The world’s population is approximately 7.16 billion and rising (citation). This means that it has nearly doubled in the past forty years. We are now faced with the severe and significant concern of over population. The amount of people this planet can sustain is becoming controversial. While some are arguing that everyone could fit on the state of Texas if we just put 10,500 people on each square mile (citation), others argue that we do not have enough supplies and resources on our land for every person. No matter how the dispute is being viewed, many people are deprived of food, shelter, and clothing because of the overload of people.
Several countries are decreasing their population by family planning. According to Oxford Dictionary, it states family planning as “the practice of controlling the number of children in a family and the intervals between their births, particularly by means of artificial contraception or voluntary sterilization” (citation). Within the past three decades, the worldwide percentage of couples using some method of family planning has boosted considerably; however, this amount would rise significantly if everyone had easy accessibility to it. In the backcountry of “sub-Saharan Africa, it takes an average of two hours to reach the nearest contraceptive provider” (citation). In many cases, people often cannot afford some form of birth control. Furthermore, numerous governments forbid
vital methods of contraception. For instance, Japan often discourages the usage of birth control pills over the condom (citation). Nonetheless, there are some disagreements with it; family planning is the best decision to resolve the worlds over population difficulty.
In China, they are often criticized by the majority due ...
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... doubled. Even though the number of people or population is still rising, the annual growth rate is starting to drop.
The outcome of over population is extremely dangerous. Overcrowding of people causes illnesses and diseases. Resources and food will be limited and the environment will not be healthful. If things remain the same, people are going to face major difficulties in the upcoming future. Many individuals are now starting to feel the hidden effects of over population today; in the future it will be a whole lot worse. The US is not too jam-packed compared to many other countries, and the fertility rate of North America is just a little over two (citation). Although we have not felt too much of the impact of over population compared to other countries, we will ultimately be hit hard by the ever-growing problem of over population if we do not make a change now.
The worldwide population is approaching 7 billion and is expected to reach 9 billion by 2050 (Baird). This projected population number is down from a once predicted 16 billion (Baird) and while some are not concerned, others are worried about any increase in population. Population growth is discussed in the articles “Too Many People?” by Vanessa Baird; “Population Control: How Can There Possibly Be Too Many of Us?” by Frank Furedi; and “The Population Bomb Revisited,” by Paul R. Ehrlich and Anne H. Ehrlich. Baird and Furedi concur that a concern for population growth has been around since mathematician Thomas Malthus, in 1798, warned that overpopulation could lead to “the collapse of society” (Furedi). Furedi claims that too much human life is being used as an excuse, by population control supporters, for the world’s current and future problems. Baird tries to discover if “the current panic over population growth is reasonable.” For Ehrlich and Ehrlich the concern over population growth is very real, and they reinforce and support their book “calling attention to the demographic element in the human predicament” (Ehrlich and Ehrlich 63). While taking different approaches to their articles, the authors offer their perspectives on population growth, population control and the environmental impacts of a growing population.
Educating the public about the importance of family planning is essential to reduce rapidly increasing birth rates. Human demographics have a profound effect on the population dynamics in both developed and developing nations. In more developed nations, there are significantly lower birth and death rates (Schneider). This would mean that the labor force of these nations is greatly limited. There is a risk of a bigger percentage of the elderly compared to the young generation. A higher older population undermines productivity, thereby inhibiting economic growth. In less developed nations, birth and death rates are high. Their economies struggle to maintain this high population. There is over-reliance on foreign aid. Labor is often transferred to the developed nations. The future of these nations is quite unpredictable (Das
“We are burdensome to the world, the resources are scarcely adequate for us.” Tertullian, a philosopher from the third century had said this about our world when the population was mere 200 million. This statement can be taken two different ways. The first would be to think that our resources are limited and we need to be worried. The second would be to say people have been worried about overpopulation forever but everything seems to have worked out. There is no doubt that there are many people inhabiting this earth but the real question is if too many of us is a real threat to humanity.
The growing human population, if not stabilized, will create a strain on the natural resources. Many countries realize this and have been making changes to family planning. Two of the more notable countries are Brazil and China. China has been know to have a controversial and straightforward policy responding to this problem. Chinese law prohibited families from having more than one child. In contrast, Brazil has no official government policies concerning family planning yet still sees a stabilized population as a result of various improved social programs. In the long run, both were effective in eventually controlling population growth, but at what cost?
The world’s population is rising rapidly from seven billion to the estimated nine billion in 2050 (Ellis, Overpopulation is Not the Problem). Every human being adds stress to the Earth’s resources. Numerous places like Africa and China maintain a copious amount starvation and poverty. There are days when people go without food, water, or shelter. There is even such happening in the United States. In such places, it is difficult to find contraception, or birth control, which leads to unplanned pregnancies. These situations are rooted down to overpopulation, which is when there are too many humans. However, there is a multitude of ways to reverse such negative effects. Population control is a necessary act that will benefit the world through sparing natural resources, decreasing famine, and controlling unplanned pregnancies. A worldwide effort would have to take effect in order for a successful future.
In today’s society that we live in, there are countless of environmental problems that we face, such as global warming, fishing, pollution, and many other topics of that matter. These issues have affected our environment for the worse and have caused problems physically and economically. Yet, out of all the issues that effects our world on a daily basis, it is shown that overpopulation is one if not, is our biggest issue in our environment that is only getting worse due time, especially due to the rapid growth of the human population and the limited resources that are left on earth that we absolutely need to tend to our growing population. Even Dr. Charles A. Hall, who is a systems ecologist, states that, “Overpopulation is the only problem, If we had 100 million people on Earth or better yet 10 million, no others would be a problem.” Which helps prove that overpopulation is a major issue that we must act upon if we want to save our world.
The human population has increased by 4.5 billion since the last sixty years (Engelman 1), this tremendous growth in the human population has startled numerous individuals. As a matter of fact, the biosphere’s population of humans is expected to grow additional, resulting in a total of nine billion by 2050 (Pearce 1). Some individuals may see this as a concern for the planet, whereas others assume that there are other more imperative hitches that humans should deal with. Although Erle C. Ellis agrees that overpopulation is not a problem for this planet, conversely, Fred Pearce and Joel Kotkin argue that there are other more vital problems to mend; unlike Ellis, Robert Engelman disagrees, proclaiming overpopulation
Overpopulation has become a drastic issue, for no one knows how many people the earth
The cost of pregnancy prevention was drastically reduced when the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the nearly 100%-effective birth control pill (the Pill) in 1960. Whereas in developing countries, contraceptives are difficult to obtain due to restrictions based on gender roles, socio-economic status and cultures and their beliefs. Population over the years has been increasing specifically in developing countries, due to the high mortality rate and need to keep procreating. Our planet, already staggering under 6.5 billion people, is expecting to add another 2 billion by 2030, and perhaps 2 billion beyond that by 2050. Nearly all of them will be born in developing nations. This rising population could be controlled more if ways to prevent pregnancies were less expensive and were accepted throughout society’s norms. Family dynamics and roles are ever-changing and because of this, there is no traditional family sense. Nuclear families are a modern-day concept that mostly resides in developed countries such as Canada and the USA, but in developing countries the family is made up of cousins, aunts and uncles and grandparents: the extended family. Giving women the option of contraception is the single most important factor in achieving the "demographic transition"
Have you ever wondered why there are 7 billion living on earth today? According to Webster’s Dictionary, population is the total number of people inhabiting a country, city, etc. (Merriam-Webster). There are a lot of people in the world and the earth doesn’t seem big enough to sustain the growing population of the earth. Having this many people on earth is too much so something must be done about it because it can cause a lot of problems in many countries especially in less developed countries. There are many ways of making the world a better place and overpopulating is not one of them. Even with the knowledge of its history, causes and effects, it is still a topic that is a major concern today.
Hence, to achieve a demographic transition, countries must focus on lowering fertility. This can be achieved by providing men and women with adequate information and services about family planning. Many women in developing countries wants to avoid becoming pregnant but do not use modern family planning method. This leads to almost 80 percent unwanted pregnancies. When women can themselves choose when and how often to become pregnant, they tend to have fewer children and are able to achieve the desired family size. A country’s population age structure can begin to change, setting the stage for demographic
According to the Population Reference Bureau, in 1991, there were about 5.4 billion people in the world. The global birth to death rate was 27/9, meaning that for every person that dies, three more babies are born. From 1990 to 1991, the population increased by 95 million people, and now has continued to grow at that rate. This may appear to be no danger, but if one were to think of it as a pond doubling its amount of lily pads for 40 days, they'd see it differently. It would start out with one lily pad, the next day it has two, and on the 39th day it is half filled. However, in one day, on the 40th day, it will be completely filled. The Earth's population is doubling about every 40 years. We don't want to wait until the 79th year to fix our problem or else humankind will not have enough time to change the inevitable obstacles that come with overpopulation.
Picture this you wake up one day and there are more than 1,000 people living on your land. It’s a pretty large piece of land with enough supplies to support your lifestyle. However, with 1,000 more people living in that same area, it has become crowded and compact. The next day, 1,000 more people come to live on your land. This continues to happen every day for many years, soon supplies start to become scarce and space starts to be a rarity. Sadly, this is our reality. There are 7.4 billion human beings on the face of the Earth and just in the United States alone there are 323 million. According to some estimates, there are somewhere between three and seven times more people than this planet can possibly maintain over a long period of time.
Gertler, Paul, and Molyneaux categorized these methods into two groups. “Natural methods control the population growth by avoiding sexual intimacy during the window of fertility; therefore, pregnancy can be avoided.” (Gertler, Paul, and Molyneaux) It is preferable because it has no negative effects to the body of the users. The second method is the contraceptive method. It is an artificial method that uses chemical substances to regulate the fertility cycle. It is my thought a third method could be added, the method of “sensibilization;” meaning, people populating an area fully understand the importance of family planning in their development, and in doing so, control population growth. In order to make this method attractive, monetary rewards could be awarded to encourage population control.
Overpopulation is a growing problem all over the world. This is a very important environmental issue and needs to be dealt with. This environmental problem is affecting many countries in the world, but mostly the poor and impoverished countries that don’t have the resources to help deal with these issues. It also affects the environment like plants animal life and air quality. When the population of people expands we need more natural resources from the environment, so we consume more then we can produce. This leads to the lack of resources in many areas. When expanding we create a lot of pollution in the air, water, and land. The pollution affects many humans health. Overpopulation is doing more harm than any other environmental issue. Overpopulation also causes many of the other issues we are dealing with. This is very dangerous to not only us humans but the planet. Even though many wealthy countries are not affected by this overpopulation, I feel like they should help the cause. There is always two sides to an issue like this. Some people don’t think that overpopulation is a big problem and the ones who say it is an issue that needs to be dealt with.