What is Overpopulation?

Overpopulation is an undesirable condition where the number of the

existing human population exceeds the actual carrying capacity of Earth.
Overpopulation is caused by a number of factors. Reduced mortality
rate, better medical facilities, depletion of precious resources are few of
the causes which result in overpopulation. It is possible for a sparsely
populated area to become densely populated if it is not able to sustain
life.

Growing advances in technology with each coming year has affected

humanity in many ways. One of these has been the ability to save lives
and create a better medical treatment for all. A direct result of this has
been the increased lifespan and the growth of the population. 

Sourc
e: Pixabay

According to Wikipedia,
“Overpopulation occurs when a species’ population exceeds the
carrying capacity of its ecological niche. It can result from an increase
in births (fertility rate), a decline in the mortality rate, an increase in
immigration, or an unsustainable biome and depletion of resources.”

The human overpopulation issue is the topic I see as the most vital to
solve if our children and grandchildren are to have a good quality of life.

~ Alexandra Paul

In the past fifty years or so, the growth of the population has boomed
and has turned into overpopulation. In the history of our species, the
birth and death rates have always been able to balance each other and
maintain a population growth rate that is sustainable.

Since the time of the Bubonic Plague in the 1400s, the growth of the
population has been on a constant increase. Between the time of the
plague and the 21st century, there have been hundreds and thousands of
wars, natural calamities, and man-made hazards.

However, none of these could make a dent on the population.

Developing nations face the problem of overpopulation more than
developed countries, but it affects most of the Earth as of now. When we
are talking about overpopulation, we should first try to understand the
underlying causes of it.

Contents [show]

Various Causes of Overpopulation

1. The Decline in the Death Rate

At the root of overpopulation is the difference between the overall birth

rate and death rate in populations. If the number of children born each
year equals the number of adults that die, then the population will
stabilize.
Talking about overpopulation shows that while there are many factors
that can increase the death rate for short periods of time, the ones that
increase the birth rate do so over a long period of time.

The discovery of agriculture by our ancestors was one factor that

provided them with the ability to sustain their nutrition without hunting.
This created the first imbalance between the two rates.

2. Agricultural Advancements

Technological revolutions and population explosions occur at the same

time. There have been three major technological revolutions. They are
the tool-making revolution, the agricultural revolution, and the industrial
revolution.

Agricultural advancements in the 20th century have allowed humans to

increase food production using fertilizers, herbicides, and pesticides and
yields further. This allowed humans with more access to food that leads
to subsequent population explosions.

3. Better Medical Facilities

Following this the industrial revolution started. Technological

advancement was perhaps the biggest reason why the balance has been
permanently disturbed.

Science was able to produce better means of producing food, which

allowed families to feed more mouths. Besides, medical science made
many discoveries, thanks to which they were able to defeat a whole
range of diseases.

READ  31 Smart and Easy Ways to Reduce Food Waste

Illnesses that had claimed thousands of lives until now were cured
because of the invention of vaccines. Combining the increase in food
supply with fewer means of mortality tipped the balance and became the
starting point of overpopulation.

4. More Hands to Overcome Poverty

However, when talking about overpopulation, we should understand that

there is a psychological component as well. Poverty is considered as the
leading cause of overpopulation. In the absence of educational resources,
coupled with high death rates, which resulted in higher birth rates, that is
why impoverished areas are seeing large booms in population.

For thousands of years, a very small part of the population had enough
money to live in comfort. The rest faced poverty and would give birth to
large families to make up for the high infant mortality rate.

Families that have been through poverty, natural disasters, or are simply
in need of more hands to work are a major factor for overpopulation.

As compared to earlier times, most of these extra children survive

and consume resources that are not sufficient in nature. 

According to the UN, the forty-eight poorest countries in the world are
also likely to be the biggest contributors to population growth. Their
estimates say that the combined population of these countries is likely to
increase to 1.7 billion in 2050, from 850 million in 2010.

5. Child Labor

It is no less than a tragedy that child labor is still in practice extensively

in many parts of the world. As per the UNICEF, approximately 150
million children are currently working in countries having few child
labor laws. The children being seen as a source of income by
impoverished families begin work too young and also lose the
educational opportunities reflected, particularly when it comes to birth
control.

6. Technological Advancement in Fertility Treatment

With the latest technological advancement and more discoveries in
medical science, it has become possible for couples who are unable to
conceive to undergo fertility treatment methods and have their own
babies.

Today there are effective medicines that can increase the chance of
conception and lead to a rise in the birth rate. Moreover, due to modern
techniques, pregnancies today are far safer.

7. Immigration

Many people prefer to move to developed countries like the US, UK,
Canada, and Australia, where the best facilities are available in terms of
medical, education, security, and employment. The result is that those
people settle over there, eventually making those places overcrowded.

If the number of people who are leaving the country is less than the
number of people who enter, it usually leads to more demand for food,
clothes, energy, and homes.

This gives rise to a shortage of resources. Though the overall population

remains the same, it just affects the density of the population, making
that place simply overcrowded.

8. Lack of Family Planning

Most developing nations have a large number of people who are

illiterate, live below the poverty line, and have little or no knowledge
about family planning. Besides, getting their children married at an early
age increases the chances of producing more kids.

Those people are unable to understand the harmful effects of

overpopulation, and lack of quality education prompts them to avoid
family planning measures.

9. Poor Contraceptives Use

Poor family planning on the part of partners can lead to unexpected
pregnancies though contraceptives are easily available in developed
countries.

As per statistics, 76% of women aged between 16 and 49 in Great

Britain used at least one form of contraceptive, leaving a quarter open to
unexpected pregnancies. Whereas a study by the World Health
Organization (WHO) shows that this figure drops to 43% in
underdeveloped countries, which leads to higher birth rates.

Fatal Effects of Overpopulation

1. Depletion of Natural Resources

The effects of overpopulation are quite severe. The first of these is the
depletion of resources. The Earth can only produce a limited amount of
water and food, which is falling short of the current needs.

Most of the environmental damage seen in the last fifty-odd years is

because of the growing number of people on the planet. They
include cutting down forests, hunting wildlife in a reckless manner,
causing pollution, and creating a host of other problems.

READ  31+ Stunning Ways to Save the Environment from Destruction

Those engaged in talks about overpopulation have noticed that acts of

violence and aggression outside of a war zone have increased
tremendously while competing for resources.

2. Degradation of Environment

With the overuse of coal, oil, and natural gas, it has started producing
some serious effects on our environment. Besides, the exponential rise in
the number of vehicles and industries has badly affected the quality of
air.
The rise in the amount of CO2 emissions leads to global warming.
Melting of polar ice caps, changing climate patterns, rise in sea levels
are a few of the consequences that we might have to face due
to environmental pollution.

Source: Canva

3. Conflicts and Wars

Overpopulation in developing countries puts a major strain on the

resources it should be utilizing for development. Conflicts over water are
becoming a source of tension between countries, which could result in
wars. It causes more diseases to spread and makes them harder to
control.
Starvation is a huge issue that the world is facing, and the mortality rate
for children is being fuelled by it. Poverty is the biggest hallmark we see
when talking about overpopulation.

All of this will only become worse if solutions are not sought out for the
factors affecting our population. We can no longer prevent it, but there
are ways to control it.

4. Rise in Unemployment

When a country becomes overpopulated, it gives rise to unemployment

as there are fewer jobs to support a large number of people. The rise in
unemployment gives rise to crime, such as theft, as people want to feed
their families and provide them basic amenities of life.

5. High Cost of Living

As the difference between demand and supply continues to expand due

to overpopulation, it raises the prices of various essential commodities,
including food, shelter, and healthcare. This means that people have to
pay more to survive and feed their families.

6. Pandemics and Epidemics 

Poverty is linked to many environmental and social reasons, including

overcrowded and unhygienic living conditions, malnutrition and
inaccessible, inadequate, or non-existent health care, for which the poor
are more likely to be exposed to infectious diseases. Further, high
densities of population increase the chance of the emergence of new
pandemics and epidemics.

7. Malnutrition, Starvation and Famine

When the availability of resources is scarce, starvation, malnutrition,

along with ill health and diseases caused by diet-deficiency such as
rickets become more likely.
Famine is typically associated with less-developed regions, and there is a
high correlation with poverty levels.

8. Water Shortage

Roughly 1% of the world’s water is fresh and accessible.

Overpopulation is a major issue that creates immense pressure on the
world’s freshwater supplies.

As per the study, the human demand for freshwater would stand at
approximately 70% of freshwater available on the planet by 2025.
Therefore, people living in impoverished areas that already have limited
access to such water will be at great risk.

9. Lower Life Expectancy

A large proportion of the world’s population growth occurs in less

developed countries. Therefore, lower life expectancy caused by the
booms in population is experienced by less-developed nations.

This causes a shortage of resources in these countries resulting in less

access to medical care, freshwater, food and jobs, and ultimately in a
sharp fall in life expectancy.

10. Extinction

The impact of overpopulation on the world’s wildlife is severe. As

demand for land grows, the destruction of natural habitats, such as
forests, becomes common.

Data has also been collected to show a direct link between increases in
human population and decreases in the number of species on the planet.
If present trends continue, as many as 50% of the world’s wildlife
species will be at risk of extinction, some scientists warn.

11. Increased Intensive Farming

With the growth of population over the years, farming practices have
evolved to produce enough food required to feed a larger number of
people. However, this intensive farming methods cause damage to local
ecosystems and the land that may pose problems in the future.

Furthermore, intensive farming is also contributed to climate change due

to the machinery required. If the population continues to grow at its
current rate, this effect will likely intensify.

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12. Faster Climate Change

Overpopulation forces larger nations, like China and India, to continue

to develop their industrial capacities. They now rank as two of the three
largest contributors to emissions in the world, other than the United
States.

According to 97% of the scientific community, human activities are

changing global temperatures. If more is not done to reduce individual
carbon footprints on a wide scale, larger populations may speed these
changes up.

Incredible Solutions To Overpopulation

1. Better Education

One of the first measures is to implement policies reflecting social

change. Educating the masses helps them understand the need to have
one or two children at the most.

Similarly, education plays a vital role in understanding the latest

technologies that are making huge waves in the world of computing.
Families that are facing a hard life and choose to have four or five
children should be discouraged.
Family planning and efficient birth control can help in women making
their own reproductive choices. Open dialogue on abortion and
voluntary sterilization should be seen when talking about
overpopulation.

2. Education for Girl Child

Currently, over 130 million young women and girls around the globe are
not enrolled in school. The majority of these live in male-dominated
societies, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa and South and West Asia,
that does not give women equal right to education as men. 

Entrenched gender norms and child marriage further disrupt their access
to education. The girl who receives less education is more likely to have
children early and vulnerable to exploitation. Moreover, impoverished
families are less likely to enroll their female children in school.

3. Making People Aware of Family Planning

As the population of this world is growing at a rapid pace, raising

awareness among people regarding family planning and letting them
know about serious after-effects of overpopulation can help curb
population growth.

One of the best ways is to let them know about various safe sex
techniques and contraceptive methods available to avoid any unwanted
pregnancy.

4. Tax Benefits or Concessions

The government of various countries might have to come up with

various policies related to tax exemptions to curb overpopulation.

One of them might be to waive a certain part of income tax or lowering

rates of income tax for those married couples who have single or two
children. As we humans are more inclined towards money, this may
produce some positive results.
5. Knowledge of Sex Education

Imparting sex education to young kids at the elementary level should be

a must. Most parents feel shy in discussing such things with their kids
that results in their children going out and look out for such information
on the internet or discuss it with their peers.

Mostly, the information is incomplete, which results in sexually active

teenagers unaware of contraceptives and embarrassed to seek
information about the same. It is, therefore, important for parents and
teachers to shed their old inhibitions and make their kids or students
aware of solid sex education.

6. Social Marketing

Social marketing has already been started by some societies to educate

the public on overpopulation effects. The intervention can be made
widespread at a low cost. A variety of print materials (flyers, brochures,
fact sheets, stickers) can be distributed in places such as at local places
of worship, sporting events, local food markets, schools and at car parks.

Infographic on Overpopulation

What is your recommendation to resolve the problem on

overpopulation?

Degradation the environment? Global warming, soil degradation,

flooding, erosion, lack of discipline,
References:

https://mahb.stanford.edu/blog/overpopulation-in-india/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12281798

https://www.dw.com/en/lets-talk-about-overpopulation/a-37481009

https://www.theguardian.com/global-development-professionals-
network/gallery/2015/apr/01/over-population-over-consumption-in-pictures

 Author
 Recent Posts

Rinkesh
A true environmentalist by heart ❤️. Founded Conserve Energy Future with the sole motto of
providing helpful information related to our rapidly depleting environment. Unless you strongly
believe in Elon Musk‘s idea of making Mars as another habitable planet, do remember that there
really is no 'Planet B' in this whole universe.
Poverty, the state of one who lacks a usual or socially acceptable
amount of money or material possessions. Poverty is said to exist when
people lack the means to satisfy their basic needs. In this context, the
identification of poor people first requires a determination of what
constitutes basic needs. These may be defined as narrowly as “those
necessary for survival” or as broadly as “those reflecting the prevailing
standard of living in the community.” The first criterion would cover
only those people near the borderline of starvation or death from
exposure; the second would extend to people whose nutrition, housing,
and clothing, though adequate to preserve life, do not measure up to
those of the population as a whole. The problem of definition is further
compounded by the noneconomic connotations that the word poverty
has acquired. Poverty has been associated, for example, with poor
health, low levels of education or skills, an inability or an unwillingness
to work, high rates of disruptive or disorderly behaviour, and
improvidence. While these attributes have often been found to exist
with poverty, their inclusion in a definition of poverty would tend to
obscure the relation between them and the inability to provide for
one’s basic needs. Whatever definition one uses, authorities and
laypersons alike commonly assume that the effects of poverty are
harmful to both individuals and society.

Although poverty is a phenomenon as old as human history, its

significance has changed over time. Under traditional (i.e.,
nonindustrialized) modes of economic production, widespread poverty
had been accepted as inevitable. The total output of goods and services,
even if equally distributed, would still have been insufficient to give the
entire population a comfortable standard of living by prevailing
standards. With the economic productivity that resulted from
industrialization, however, this ceased to be the case—especially in the
world’s most industrialized countries, where national outputs were
sufficient to raise the entire population to a comfortable level if the
necessary redistribution could be arranged without adversely affecting
output.

Several types of poverty may be distinguished depending on such factors

as time or duration (long- or short-term or cyclical) and distribution
(widespread, concentrated, individual).

Cyclical poverty

Cyclical poverty refers to poverty that may be widespread throughout a

population, but the occurrence itself is of limited duration. In
nonindustrial societies (present and past), this sort of inability to provide
for one’s basic needs rests mainly upon temporary food shortages caused
by natural phenomena or poor agricultural planning. Prices would rise
because of scarcities of food, which brought widespread, albeit
temporary, misery.

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In industrialized societies the chief cyclical cause of poverty is

fluctuations in the business cycle, with mass unemployment during
periods of depression or serious recession. Throughout the 19th and
early 20th centuries, the industrialized nations of the world experienced
business panics and recessions that temporarily enlarged the numbers of
the poor. The United States’ experience in the Great Depression of the
1930s, though unique in some of its features, exemplifies this kind of
poverty. And until the Great Depression, poverty resulting from business
fluctuations was accepted as an inevitable consequence of a natural
process of market regulation. Relief was granted to the unemployed to
tide them over until the business cycle again entered an upswing. The
experiences of the Great Depression inspired a generation of economists
such as John Maynard Keynes, who sought solutions to the problems
caused by extreme swings in the business cycle. Since the Great
Depression, governments in nearly all advanced industrial societies have
adopted economic policies that attempt to limit the ill effects of
economic fluctuation. In this sense, governments play an active role in
poverty alleviation by increasing spending as a means of stimulating the
economy. Part of this spending comes in the form of direct assistance to
the unemployed, either through unemployment compensation, welfare,
and other subsidies or by employment on public-works projects.
Although business depressions affect all segments of society, the impact
is most severe on people of the lowest socioeconomic strata because
they have fewer marginal resources than those of a higher strata.

Collective poverty

In contrast to cyclical poverty, which is temporary, widespread or

“collective” poverty involves a relatively permanent insufficiency of
means to secure basic needs—a condition that may be so general as to
describe the average level of life in a society or that may be concentrated
in relatively large groups in an otherwise prosperous society. Both
generalized and concentrated collective poverty may be transmitted from
generation to generation, parents passing their poverty on to their
children.

Collective poverty is relatively general and lasting in parts of Asia, the

Middle East, most of Africa, and parts of South America and Central
America. Life for the bulk of the population in these regions is at a
minimal level. Nutritional deficiencies cause disease seldom seen by
doctors in the highly developed countries. Low life expectancy, high
levels of infant mortality, and poor health characterize life in these
societies.

Collective poverty is usually related to economic underdevelopment.

The total resources of many developing nations in Africa, Asia, and
South and Central America would be insufficient to support the
population adequately even if they were equally divided among all of the
citizens. Proposed remedies are twofold: (1) expansion of the gross
national product (GNP) through improved agriculture or
industrialization, or both, and (2) population limitation. Thus far, both
population control and induced economic development in many
countries have proved difficult, controversial, and at times inconclusive
or disappointing in their results.

An increase of the GNP does not necessarily lead to an improved

standard of living for the population at large, for a number of reasons.
The most important reason is that, in many developing countries, the
population grows even faster than the economy does, with no net
reduction in poverty as a result. This increased population growth stems
primarily from lowered infant mortality rates made possible by
improved sanitary and disease-control measures. Unless such lowered
rates eventually result in women bearing fewer children, the result is a
sharp acceleration in population growth. To reduce birth rates, some
developing countries have undertaken nationally administered family-
planning programs, with varying results. Many developing nations are
also characterized by a long-standing system of unequal distribution of
wealth—a system likely to continue despite marked increases in the
GNP. Some authorities have observed the tendency for a large portion of
any increase to be siphoned off by persons who are already wealthy,
while others claim that increases in GNP will always trickle down to the
part of the population living at the subsistence level.

Concentrated collective poverty

In many industrialized, relatively affluent countries, particular

demographic groups are vulnerable to long-term poverty. In city ghettos,
in regions bypassed or abandoned by industry, and in areas where
agriculture or industry is inefficient and cannot compete profitably, there
are found victims of concentrated collective poverty. These people, like
those afflicted with generalized poverty, have higher mortality rates,
poor health, low educational levels, and so forth when compared with
the more affluent segments of society. Their chief economic traits are
unemployment and underemployment, unskilled occupations, and job
instability. Efforts at amelioration focus on ways to bring the deprived
groups into the mainstream of economic life by attracting new industry,
promoting small business, introducing improved agricultural methods,
and raising the level of skills of the employable members of the society.

Case poverty

Similar to collective poverty in relative permanence but different from it

in terms of distribution, case poverty refers to the inability of an
individual or family to secure basic needs even in social surroundings of
general prosperity. This inability is generally related to the lack of some
basic attribute that would permit the individual to maintain himself or
herself. Such persons may, for example, be blind, physically or
emotionally disabled, or chronically ill. Physical and mental handicaps
are usually regarded sympathetically, as being beyond the control of the
people who suffer from them. Efforts to ameliorate poverty due to
physical causes focus on education, sheltered employment, and, if
needed, economic maintenance.

The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica This article was most recently

revised and updated by Adam Augustyn, Managing Editor, Reference
Content.