Human Population Growth Rate and Overpopulation

When this paper is turned in on April 12, 2009, the estimate for the current United States human population will be about 306,203,719 (U.S. Census Bureau, 2009). This estimate is very dynamic is keeps changing. In April 2009, there will be one birth every eight seconds and one death every twelve seconds. Globally, the total population of the world is 6,772,923,667. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the world population will increase by 2.5 people every second. This extrapolates up to 152 people per minute, 9,111 per hour, and 218,659 per day. In one month, the world population will increase by 6,650,876 and in one year, it will increase by 79,810,508 people (U.S. Census Bureau, 2009).

The growth of the human population is a serious environmental issue and has negative implications for the Earth’s ecosystems. “Overpopulation” is the term that is used when the population is growing at a rate that is not sustainable. When the human population reaches and then exceeds the Earth’s carrying capacity, it means that we cannot continue to exist on the planet without causing significant degradation to the environment. As more people who added to the planet will require more and more resources to exist. Some argue that reducing the volume of resources per capita will stretch the resources longer, but this is not the solution. It is time to bring overpopulation back as a serious environmental discussion.

Thomas Malthus, an English political economist, is noted as being the first to raise the concern of population growth rates and the potential for overpopulation. Today, the term “Neo-Malthusian” is used to describe someone who believes that the rapid increase in the human population is dangerous and we are going to either run out of resources or seriously damage the Earth unless we control the growth of the human population (McKinney and Schoch, 2003). Malthus generally believed that if we cannot control the human population of our own accord, then nature will take care of the controls itself, such as a famine, or some other natural means. There have been many changes in the past few hundred years that have increased the world population. There have been significant successes in medicine, sanitation, food preservation, and agriculture that have lead to decreased infant mortality and an increase in life expectancy.

Without significant changes, more people means that more fossil fuels will be needed to heat and cool homes and to drive the automobiles of all of the additional people on the planet. The additional use of fossil fuels can add to the current environmental problem of atmospheric pollution and global climate change. Providing for the sustenance of the additional human population can lead to stress on other Earth systems. The need for additional food supplies will put more pressure on agricultural lands to produce more and this can lead to soil degradation to the point of non-productivity. Additional crops and additional people will require additional fresh water supplies for drinking and irrigation. Many of the world’s fresh water supplies are already in jeopardy and additional stresses to meet the thirst of a growing population will only make a bad situation worse (Overpopulation.org, 2009).

Another result of rapid population growth and overpopulation is increased urbanization, increased unemployment, and the spread of poverty (McKinney and Schoch, 2003). This is particularly seen in developing countries where cities are growing at incredible rates and their slums/shanty towns/squatter settlements lack basic necessities such as water, sanitation, and adequate shelter. This poverty is not always a direct result of overpopulation however. Government mismanagement, a lack of planning, and harmful policies are often the direct cause and overpopulation is the indirect cause (McKinney and Schoch, 2003). Another result of overpopulation is competition for resources which can lead to civil wars and other armed conflicts.

The theory of demographic transition states that as a nation goes through technological and economic developments, the population growth rate will decrease. This does not occur quickly though. Though with the developments, death rates begin to drop, birth rates will remain higher because there is better medical care and nutrition and cultural trends are slower to change. People will keep having larger families even though they don’t necessarily need to. Eventually, the industrial, technological, and cultural aspects of the country will mature and the growth rate will stabilize (McKinney and Schoch, 2003).

In ecology, when a population overshoots its carrying capacity, it usually results in a population decline. This is due to the lack of resources to sustain the population. If this happens with the human population on Earth, we could be facing a very dire situation. By addressing overpopulation and population controls now, we could be preventing the premature deaths of hundreds, thousands, even millions of people.

In 2007, a study by the United Nations reported that 47% of developing countries and 70% of the least developed countries had policies to address their population growth rate. In Africa, where 66% of the countries were reported to agree that their population growth rates were too high, 64% of the governments had significant policy developments that were aimed specifically at reducing the rapid growth of their populations (United Nations, 2007). In terms of fertility, the global total fertility decreased from 4.5 children per woman in 1970-1975 down to 2.6 children in 2005-2010 (United Nations, 2007). For the latter estimate, the United Nations reports that the fertility rate remains greater than 5 in 27 of the 150 developing countries. In 2007, almost all of the governments who reported that they believed their fertility to be too high had developed policies to lower it.

According to those who work actively on population issues, the best way to address the reduction of the world population growth rate is to do so in a manner that is respectful and promotes human rights (Overpopulation.org, 2009). One mitigation tactic would be to educate girls and women in developing countries about family planning. Various media strategies could be used to teach them about alternatives to limit their family size. Governments that have initiated methods to reduce fertility rates have implemented policies such as family planning and safe motherhood programs that have been built right into the primary health care system. Other, very basic policies, have included providing access to reproductive health services and the promotion of responsibility of men in the reproductive capacity. Other policies have included raising the minimum legal age at which women can marry, improving the education of women, improving employment opportunities for women, discouraging the preference for male offspring, and to provide inexpensive, safe, and effective contraceptives (United Nations, 2007). Unfortunately, it is believed that the demand for contraceptives is much higher than the supply. Sedgh and others (2007) estimated that over 100 million women lacked access to safe and effective contraceptives.

My mitigation plan to address human population growth and overpopulation is to target the countries that do not have policies regarding their growth rate. In the short term, this would include providing subsidies to countries who provide adequate access to contraception, abortions, and reproductive education. The lack of emphasis that some countries place on women’s health is reflective of the status of women in those countries. Therefore, through private and political pressures, the basic rights of women should be furthered. The indirect result of furthering a woman’s education and opportunities is a lower population growth rate. In some cultures, a woman is married with a bride price and in return, the groom expects a woman who is fertile and will give him many sons. As it may take generations to change this way of thinking, this is one of the long term goals of the mitigation plan. In addition, some developing countries feel that the pressure being exerted by developed countries to control the population of the developing countries is a form of genocide. This is another barrier that must be overcome.

Some governments have offered incentives to families who have voluntarily followed family planning policies. This could be economic incentives for using contraceptives or even for being sterilized. As an example, in Thailand, families who use contraceptives could rent a water buffalo at a reduced rental rate and South Korea allows tax deductions for families with two or fewer children. The flip side of incentives is the penalty. My mitigation plan would not employ techniques such as used in Singapore where families with more than three children are denied employment benefits, housing subsidies, and preferred school admissions (McKinney and Schoch, 2003). There are allegations that in countries such as China and India, sterilizations and abortions have been carried out with out full consent of the people involved. This is another penalty tactic that would not be employed by my mitigation plan and instead, an alternative would be sought.

In order for the world human population growth rate to be addressed, there will need to be cooperation from government leaders in developing countries, as well as cooperation from religious leaders and other organizations. Some challenges to the plan will be addressing the growth rate when human reproduction is believed in many cases to be a ‘private matter’, a religious matter, a basic right that is not to be regulated by the government, and a way to increase a country’s strength and economic standing. There are many benefits to be had from mitigating the population growth rate. In addition to reducing the stress on our planet’s natural resources, ecosystems, and fuel supplies, the human population may be spared the inevitable population crash that occurs when a system’s carrying capacity has been exceeded. Another benefit would be the betterment of the rights of women throughout the world. Women would have access to better medical treatment and more education and employment opportunites.

With better technology and medical knowledge, humans are living longer and the population continues to grow. The impacts of this human population growth on Earth’s ecosystems could affect the lives of humans for generations unless they are addressed soon. Our planet’s water and food supplies, our fuel supplies, and our very existence may be at risk if the global human population continues to grow unchecked and without regard for the consequences.

References

McKinney, M.L, and Schoch, R.M., 2003. Environmental Science: Systems and

Solutions. Jones & Bartlett Publishers

Overpopulation.org, 2009. Why Population Matters. Retrieved April 12, 2009 from

Sedgh, Gilda, et al. 2007. Women with an unmet need for contraception in

Developing countries and their reason for not using a method. Occasional Report,

No. 37, Guttmacher Institute: New York.

United Nations, 2007. World Population Policies 2007. Retrieved April 11, 2009 from

U.S. Census Bureau, 2009. World Vital Events. Retrieved April 12, 2009 from

U.S. Census Bureau, 2009. U.S. and World Population Clocks – POPCLOCK.

Retrieved April 12, 2009 from