades to formally propose this idea. Since the 1980s, family planning programs have been promoted strictly as a human right, not as a way to kick-start economic development. That’s because Western family planners in the 1960s and 1970s, in their zeal to slow population growth and to spur development in Asia, supported forced sterilizations, slum demolitions, and other abuses. Women’s rights advocates subsequently wrested control of international family-planning programs and made sure they never again aimed explicitly to lower birthrates.

The days of promoting birth control purely as a way to empower women, however, may be ending. There is a growing sense among scholars that the topic of overpopulation — which has faded from public consciousness as the world’s population growth rate has declined from its mid-1960s peak of 2 percent annually down to about 1.2 percent — is going to reemerge as a hot topic. Recently, the Sierra Club, the Worldwatch Institute, and other environmental groups have offered recommendations similar to those in Common Wealth , in which Sachs urges that we halt world population at 8 billion by 2050, rather than allowing it to grow to 9 billion from today’s 6.7 billion, as the UN projects.

Still, many population experts wonder: Is the marriage bed really the place to address economic and environmental problems? Is it even possible to manage people as numbers while respecting them as human beings?

Don’t blame the victim

Joel E. Cohen, a Columbia demographer, is an expert on population growth and environmental sustainability. He cringes at the term overpopulation .

“I have no idea what that word means, and you’ll never hear me use it,” he says. “It suggests that the size of a population can become so big that it starts causing problems in itself. That’s not the way it works. I’d put the situation this way: Rapid population growth makes it trickier for a poor country to deal with every problem that it faces, from distributing food and water during a drought to providing education and health care in rural areas. But it doesn’t cause these problems.”

There’s wide agreement among economists and demographers today that rapid population growth is troublesome. A report published in April by the UN Population Division concludes that high birthrates are hampering economic development across sub-Saharan Africa, mainly by limiting per-capita investments in education and health care. (Columbia economist Xavier Sala-i-Martin has shown that high birthrates typically stunt economic development.) The UN report also states that population pressure is worsening food and water shortages in the region. Environmental concerns also are real: rain forests in sub-Saharan Africa and in South America are being destroyed primarily by subsistence farming, according to NASA data, and deforestation is reducing local rainfall and exacerbating global climate change.

Cohen’s concern is that people often imagine a direct causal link between population growth and problems like hunger, poverty, and environmental degradation. It’s easy to think this way when visceral images of teeming third-world slums and starving masses invite human-scale explanations: Why do these people have so many babies? Cohen says we then may ignore political factors that contribute to these problems. For instance, agriculture subsidies in rich nations contribute to hunger by driving down farm incomes in the developing world; and African governments are famous for mismanaging food and water supplies. “During the Ethiopian famines of the 1980s, cash croppers in that country were allowed to export alfalfa to Japan as cattle feed,” he says. “Is that a population problem? I don’t think so.”

Cohen agrees with Sachs that international family-planning programs are underfunded. But he says that family planning should continue to be promoted — both to Western donors and to government officials in developing countries — strictly as a human right. To advance birth control as a means to slow population growth, Cohen says, implies that poor people need to solve their societies’ problems through private choices of childbearing. Might this cause the West to back away from other aid obligations, or inspire poor countries to implement coercive methods of population control?

Cohen hesitates. “It’s not as if a developing country’s problems are going to vanish if it manages to lower birthrates,” he says. “I would say that until the West has done its utmost to give poor people access to education, health care, job training, and family planning for the purpose of giving them more control over their lives, it’s premature to talk about trying to convince them to have fewer babies.”

Dirt to dust

Sachs insists that we speak clearly about population pressures. The problem of dwindling farmland in sub-Saharan Africa, he says, is insurmountable without a major effort to slow population growth.

As arable land in Africa has vanished, Sachs explains in Common Wealth , farmers have abandoned land-management techniques they used previously to sustain the long-term fertility of their fields, such as allowing one of the fields to lie fallow each season. Three-quarters of all arable land in sub-Saharan Africa today is severely depleted of nutrients because it has been overused, according to a recent study by the International Center for Soil Fertility and Agricultural Development.

A doubling of the region’s population since the early 1980s helps explain why almost all of sub-Saharan African countries now depend on foreign food aid. Until a few years ago, most were food exporters . “There’s a tyranny of the present at work,” Sachs writes, “and the poor, in their desperation to survive, are often contributing to massive local environmental degradation.”

Population control isn’t the only way to address food shortages, of course. Sachs points out that farmers in sub-Saharan Africa can’t afford chemical fertilizers, high-yield seed varieties, or modern irrigation. He and colleagues at the Earth Institute, as part of the United Nations Millennium Villages project, which Sachs initiated, are helping the governments of a dozen nations in Africa introduce modern farm technologies. They’ve had some remarkable success: The tiny, famine-prone nation of Malawi has tripled its grain yields in the past two years by subsidizing chemical fertilizer for all farmers.

“The problem is that these kinds of agricultural improvements never will produce gains to keep pace with a doubling of population every generation,” Sachs says.

Other types of foreign aid, such as for education or health care, also will bring diminishing returns if population growth rates don’t decline, says Sachs, who is academia’s most influential proponent of aid to Africa. He says that countries in sub-Saharan Africa now must spend huge portions of their budgets providing basic services, which leaves little money for the type of agricultural investment that Malawi is making in its fertilizer program. Economists thus say that countries experiencing explosive population growth must expend their budgets on “service widening,” to deliver basic services to more and more people, rather than on “service deepening,” to improve average services per person.

“If people continue having huge numbers of kids, and if farm sizes continue to shrink,” Sachs says, “I can’t imagine how the next generation is going to make it.”

Sordid history

Back in the 1960s, the populations of many poor countries in Asia, Latin America, and North Africa were growing as rapidly as the populations in sub-Saharan African countries are today. International health programs had gone into former colonies in these areas following World War II with antibiotic drugs, vaccines, and pesticides, which lowered mortality rates dramatically. Farmers in poor countries had always had lots of babies: They needed to, in order to ensure that at least one son grew up to work their fields and to take care of them in their old age. The problem was that while more of their children were surviving, rural people retained a cultural proclivity for huge families. Furthermore, they had little or no access to modern birth control, so they ended up with even more kids than they would have otherwise chosen.

Population growth soon was outpacing food production, especially in Asia, causing Western officials to fear that widespread famine would destabilize the continent, Columbia history professor Matthew Connelly explains in his latest book, Fatal Misconception: The Struggle to Control World Population . President Lyndon B. Johnson and his advisers viewed the situation through a lens of Cold War–inspired paranoia: Johnson, speaking to U.S. troops stationed in South Korea in 1966, warned that hordes of starving Asians might one day “sweep over the United States and take what we have.” His fear didn’t seem so irrational: 19 Nobel laureate scientists in 1960 had issued a public letter decrying how overpopulation could push the world into “a Dark Age of human misery, famine, and under-education, which could generate growing panic, exploding into wars.”

So in the late 1960s, the U.S. government began pouring tens of millions of dollars annually into international family-planning programs. The programs were administered primarily by Planned Parenthood, under the auspices of the newly formed United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), which was financed largely by U.S. dollars and which claimed that its programs provided contraceptives, sterilization procedures, and abortions on a voluntary basis. In reality, American and British economists and demographers had designed these programs to slow population growth by nearly any means necessary, according to Connelly.

South Asian countries with caste systems were willing to push family planning most aggressively, Connelly writes, because many ruling-class Hindus feared social unrest among the hungry lower castes. So Indian officials, under the guidance of Western family planners, agreed to pay famished people small sums of money to be sterilized; they also agreed to fire doctors who didn’t meet sterilization quotas. India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka implanted in women a type of intrauterine contraceptive device that was proven to cause infections and the rupturing of the uterine wall. Couples in all of these countries lost medical, housing, and education benefits for having more than a designated number of children. When local health officials balked at implementing aggressive programs, the U.S. Agency for International Development and the UN threatened to shut off Western food aid.

The endgame for this chapter of family planning started to unfold in 1975, when Indira Gandhi’s government bulldozed entire blocks of Delhi slums where large numbers of residents refused to be sterilized. Around the same time, police rounded up at gunpoint all of the men in the Indian village of Uttawar and forced them to get vasectomies. These atrocities drew international outrage and led to Gandhi’s being voted out of power the following year. They also prompted a backlash from feminists and women’s rights advocates who were assuming leadership roles within the NGO community in the 1970s.

International family-planning programs, which by this time had spread throughout Latin America and North Africa, gradually abandoned coercive methods over the next few years. The population control movement would have one last gasp, though, when UNFPA and Planned Parenthood helped China launch its draconian one-child policy in 1979.

Women’s choice

By the late 1980s, the UNFPA and Planned Parenthood had cleaned up their programs so that medical workers on the ground no longer were expected to lower birthrates. Clinicians now concentrated on helping women make informed choices about their sex lives and childbearing. If family planning executives discussed the prospect of slowing population growth in public, Connelly says, it was only as an ancillary benefit of giving women more control over their bodies.

“The term population control has since had a negative connotation, as well it should,” Connelly tells Columbia .

The economic benefits of slowing population growth, though, were apparent: as birthrates plummeted in most of the developing world, prosperity and modernization typically arrived. The governments of many countries in Asia and Latin America, now that they had proportionately fewer poor people to care for, could afford to invest in industry and modern agricultural methods, which boosted grain production 300 percent in some nations between the 1960s and the 1980s. (Connelly, in Fatal Misconception , makes the controversial argument that family planning programs have received too much credit for declining birthrates, and hence for development; see sidebar to the left.)

The good news for women’s rights advocates was that voluntary family-planning programs seemed to have lowered birthrates just as much as had coercive programs. For instance, a UN-sponsored program that had offered birth control pills to all poor women in Thailand in the 1960s, on the advice of a young field-worker named Allan Rosenfield, who later became dean of Columbia’s public health school, helped to halve the number of children born per woman in that country, from six to three, in less than 20 years. Across the developing world, birthrates declined where family planners provided a range of safe contraceptives and taught people the benefits of limiting their family size — not only where they bribed people to be sterilized or threatened tax penalties.

Yet, just as family planning programs were beginning to define a new humanitarian mission, funding stagnated. The trouble started during Ronald Reagan’s first term as president, Connelly writes, when the emerging pro-life movement in the U.S. launched a major lobbying effort against international family-planning programs. Abortion opponents called attention to the fact that Planned Parenthood and UNFPA were providing technical assistance to China for its country’s one-child policy, which in the mid-1980s was in its most coercive phase, allegedly requiring some women to have abortions and to be implanted with intrauterine devices. “It was not much,” writes Connelly, “but it was enough of a perch to permit pro-lifers to pile calumny upon calumny on China’s program and all who could be associated with it.” Since then, every Republican president has refused to contribute to UNFPA, which is the primary source of funding for international family-planning services. Partly as a result, financial support for international family planning has remained flat, which means that the funding hasn’t kept pace with increasing demand as populations in poor countries continue to climb.

Sub-Saharan Africa is home to most women who lack access to birth control today in part because family planning programs arrived to the region late, in the 1980s, when the money had already begun to dry up, say family planning executives. Family planning came to Africa late, they say, because international health programs, with their ensuing population boom, had arrived late, too.

A lack of money isn’t the only thing that has kept family planning from many Africans, though: “There is mistrust in some nations about family planning programs because of their checkered past,” Connelly says. “In African countries where there are ethnic tensions, for instance, it can be politically difficult for leaders to implement family planning programs because many people fear that they’ll be used to reduce the populations of some groups, and not others.”

Counting backward

Today, UN-backed family-planning programs operate in nearly all developing countries. If the UNFPA were better funded, say its proponents, birth control would be more available in rural Africa as well as in many Muslim and Catholic countries, where Western family planners must work hard to educate local leaders about the benefits of reproductive health services.

How to raise the money? Advocates for family planning are doing a lot of soul-searching these days. Many leaders in the NGO community believe that family planning organizations would be better financed if they once again promoted their work as a way to slow population growth, says Suzanne Petroni, a researcher who monitors funding for reproductive health programs at the Summit Foundation, a Washington, D.C.–based nonprofit that promotes environmental sustainability.

“The sense among many family planners is that they’re getting less money than they used to from Western donors, in part because their programs are no longer connected to a practical purpose,” says Petroni. “They believe that the human rights pitch hasn’t worked.”

Particularly tempting to some family planners, Petroni says, is the prospect of exploiting public concerns about global warming. The sales pitch would go something like this: if we limit the number of people on earth, we limit the number of carbon footprints. (Sachs validates this logic in Common Wealth , warning that decades from now, when the crowded nations of sub-Saharan Africa modernize — and Sachs is optimistic that they will modernize eventually — energy consumption on the continent will skyrocket.)

Many women’s rights advocates fear that if family planning programs are positioned once again as a means to combat overpopulation, the door will open for more human rights abuses, Petroni says. This debate within the aid community is contentious because there remains distrust between feminists and some older environmentalists who backed the original population-control movement.

Matthew Connelly sides with the women’s rights advocates. He was convinced in writing Fatal Misconception , he says, that family planning programs that aim to lower birthrates are bound to commit abuses. He found, for instance, that crimes occurred in the 1960s and 1970s even when Western family planners tried to operate their programs ethically: medical workers in several South Asian countries strong-armed patients into accepting sterilizations because they thought that lowering birthrates was good for their own careers, and family planning programs inevitably devoted more resources to sterilization procedures and to abortions than to follow-up care.

Connelly worries that Western nations, if their aid programs once again were promoted as a means to slow population growth, would be tempted to withhold other forms of development aid from countries if they don’t lower birthrates to specified levels.

Lynn Freedman, a Columbia public health professor and an attorney who is an expert on population issues, concurs. “The idea that foreign aid could be linked to a country’s success at lowering birthrates is not wildly unlikely,” she says. “Aid agencies today are in the habit of designing all sorts of performance targets in order to account for the efficiency of their programs, and these targets can easily be misused in a way that violates people’s rights. The ’60s weren’t that long ago.”

Sachs doesn’t see that happening. “The worst I could imagine is that an agency might attempt to link a country’s family- planning money to birthrate reductions,” he says, “but I don’t think that other kinds of foreign aid would be linked in this way.” He also dismisses as unrealistic the possibility that international family-planning programs could once again employ coercive methods. Family planning programs must, and will, remain voluntary, he believes.

The greater moral danger today, Sachs argues, is that large numbers of women will continue to want for birth control, and populations will continue to grow rapidly in sub-Saharan Africa and in places like Haiti, Bolivia, Venezuela, Yemen, Afghanistan, Iraq, and Myanmar, in part because Western scholars and aid workers insist on tiptoeing around the subject of overpopulation for fear of being seen as insensitive to the abuses of the past. In Common Wealth , Sachs even advances the term population control, which has long been considered impolitic among scholars, because he says he wants to break the taboo.

“For years people have been telling me, ‘Don’t talk about population, talk instead about access to reproductive health services,’” Sachs says. “And I’ve said, ‘No, I want to talk about population, because it’s a serious problem.’ I think it’s time we take this subject out of the whispers.”

Birth control, under audit

Columbia professor Matthew Connelly’s Fatal Misconception, a history of the population-control movement of the 1960s and 1970s, is shocking for its parade of morally compromised scholars and diplomats who spread birth control around the world. There’s Planned Parenthood head and ecologist William Vogt, who thought that starving people in the developing world should be left to die and therefore opposed food aid; there’s Robert McNamara, who, as head of the World Bank, resisted funding healthcare programs in poor countries because they saved lives and contributed to overpopulation; there are the Planned Parenthood doctors who at a 1963 UN conference decided that a female contraceptive’s tendency to pierce the uterus, causing sterilization, was to be considered a side benefit.

Fatal Misconception was among the most controversial scholarly monographs of 2008, not just because Connelly calls out early family planners as xenophobic and racist, however. His most startling critique is that these programs didn’t even lower birthrates as designed: he says that between 1950 and 2000, the dozen or so developing nations that employed the most aggressive family- planning tactics reduced birthrates little more than did other countries. Relying on UN data, Connelly notes that China, for instance, reduced the number of children per woman from 6.2 to 1.7 during that 50-year period. In Brazil, where little effort was made to encourage family planning, the numbers fell from 6.2 to 2.3 children during the same period. Connelly lists half a dozen such examples to make his point. He then argues that girls’ education, women’s employment, and other social factors affected birthrates more so than did family planning programs.

“In many poor countries where birthrates declined dramatically,” Connelly tells Columbia, “the declines actually started before family planning programs even showed up.”

How could people have managed to have fewer babies without contraception? The same way they did in early-19th-century Europe, where birthrates plummeted a full century before modern birth control became available, Connelly says: They used traditional forms of birth control like the rhythm method.

Connelly charges that UN and Planned Parenthood officials who administered most family-planning programs in the 1960s and 1970s knew that data on the ground weren’t validating their efforts. They soldiered on, he says, because of institutional inertia. “These programs gave jobs to millions of people, and administrators weren’t interested in scrutinizing the numbers,” he says. “They were interested in making payroll.”

Many contemporary family planners are apoplectic over Connelly’s assertion that birth control programs don’t lower birthrates. Steven Sinding, a professor at Columbia’s Mailman School of Public Health and past director-general of Planned Parenthood International, has blasted Connelly over his book’s conclusions. Sinding claims that about 50 percent of birthrate declines in poor countries are attributable to family planning programs.

Columbia called T. Paul Schultz, a Yale economics professor who has spent his career studying birthrate dynamics. This subject invites confusion, he says, because no long-term controlled studies have ever been conducted. That’s partly because there are a multitude of factors that influence birthrates, so aid agencies whose programs target any one of these areas are reluctant to fund expensive, long-term studies to showcase the relatively small impact that their work likely has on fertility. The dearth of data, Schultz says, allows both advocates and opponents of family planning to cherry-pick statistics.

But the most sophisticated data available, collected over two decades in Bangladesh, Schultz says, suggest that the availability of free contraception accounted for about 20 percent of the region’s birthrate decline. That’s a strong relationship, considering how many variables were tested, he says. “The intuition of development experts has always been that family planning must slow population growth,” Schultz says, “and I’ve never seen any good data that suggest otherwise.”

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School Education /

Essay on Overpopulation in 500 Words

Updated on
Dec 28, 2023

Essay on Overpopulation: Today, there are a total of 8.1 billion people in the world. This is a result of overpopulation and studies suggest that in the next 25 years, this number will reach 10 billion. This is overpopulation or overabundance, where our environment cannot offer resources to such large amounts of people. Overpopulation is not limited to humans only. It can be of any species living in a particular habitat.

India, China, and the USA are the three most populated countries in the world, which account for a total of 40% of the global population. Population plays a major role in a country’s development. However, if there is overpopulation, it will hamper developmental activities and there will be fewer resources available. This will eventually lead to higher food prices, making survival difficult for everyone.

Shiva Tyagi

With an experience of over a year, I've developed a passion for writing blogs on wide range of topics. I am mostly inspired from topics related to social and environmental fields, where you come up with a positive outcome.

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Public Health and Overpopulation: The United Nations Takes Action

With the world’s population rising faster than ever before, will our population growth outpace our resource reserves? How can the dangerous effects of overpopulation be managed without diminishing the major improvements in our quality of life that come about thanks to population growth?

The UN projects that over half of the Earth’s population growth in the next three decades will occur in the continent of Africa. This is due to the fact that, from 2010 to 2015, Africa’s population grew at a rate of 2.55 percent annually, with the continent still maintaining the highest pace of population growth among other continents. The UN predicts that, behind Africa, Asia will be the second greatest donor to future international population growth, with an expected addition of approximately one billion people by 2050. In contrast, within every European nation, fertility rates are currently below the population replacement level, which is approximately two children per woman. In most of Europe, fertility rates have remained beneath replacement level for decades. The global population grew fourfold in the past 100 years, so what impact could increased population growth have in the future? Will there be mass-migration? Overcrowding in already densely populated or resource-rich areas? Poor living conditions and sanitation similar to Industrial Revolution era slums?

The global population is currently rising at a steady rate. The number of humans existing on Earth has never been as high as it is now. In 1800, Earth had approximately 1 billion inhabitants, which rose to 2.3 billion in 1940, then 3.7 billion in 1970, and approximately 7.5 billion today. In the last five decades, Earth has experienced an extreme population boom. This phenomenon is known as overpopulation, where the condition in which the amount of humans currently existing on Earth outstrips future resource availability and earth’s carrying capacity. Throughout human history, birth and death rates have always counterbalanced each other, which ensured that Earth had a maintainable population growth level. However, in the 1960s, the global population increased at an unparalleled rate. This brought about a variety of apocalyptic predictions, most prominently, a revival of the Malthusian trap panic.

Paul R. Ehrlich’s 1968 novel, The Population Bomb , eerily echoes Thomas R. Malthus’s landmark 1798 Essay on the Principle of Population . Ehrlich’s novel proposes theories regarding potential outcomes for when agricultural growth does not keep pace with population growth. Ultimately his theories say that the world’s food supply will inevitably become inadequate for feeding the general population, whose numbers would continue to swell until famine, disease epidemics, war, or other calamities took root. These Malthusian predictions about out-of-control population growth have resulted in a variety of detrimental global impacts, particularly the emergence of extreme reproductive control measures, which have taken center stage on an international scale. Today, despite the fact that population scientists mostly agree that Malthus’s forecasts were overblown, the lingering prevalence of these fears have contributed to millions of forced sterilizations in Mexico, Bolivia, Peru, Indonesia, Bangladesh and India, as well as China’s two-child policy . Overall, this has left many wondering whether extreme population growth projections are legitimate or merely groundless panic perpetuated by alarmists.

The Demographic Transition

In reality, rising birth rates and population booms are components of a four-step process called the demographic transition, which the Earth is currently undergoing. Most developed nations have already made this transition, but other countries are currently experiencing this change. In the 1700s, the entire world was undergoing the first stage of the demographic transition. During this time, the continent of Europe was in even poorer condition than the modern-day definition of a developing region, and was afflicted with inferior public health, sustenance, and medical facilities. Birth rates were higher; however, death rates were also higher. For this reason, population growth remained largely stagnant.

Statistically, in the 1700s, women birthed four to six children. However, on average, only two survived to adulthood. When the Industrial Revolution began in Great Britain in the mid-18th century, the Earth experienced the most significant shift in human lifestyles since the Agricultural Revolution. The Industrial Revolution altered every aspect of society, and fostered a greater sense of global interconnectedness. For example, many peasants became factory workers, manufactured products became widely available due to mass production, and countless scientific advancements improved existing methods of transportation, communication, and medicine.

Gradually, this economic development created a middle class and, after the work of union activists, ultimately raised the standard of living and health care for the impoverished labor demographic. Thus began the second transition stage. The increased availability of better foodstuffs, sanitation, and medicine directly contributed to lower death rates, causing a population explosion that doubled Great Britain’s population from 1750 to 1850. In the past, families tended to have more children because not all were expected to survive, but when child mortality rates decreased, the third transition stage was launched. This stage involves reduced conception rates and slowing population growth. Ultimately, a balance was established, with fewer deaths and births, creating a stable population growth rate and signifying the attainment of the fourth and final stage of the demographic transition.

Even as birth rates have decreased dramatically, Earth’s population is still rising at an alarming rate because the humans conceived during the population boom of the 1970s and 1980s are currently having more children; however, the current average number of children per family remains two and a half, while it was five during the late 1970s. As this generation ages and its fertility diminishes, the rate of population growth will likely continue to decrease in every nation. Most of the world’s countries have reached the fourth stage of the demographic transition. In approximately 80 years, developed countries will experience a reduction in fertility from over six children to fewer than three children. Malaysia and South Africa reached this point in 34 years, Bangladesh in 20 years, and Iran in 10 years. If developing countries are afforded more support, they will reach this point much faster.

Overall, most scientists postulate that human population growth will eventually come to an end, and the UN predicts that Earth’s population will not exceed twelve billion. Some of the major causes of population growth are reduced infant mortality rates, increased lifespans, higher fertility rates, advances in science and technology, and improved access to proper medical care. With the UN’s continued assistance, concurrent with overpopulation, the development level of the global community will increase, and the number of people living in poverty will decrease. Nonetheless, an ever-expanding human population is an immense social and economic challenge that necessitates the alignment of different national interests, especially with regards to reproductive rights, resource availability, and environmental concerns.

The United Nations Takes Action

In 1969, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) was established in order to lead the UN in implementing population programs fundamentally based on the notion of family planning, or the “human right of individuals and couples to freely determine the size of their families” without governmental interference or legislation. In 1994, at the International Conference on Population and Development in Cairo, Egypt, the designated objectives of the UNFPA were determined in greater depth. It was decided that the UNFPA would specifically focus on the gender and human rights elements of population issues; consequently, the UN Population Fund was granted the lead role in aiding nations in fulfilling the Conference’s Programme of Action.

The three most significant sections of the UN Population Fund mandate are “Reproductive Health,” “Gender Equality,” and “Population and Development.” The United Nations Population Division (UNPD) works to confront the interconnected global issues posed by population growth, which is primarily fueled by rising fertility rates, increased longevity, and greater international migration. The UN produces the official demographic approximations and predictions for every country and all regions of the world. The UNFPA specifically addresses global population by compiling data and statistics regarding migration, fertility, marriage, regional development, urbanization, world population projections, and national population policies.

In November 2012, the UNFPA declared family planning a global human right; however, approximately 12 percent of 15 to 49-year-old women internationally are not afforded access to family planning. This is considered an egregious modern-day human rights infringement. The UNFPA aids various UN bodies like the Commission on Population and Development, and endorses the implementation of the Programme of Action undertaken by the International Conference on Population and Development (IPCD) in 1994. The UNFPA has been successful in urging international cooperation on the issue of securing family planning as a human right, pushing the UN to hold three conferences concerning the issue of population, along with two special sessions of the General Assembly and a summit in 2019 .

The Way Forward

Ultimately, apocalyptic population growth fears are overblown, and as such, draconian population control regulations are unnecessary. We have witnessed progress on an international scale in this area, perhaps most notably with China revoking its infamous, longstanding one-child policy just seven years ago. However, a broader global focus on guaranteeing family planning as a human right remains essential. In the words of economist Julian Simon, “Whatever the rate of population growth is, historically it has been that the food supply increases at least as fast, if not faster.” Since Ehrlich’s initial fear-mongering regarding an overpopulation-induced Armageddon, the planet’s population has more than doubled . However, annually, famine deaths have dropped by millions. Today’s famines are war-induced, not caused by natural resource consumption. As production rose, prices fell and calorie consumption increased, which decreased malnutrition worldwide. In Simon’s words, human ingenuity is the “ ultimate resource .” Therefore, the enactment of heavy-handed population-control regulations is not only abhorrent, but is also irrational and unsupported by scientific evidence.

Sophia Scott

Sophia Scott is a staff writer for the Harvard International Review. She is interested in global health & health equity, along with the intersections between science and policy.

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Essay on Overpopulation

To guarantee a future for our planet, it’s essential that we strive for sustainability in all of our practices. Whether it is in business, industry, or even the everyday decisions and habits in our lives. We must be vocal and proactive in preserving the earth’s resources and advocating for sustainable practices. One of the major concerns affecting the sustainability of the planet is population. The increase in population is leading to several problems. Therefore, today we will focus on the effects of overpopulation on our planet in detail.

Short and Long Overpopulation Essay in English

Here, we are presenting long and short essays on Overpopulation in English for students under word limits of 100 – 150 Words, 200 – 250 words, and 500 – 600 words. This topic is useful for students of classes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12 in English. These provided essays on Overpopulation will help you to write effective essays, paragraphs, and speeches on this topic.

Overpopulation Essay 10 Lines (100 – 150 Words)

1) Overpopulation is a very disastrous problem in the world nowadays.

2) It increases pressure on resources such as food, water, shelter, and energy.

3) Overpopulation also contributes to global warming.

4) Overpopulation reduces the quality of life and affects the quality of the environment.

5) Overpopulation affects the education system and causes overcrowding in schools and universities.

6) It limits spaces for individuals to enjoy outdoor activities, such as parks and beaches.

7) Overpopulation leads to increased competition for jobs and wages.

8) It makes it difficult for people to receive healthcare and other essential services.

9) Government runs several policies to control the population.

10) Overpopulation is a major concern that should be controlled as soon as possible.

Short Essay on Overpopulation (250 – 300 Words)

Introduction

Overpopulation is a global issue that affects our lives and will continue to do so until some action is taken. To put it in simple terms, it is a situation where the number of people living in an area is significantly higher than the amount of resources available to them. As population growth continues to spiral and more people are born than die in a given area, overpopulation inevitably increases.

Consequences of Overpopulation

The consequences of overpopulation are far-reaching and deadly. In densely populated cities, finite resources become increasingly scarce as industrialization and urbanization increase. This causes competition over resources and pressure on water, energy, and food supplies. Stressful living conditions only add to the problem as people battle overcrowding in housing as well as in workplaces and public spaces. This struggle to survive can lead to mental and physical health problems, aggression, and crime.

Impact of Overpopulation on the Environment

The environment also suffers greatly under overpopulation. With more people consuming resources and creating waste, there is an increased demand for space, energy, and materials. This often leads to habitat destruction, air and water pollution, and the depletion of natural resources. It is also believed that the human population is partly responsible for climate change as a result of the increase in emissions from transport, agriculture, and industry.

Overpopulation is an urgent, complex, and universal issue that needs to be tackled now to ensure our planet’s future. We must prioritize our wellbeing of us while carefully managing our resources so that no one is disproportionately affected by the consequences of human population growth.

Long Essay on Overpopulation (500 Words)

The global population has increased exponentially over the past century. Overpopulation is a major concern for the world, as it has a wide range of impacts on the environment, economy, health, and more. It is therefore important to understand the various implications of overpopulation and take steps to mitigate them.

Impact of Overpopulation on Global Scale

On a global scale, overpopulation can create large-scale environmental issues. As the number of people on the planet increases, so does the number of resources required to sustain them. This can lead to deforestation as more trees are cut down to provide materials for housing, and increased pollution due to additional waste being created. In addition, it creates the issue of food insecurity as more people are competing for access to limited resources.

Impact of Overpopulation on National Level

On a national level, overpopulation can lead to economic problems. As the population increases, it becomes more difficult to produce enough jobs and create enough income opportunities to support everyone. This in turn can lead to higher unemployment, higher taxes, and poorer living standards. In addition, due to population pressure, public services such as healthcare, transportation, and education can suffer from underinvestment, leading to poorer quality and inaccessibility for those who need it the most.

Impact of Overpopulation on Personal Level

On a personal level, being part of an overpopulated society can have many negative impacts. Crowding can lead to greater stress due to reduced personal space, more noise and air pollution, and decreased access to recreational areas. In addition, it can lead to greater competition for resources such as food and housing, resulting in rising prices and poverty rates.

Solutions for Overpopulation

While overpopulation has serious implications for our planet, there are steps we can take to mitigate this issue. Governments can implement and promote family planning programs to help families have better access to modern contraception and reproductive health care. In addition, comprehensive sex education can be used to promote responsible and informed decision-making on the part of individuals. On an environmental level, we can take steps to reduce our consumption of resources, adopt cleaner energy sources, and implement programs that promote environmental protection.

Overpopulation in India

India is one of the most populous countries in the world, with a population of more than 140 crore people. The country is struggling to meet the needs of its rapidly growing population. Overpopulation is an issue that India needs to address urgently. This can be done through education and better access to family planning services. Awareness campaigns need to be conducted to educate people about the consequences of overpopulation. Furthermore, the government needs to provide incentives for family planning and reproductive health care needs to be made accessible to everyone.

Overpopulation is a global issue with a wide range of societal and environmental implications. It is therefore important to understand the various impacts of overpopulation and to take steps to reduce, mitigate, and address them. With the proper solutions in place, it is possible to ensure that our planet can sustain its population in a way that is healthy and beneficial to all.

I hope the above-provided essay on overpopulation will be helpful for everyone to know the impact of the increasing population on our planet.

FAQs: Frequently Asked Questions on Overpopulation

Ans. The primary causes of overpopulation in India are declining death rates, increased life expectancy, and deep-seated cultural and religious values that favor high birth rates. Additionally, poverty and a lack of education and access to family planning methods also contribute to overpopulation.

Ans. The long-term effects of overpopulation in India are a decrease in the quality of life due to increased shortages of healthcare, food, clean water, and jobs and an increased risk of environmental damage and resource depletion.

Ans. In 2023, China is considered the most populous country in the world.

Ans. Vatican City is the least populated country in the world in 2023.

Ans. In 2023, the population of India counts to 1,380,004,385.

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The Problem of Overpopulation Essay

Overpopulation has become one of the main challenging trends over the past centuries. Governments accept the fact that they are no longer capable of managing this problem. According to Rieder, the significant aftermath of this event is that “the Earth will, at some point, be unable to provide for our population, even without more growth” (2). Commonly proposed ways of solving the problem and treating its current consequences are widely discussed in the literature. The purpose of this paper is to examine the causes and effects of overpopulation, potential threats to society, and the ecosystem, as well as the ways to overcome the problem.

The United Nations (UN) forecasts that the world’s population is expected to increase by 2 billion in 30 years. Despite the aging population and downtrend of fertility in European countries, the amount of people is growing because of developing states. For example, the people in Africa is expected to double by 2050 (Uniyal et al. 21). Scientists provide numerous reasons for overpopulation, which include historical, sociological, psychological, and other factors (Uniyal et al. 21). It is commonly believed that overpopulation is caused by the growth of natality, the decrease of mortality, and migration flows. Other causes are attributed to cultural and religious beliefs as well as lack of education (Farraji et al. 16). Overall, there is a complex set of multiple interrelated reasons that should be examined altogether.

Overpopulation carries many environmental and social risks. Approximately 40% of the land is used for agriculture, and this figure has to grow to keep up with the growth of the population (Uniyal et al. 22). To cover up the scarcity of food, companies, and farmers are required to increase production. Therefore, a fragile balance of the global ecosystem is directly and indirectly threatened by harmful human activities. Uniyal et al. state that “deforestation, the effect on welfare, climate change, the decline in biocapacity, urban sprawl, food security, increase in energy demand and effect on the marine ecosystem are amongst most severe impacts of overpopulation” (20). Overpopulation affects the overall well-being of the society: thus, overcrowded urban cities demonstrate high rates of unemployment and unhappiness.

There are several ways of reducing the rate of overpopulation, and the main actors responsible for implementing proper policies are the national governments. Chen suggests that governments should provide citizens with affordable healthcare and social security (57). Actions such as the promotion of smaller families, gender equality, and education are considered to be effective by the UN (Farraji et al. 16). Additionally, young people should have easy access to birth control. Developing countries must create partnerships with major non-governmental organizations to fight the threat. Including these measures on the agenda may help to reduce poverty and depletion of resources.

Sustaining a population remains a great struggle, and it is going to impact the development of society. Overpopulation is caused by a set of various anthropological and natural reasons. It imposes a massive risk for life on Earth due to the exploitation of natural resources and makes the lifestyle of future generations more challenging. If the issue is not treated, the surplus population will highly likely face the scarcity of food, accommodation, and fresh air and water. However, the situation may change with the help of a global community and national governance. Many types of research and enthusiasts have proposed a system of actions, such as the adoption of “small family” policies and welfare.

Works Cited

Chen, Ying. Trade, Food Security, and Human Rights. Ashgate, 2014.

Farraji, Hossein, et al. “Overpopulation and Sustainable Waste Management.” International Journal of Sustainable Economies Management, vol. 5, no. 3, 2016, pp. 13-36.

Rieder, Travis N. Toward a Small Family Ethic: How Overpopulation and Climate Change are Affecting the Morality of Procreation. Springer Nature, 2016.

Uniyal, Shivani, et al. “Human Overpopulation: Impact on Environment.” Megacities and Rapid Urbanization: Breakthroughs in Research and Practice , edited by Information Resources Management Association, IGI Global, 2019, pp. 20-30.

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Overpopulation Essay

IELTS Overpopulation Essay

This model essay is about overpopulation in cities . You specifically have to talk about the problems of overpopulation, and suggest some solutions to this problem.

Note that this question specifically asks you what governments and individuals can do.

Here is the question:

Overpopulation of urban areas has led to numerous problems.

Identify one or two serious ones and suggest ways that governments and individuals can tackle these problems.

Organising a Problems & Solutions Essay

Note that this overpopulation essay question specifically asks you what governments and individuals can do.

You MUST, therefore, write about what both of these can do in order to fully answer the question.

Note as well that you must talk about serious problems.

The easiest way to organize a problems and solutions essay is as follows:

Body 1: Problems

Body 2: Solutions

In this essay, a separate paragraph has been written about government and individual solutions, so it is organized as follows:

Body 2: Solutions - Government

Body 3: Solutions - Individuals

Model Essay

You should spend about 40 minutes on this task.

Write about the following topic:

Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own experience or knowledge.

Write at least 250 words.

IELTS Overpopulation Essay - Sample Answer

Many countries of the world are currently experiencing problems caused by rapidly growing populations in urban areas, and both governments and individuals have a duty to find ways to overcome these problems.

Overpopulation can lead to overcrowding and poor quality housing in many large cities. Poorly heated or damp housing could cause significant health problems, resulting in illness, such as bronchitis or pneumonia. Another serious consequence of overcrowding is a rising crime rate as poor living conditions may lead young people in particular to take desperate measures and turn to crime or drugs.

In terms of solutions, I believe the government should be largely responsible. Firstly, it is vital that the state provides essential housing and healthcare for all its citizens. Secondly, setting up community projects to help foster more community spirit and help keep young people off the street is a good idea. For example, youth clubs or evening classes for teenagers would keep them occupied. Finally, more effective policing of inner city areas would also be beneficial.

Naturally, individuals should also try to address these problems. One way is to put pressure on the government to ensure they tackle the problems by, for instance, forming action groups to lobby the government and request intervention and adequate funding. They could also form Neighbourhood Watch areas to try and help reduce the high levels of crime.

Therefore, it is clear that the problems caused by overpopulation in urban areas are very serious. Yet if governments and individuals share a collective responsibility, then it may well become possible to offer some solutions.

(260 words)

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Overpopulation in World Essay in English for Children and Students

Table of Contents

Overpopulation refers to a situation where the number of humans in a particular place becomes more than the carrying capacity of that particular place. In a broader perspective the term overpopulation is also used for planet earth, because of the incessant rise in human population.

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There are various factors responsible for overpopulation like – low mortality rate; better public amenities; availability of food and habitat etc. A few social factors like illiteracy, poverty and no family planning are also responsible for overpopulation in developing or underdeveloped nations.

Long and Short Essay on Overpopulation in World in English

Below we have provided long and short essay on overpopulation in world. These overpopulation in world essay have been written in simple language covering all the vital topics under the heading overpopulation.

After going through the following essays you will know the causes of overpopulation in world; causes of overpopulation in India and other developing countries; what are the social effects of overpopulation; effects of overpopulation on health; what are the solutions of overpopulation etc.

Short Essay on Overpopulation in World (200 words) – Essay 1

Overpopulation is the overcrowding of earth due to unregulated population growth of humans. There are many economical and social factors leading to overpopulation. It could result from low mortality rate, high birth rate, illiteracy, lack of family planning, large scale migration etc. Also, depletion of natural resources at one place results in overpopulation at some other place, where the resources are abundant.

An improvement in the past century in basic healthcare facilities and amenities has led to a decline in mortality rate, thus causing the population to grow consistently and is set to continue growing in to the next century.

Overpopulation, despite being a significant global issue, doesn’t get its due consideration. Still not much is being done by the world, to regulate population or to counter its effects. Overpopulation can serious hamper the growth of a nation, causing issues like – unemployment, scarcity of resources, habitat destruction and law and order problems among others.

Necessary steps must be taken to keep the world population under control, so that no place on earth gets overcrowded with humans and become scarce in vital resources, making survival difficult. Along with the mentioned effects, overpopulation also indirectly affects the environment up to large extent.

Essay on Causes of Overpopulation in World (300 words) – Essay 2

Introduction

Overpopulation is the growing cause of concern throughout the world. It refers to an increase in population over a specific area, so much so, that the particular area becomes overcrowded, beyond its natural capacity. There are many reasons for overpopulation will we will discuss further in the essay.

Causes of Overpopulation in World

There could be various factors causing overpopulation in the world. Large scale immigration of people from one place to another because of political, communal or other issues may cause overpopulation at a particular place. People migrate to neighboring country to escape political upheaval or military conflicts on their own soil.

There is also a trend of migration from underdeveloped or developing countries to the developed nations. Mostly, labour class undertakes such migration in search of better financial opportunities. This migration however causes the population of the host nation to swell up.

Another significant factor that has been contributing to the population growth in the world is high life expectancy due to better medical facilities and development in medical science. People, today are dying less due to diseases, those had been claimed millions of lives in the past century.

Causes of Overpopulation in India and other Developing Countries

The main causes for overpopulation in India and other similar developing countries differ slightly from that of the world. Overpopulation in India is caused by factors like poverty, ignorance, lack of family planning, child labour, and reduced mortality rate, interstate immigration etc.

Poverty in India is considered to be one of the prime causes of overpopulation. Poverty leads to illiteracy and lack of awareness on issues like – contraceptive use and family planning; this, leading to a uncontrolled population growth in deprived areas.

The cause of overpopulation in the world is many and they differ from place to place. At one place migration might causing it, at another place it might have been caused due to poverty. Whatever the cause may be, we must take necessary steps to reduce overpopulation.

Essay on Effects of Overpopulation in World (400 words) – Essay 3

There are many effects of overpopulation in the world. Overpopulation in a place causes scarcity of available resources leading to deprivation and poverty. Moreover, it also causes unemployment, as the number of persons in need of a particular job, large outgrows the total number of actual vacancies. Two of the most common effects of overpopulation- social and health are discussed below.

Effects of Overpopulation in World

Social Effects of Overpopulation

There are a variety of social effects of overpopulation, ranging from, poverty, unemployment, poor hygienic conditions and a scarcity of resources for a community. When the population of a particular area rises beyond the destined capacity of that place, then a number of changes in the society are witnessed.

For example, if a fresh water resource is used by more people than it can sustain; then such situation often results in conflicts. People tend to fight with each other over the use of resources.

Overpopulation also leads to scarcity of food and unemployment, causing large scale poverty, hunger and poor hygiene.

Effects of Overpopulation on Health

Overpopulation also has an adverse effect on health of an individual, due to scarcity of food and other resources. The food and other resources, those had been available in abundance, become scarce, when the population of a place grows beyond a specific limit. Moreover, overpopulation is directly related to unemployment and latter could be directly associated to malnutrition and depleting health conditions.

Many people living in a crowded area also results in habitat destruction, reducing the quality of air and other vital parameters, resulting in poor health condition. As more people start living in an area, it becomes imperative to cut down trees and clear vegetation to make houses for them. Thus, begins the vicious cycle of materialistic growth compromising the health and fitness of humans.

People residing in populated areas are often seen living in poor health and hygienic conditions with no access to basic health amenities, clean air and clean water.

Overpopulation in area causes evident social and health effects on the individuals and the society as a whole. From poor health and hygiene conditions to natural resource depletion, unemployment and increase in criminal activities – overpopulation has a hand in all these adversities. It therefore becomes important that we take necessary remedial measures before the populations goes beyond the specified limit.

Essay on Solutions of Overpopulation in World (500 words) – Essay 4

The problem of overpopulation is grave, but as every problem has a solution, so overpopulation too has solutions; though, it may take some time before the results are evident, but the effort would be worth it. Below, the solutions for overpopulation in the world, India and other developing countries along with the government’s efforts in reducing overpopulation are discussed below.

Solutions of Overpopulation in World

Solutions to eliminate overpopulation in the world are discussed below. For the convenience of understanding, in this heading we will discuss the matter of overpopulation only in developed countries.

The main reason behind the concentration of population over a particular area in developed countries is the availability of resources and better growth opportunities. People tend to concentrate over the place where irrigation, water, electricity and other amenities are available in abundance. Necessary efforts must be made by the respective government to make the basic public amenities to the people in their native place of residence.

Any political or military conflict must be resolved quickly by the intervention of world community to prevent cross border migration and population complications at other places.

Solution of Overpopulation in India and other Developing Countries

The main causes of overpopulation in India and other countries are poverty, illiteracy and lack of basic knowledge about family planning. Majority of population in India and other developing nations, still reside in villages, where they lack basic education and other facilities than the cities.

People residing in villages still shy from talking on issues like family planning and use of contraceptives is considered a taboo. Therefore, awareness through education seems to be the only appropriate solution for a developing country like India.

People must be told about the significance of family planning and that shying away from it will only aggravate their financial crisis and reduce their social status. It is indeed more economical and practical to feed a family of four than a family of six or ten members. Also, they must be insisted to use contraceptives and that it is necessary for their family’s welfare and overall health.

What is Government doing about Overpopulation?

The government’s agenda to eliminate overpopulation include acting up on the root causes – education and health care. Despite making a number of reforms in these two sectors, the government is also making efforts to make people aware of family planning. A well trained team of doctors and paramedical staff in the primary health centers across the country are educating people about the advantages of a small family and its overall effects on the nation’s growth.

They also teach people about the use of contraceptives to eliminate the possibility of conception. The government is also distributing free contraceptives to remote locations through the PHCs.

The most important solutions to overpopulation are education and awareness of people. The more educated and aware the people are, the more remote will be the possibility of overpopulation. The government has made considerable effort towards keeping the population under control but a lot more still needed to be done.

Long Essay on Overpopulation in World (600 words) – Essay 5

Overpopulation in the world is a global phenomenon and is more evident in developing and underdeveloped countries. Even the developed countries witness a large influx of migratory population from the developing and under developed countries. In the following essay we will discuss on the causes of overpopulation, the problems of overpopulation, state of overpopulation in India and other developing countries and the solution of overpopulation.

What Causes Overpopulation?

1) Illiteracy

Illiteracy is one of the main causes of overpopulation in any country over the world. The countries lacking on the front of education have more population growth than others.

2) Lack of Awareness

Lack of public awareness about family planning issues is one of the prime reasons for overpopulation. People are not aware of the effects of overpopulation and its effects on the society and nation. The act is in disregard to their own financial constraints.

3) Poor Health Facilities

Poor condition of basic health amenities is also a prime cause of overpopulation. Absence of a medical professional and non availability of contraceptives, leads to incessant growth in population.

Problems related to the Overpopulation

1) Resources Depletion

Overpopulation causes the depletion of resources over a particular area. As the number of people using a specific resource increases, its fast consumption results in rapid depletion. Vital resource like food and water become scarce in case of overpopulation. Even the basic health and transport facilities become rare.

2) Unemployment

Unemployment is one of the most severe consequences of overpopulation. If the number of people in an area increases beyond limit; however, the number of vacancies in different sectors, by and large remain the same, thereby increasing unemployment. Thus, unemployment becomes a significant ill effect of overpopulation.

Poverty is the next consequence of unemployment caused by overpopulation. However, poverty is also related to scarcity resources and basic amenities of health and education, caused by overpopulation. A crowded place will always have poor employment opportunities, leading to poverty. It is considered as one of the most prominent consequences of population explosion, by the economists of the world.

4) Poor Law and Order

Factors like poverty, unemployment, depletion of natural resources result in poor law and order condition. People fight with each other over vital resources like water and food. Unemployment leads to poverty forcing people to take up illegal professions of robbery and theft, to meet their requirements.

Overpopulation in India and other Developing Countries

Overpopulation in India and similar developing countries is a great cause of concern, as it has many adverse effects on the nation’s progress and growth. All the development loses its sheen due to overpopulation. The state of public transport system and other basic amenities degrades quickly due to large number of people using them.

Overpopulation Solutions

Making the people aware of the ill effects of overpopulation is the most significant method to eliminate the latter. This awareness must be brought by education and advertising through different modes of communication. When people understand that the quality of life depends on the total number of family members, and the lesser the members the more good the finances will be; the fight against overpopulation will become much easier.

Overpopulation leads to various social, economical and developmental issues. It is therefore imperative that the world comes together on the issue of overpopulation and take necessary steps towards eliminating it. Unless the population of the world is kept under control, it would not be possible to achieve the development that the world seeks.

More Information:

Essay on World Population Day
Essay on Population
Essay on Population Growth
Essay on Family Planning in India
Paragraph on Population

California’s population increased last year for first time since 2020

San Francisco is framed by the Golden Gate Bridge.

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California’s population rose last year for the first time since 2020, according to new state data.

The state’s population increased by 0.17% — or more than 67,000 people — between Jan. 1, 2023, and Jan. 1, 2024, when California was home to 39,128,162 people, according to new population estimates released Tuesday by the California Department of Finance.

“The brief period of California’s population decline is over,” H.D. Palmer, a department spokesman, said in a phone interview. “We’re back, and we’re returning to a rate of steady, stable growth.”

That resumption of growth, Palmer said, was driven by a number of factors: Deaths, which rose during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, have fallen nearly to pre-pandemic levels. Restrictive foreign immigration policies imposed during the Trump administration have been loosened under President Biden. Domestic migration patterns between states also have changed, boosting the state’s population.

In 2021, as the pandemic raged, more than 319,000 people died in California and fewer than 420,000 were born, the data show. Last year, about 281,000 died in the state, while nearly 399,000 were born.

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And while California saw a net loss of nearly 3,900 people to international immigration in 2020 — when many countries’ borders were closed due to the pandemic — the state saw a net gain of more than 114,000 international immigrants last year, according to state data. That’s close to pre-pandemic levels. In 2019, California notched a net increase of about 119,000 international immigrants.

Shifting domestic migration trends — which were the subject of the much-ballyhooed “California exodus” during the pandemic, when remote workers moved to other states where they could live for a fraction of the cost of cities like Los Angeles or San Francisco — also played a key role.

In 2021, about 692,000 people left California for other states, while fewer than 337,000 moved into the Golden State from other states.

Last year, about 414,000 people moved here from other states, while more than 505,000 left for other states. That means California saw a net loss of about 264,500 fewer people to other states last year than in 2021, according to the new state data.

Los Angeles and Orange counties grew last year, though not by much; the former saw a population rise of just 0.05% — or nearly 4,800 people — while the latter notched up 0.31% — or nearly 9,800 people.

For both jurisdictions, that’s a reversal from 2022, when L.A. County saw a net loss of nearly 42,200 residents and Orange County lost about 17,000 residents. The city of Los Angeles saw its population rise 0.3% last year, the data show.

California also saw a net increase of about 116,000 housing units — including single-family homes, multi-family dwellings and accessory dwelling units, or ADUs — in 2023. Palmer described that growth as an “encouraging” sign amid the state’s housing crisis.

That rise, which is a relative drop in the bucket compared with the state’s more than 14.8 million housing units, was led by the city of Los Angeles, which saw a gain of more than 21,000 housing units, followed by an increase of about 5,700 units in San Diego, according to the state data.

While California’s resumption of population growth is a boon for boosters who reject the storyline of the state’s decline, there is no indication that the Golden State will be returning to the massive boom in residents it underwent generations ago.

“For the foreseeable future, we’re looking at steady, more predictable growth that’s slower than those go-go years of the 1970s and 1980s,” Palmer said. “Obviously, there are things that we can’t forecast that could have an impact on our population. For instance, another pandemic.”

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A migrant bus arrives at the Port Authority bus terminal in New York, the United States, on Sept. 27, 2022. New York City will set up and open transitory humanitarian emergency response and relief centers in the coming weeks to handle the influx of migrants transported from Texas and other border states, announced New York City Mayor Eric Adams recently. (Photo by Michael Nagle/Xinhua via Getty Images)

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Jan. 9, 2024

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Guest Essay

Who Could Catch Bird Flu First? These Experts Have an Idea, and a Way to Help.

A man in an apron and muddy waders directs a herd of ear-tagged cows toward a barn.

By Erin M. Sorrell , Monica Schoch-Spana and Meghan F. Davis

The authors are public health researchers at Johns Hopkins University.

H5N1 is in a better position than ever to move between species and spill over aggressively into humans: This bird flu virus is now thought to have been spreading among dairy cows for many months , and federal regulators have found viral fragments circulating widely in the commercial milk supply chain across the United States (though live virus has not been found).

The one person we know of so far who has tested positive for infection (a mild case) was a Texas dairy worker. Agricultural workers have always been an underprotected population for zoonotic diseases, including influenza viruses of animal origin. When it comes to H5N1, the dairy work force — which includes on-farm workers and milkers, people working in the milk processing plants and in slaughterhouses, truck drivers and other professionals who come onto farms — is among those with the highest exposure.

Not only do we owe these at-risk workers better protection, but we also must do a much better job — immediately — of monitoring and testing them to ensure the virus doesn’t spread beyond our control. Otherwise, we might not find out about a significant outbreak in humans until it’s too late.

So far, bird flu testing of this cohort has been woefully inadequate. Testing is usually under the purview of state authorities following federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines. Tests are recommended for symptomatic workers. The exact number of dairy workers and other people who have so far been tested for H5N1 is not publicly available at the federal level. There is no excuse to continue only limited testing of this vulnerable population. Any serious surveillance efforts of H5N1 demand that the country do better to ensure proper testing and health care is provided to these workers now, lest we risk being caught flat-footed by a new pandemic so soon after Covid.

This is especially important for a work force whose broader social and economic circumstances may discourage them from seeking out timely testing and treatment. A majority of hired farmworker s in the United States are from Mexico and Central American countries; many lack authorization to work here legally. Undocumented workers may be worried about public health reporting systems putting them at risk for immigration enforcement or preventing future chances of gaining a visa or permanent residency status.

Communication is a further concern. According to a 2019 survey, over half of U.S. dairies have employees whose native language is not English ; these individuals most often speak Spanish, but some speak only Indigenous languages such as K’iche’ or Nahuatl. Many workers have limited literacy and education that dairy farms accommodate with pictorial signage and visual training materials. Any effective bird flu education campaign would have to be similarly tailored to these workers’ communication needs — a capacity that not many health departments have .

These workers are further endangered from a public health standpoint thanks to the industry’s low wages and benefits and lack of enforcement for health and safety standards. In 2019, the Center for North American Studies reported an average hourly starting wage of $11.24 for novice dairy workers, and an average hourly wage among all dairy workers of $13.90. It also found that more than 40 percent of U.S. dairy farms do not provide health insurance , and only 47 percent offer paid sick leave. Significant income could be lost while traveling to distant rural health services for an eye infection or flulike symptoms — health conditions that a majority of the work force reasonably brush off . Even worse outcomes may go unreported out of a fear of losing out on work .

Farms across the country also need to make these workers’ day-to-day tasks safer. Some state surveys have shown that many dairy worker respondents lacked personal protective gear such as masks, goggles, gloves and aprons, or were noncompliant in its use despite the risks of infectious disease exposure.

When protected, dairy farm workers can be a force multiplier for surveillance and resilience efforts around emerging disease threats like H5N1. Individuals who work with livestock on a daily basis, given the right training from the U.S. Department of Agriculture or other veterinary professionals, can serve as field-based surveillance teams; their frequent interaction with animals means they are the first to notice abnormalities in demeanor, physical appearance or production of eggs and milk. They can share information among peers and be provided a public platform like ProMED (the disease outbreak communication system for the International Society for Infectious Diseases) for anonymously reporting infectious diseases to local, state or federal public health authorities. The federal government and state officials can increase support of local surveillance programs, and reduce economic barriers for dairy owners who want to provide better access to health care services for employees.

These efforts are about more than just responding to bird flu and preventing a human outbreak. Our agricultural industry will always be on the front lines against zoonotic disease threats. We need to empower it to protect workers from these biological dangers, not just for the workers but for all of us. Providing widespread H5N1 testing now to the dairy work force is a necessary step — but only the first.

Erin M. Sorrell is a senior scholar and associate professor at Johns Hopkins University. Monica Schoch-Spana is a medical anthropologist and a senior scholar and research professor at Johns Hopkins University. Meghan F. Davis is a former dairy veterinarian and is an associate professor at Johns Hopkins University.

The Times is committed to publishing a diversity of letters to the editor. We’d like to hear what you think about this or any of our articles. Here are some tips . And here’s our email: [email protected] .

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Overpopulation Essay in English for Students
FAQ of Overpopulation Essay. Question 1: What is the main cause of overpopulation? Answer 1: It is believed that the main cause of overpopulation is poverty. When there is a lack of education resource which coupled with high death rates, it results in impoverished areas witnessing large booms in population.
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The Causes of Overpopulation. Today the Earth is home to over 8 billion people. By 2100 the population is on track to hit 10.8 billion, according to the United Nations — and that's assuming steady fertility declines in many countries.Interestingly, if extra progress is made in women's reproductive self-determination, and fertility falls more than the United Nations assumes is likely, the ...
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As we navigate the 21st century, the world witnesses unprecedented demographic shifts and exponential population growth. This essay explores the complex issues of overpopulation, analyzing its root causes and significant effects on the environment and society and outlining workable strategies to lessen its effects.
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The first scholar to consider the idea of overpopulation was Thomas Malthusian, who brought it up in a work called "An Essay on the Principle of Population." He managed to outline the reasons for population growth such as the improvement of standards of living, an abundance of food, and advanced medicine (Barbier 4).
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At the current growth rate, the world population will reach 9 billion by 2037 and 10 billion by 2057. The growth rate is declining, but not at a fast enough rate to combat the exponential compound growth. The growth rate was 2% in the 1970s. Now it is 1.05%. Any growth rate above 1% means we are still adding more people to the planet every year.
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Overpopulation is a phenomenon whereby the population of a certain region or area exceeds the carrying capacity of the environment. The term is often used in reference to human populations, and it can have far-reaching impacts on ecosystems, natural resources, and social and economic systems.
Overpopulation: Causes And Consequences: Essay Example, 1336 words
In her report The Population Explosion: Causes and Consequences, Carolyn Kinder defines overpopulation as "the condition of having more people than can live on earth in comfort, happiness and health and still leave the world a fit place for future generations" (6). With more than 220 000 consumers being added to the planet daily (7), the ...
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Long Essay on Overpopulation is usually given to classes 7, 8, 9, and 10. Citizens in developing countries like India are already living in a very overpopulated country. Over 50 per cent of the population struggle to find means to survive, they struggle to get just the basic necessities that include shelter and food.
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Q.3. What is a short essay on overpopulation? Ans: Overpopulation is a phenomenon where a particular species exceeds the carrying capacity of the environment. The global population has increased by 1.2 billion in the last 20 years. This was the biggest population boom, putting a heavy strain on the natural environment.
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Overpopulation Essay 10 Lines (100 - 150 Words) 1) Overpopulation is a very disastrous problem in the world nowadays. 2) It increases pressure on resources such as food, water, shelter, and energy. 3) Overpopulation also contributes to global warming. 4) Overpopulation reduces the quality of life and affects the quality of the environment.
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The Problem of Overpopulation Essay. Overpopulation has become one of the main challenging trends over the past centuries. Governments accept the fact that they are no longer capable of managing this problem. According to Rieder, the significant aftermath of this event is that "the Earth will, at some point, be unable to provide for our ...
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This paper will first draw upon the Indonesian population control response seen throughout the 1970s and 80s as an example of a successful voluntarist approach which provides logical solutions.
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Overpopulation will become less likely as society becomes more aware and aware. Despite significant government efforts to control the population, much more needs to be done. Overpopulation Problems Essay . Overpopulation is a widespread problem that is exacerbated in developing and underdeveloped countries.
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IELTS Overpopulation Essay - Sample Answer. Many countries of the world are currently experiencing problems caused by rapidly growing populations in urban areas, and both governments and individuals have a duty to find ways to overcome these problems. Overpopulation can lead to overcrowding and poor quality housing in many large cities.
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Short Essay on Overpopulation in World (200 words) - Essay 1. Overpopulation is the overcrowding of earth due to unregulated population growth of humans. There are many economical and social factors leading to overpopulation. It could result from low mortality rate, high birth rate, illiteracy, lack of family planning, large scale migration etc.
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