Death of Man-Overpopulation

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6…6.5 billion! That is how many people call Earth their home. That number is projected to rise to 9 billion in 2050 (Connor). The human population has more than doubled in less than 50 years (Connor). This rapid growth is creating a problem for the environment and for our resources. This problem has been dubbed; Overpopulation. According to Wikipedia; Overpopulation is a condition when an organism’s numbers exceed the carrying capacity of its habitat. It is determined using the ratio of population to available sustainable resources. Wikipedia says:

“If a given environment has a population of ten, but there is food or drinking water enough for only nine, then in a closed system where no trade is possible, that environment is overpopulated; if the population is 100 individuals but there is enough food, shelter, and water for 200 for the indefinite future, then it is not.”

This is a good example of what is happening in the world. With the rapid growth of population we are starting to see a steady decline in our most important resources including; water, food, land, energy, and fossil fuels. I am going to take a look at different causes, effects, and solutions in regards to the global problem of overpopulation.

Things causing overpopulation are sometimes good and sometimes bad, when speaking about them in other contexts. Decline in the death rate, rise in the birth rate, and improvements of public health are all positive things, but not when it comes to the issue of overpopulation. Due to advancements in medicine and improvements in public health care, doctors and scientists have found cures to previously fatal diseases. These new inventions in medicine have brought in many treatments for most of the life-threatening diseases, resulting in an increase in life expectancy for individuals. Inevitably, this leads to an increase in population. Fighting disease and preventing death is a very good thing, but not when we look into the overcrowding of earth.

Another cause of advancements in medicine is the increase in fertility rates of human beings. Certain medicines today can boost the reproductive rate in humans. This too, is a great advancement and a miracle for many couples, but is a negative cause to overpopulation.

Lack of education is probably one of the largest causes of overpopulation. People lacking in education fail to understand the dangers ahead of us if we keep overcrowding the planet. The lack of family planning is very common in illiterate parts of the world. Some countries just do not have the resources to dish out this kind of knowledge, and then you have some countries who are just plain ignorant to the whole idea.

Along with causes, come effects and consequences. One of the biggest concerns is the lack of fresh water. A water crisis like this will only get worse with the increasing population. Lawrence Smith, President of the Population Institute said, “If the water goes, the species goes.” Even though we are surrounded by water, only 3 percent of it is sustainable freshwater and the other 97 percent is saltwater (CNN.com). Desalination of saltwater can be used to create freshwater. This is a very energy-intensive process. There are a good number of nuclear powered desalination plants around the world, but the high costs of desalination make it unfeasible to transport large amounts of desalinated saltwater, especially in poor third world countries (Wikipedia.com).

This overcrowding of Earth is taking a toll on our environment. Increased levels in air pollution, water pollution, soil contamination, and noise pollution are slowly eroding away our healthy environment. The need for land is causing deforestation, which causes a loss of ecosystems, which is aiding in the cause of mass species extinction. Extinction rates are becoming as high as 140,000 species lost per year (Primm, 1995). Overpopulation can affect other life forms besides human beings. The time is way over due to start finding solutions to this problem. Governments and nations have to start acting on this immediately.

There are many suggested solutions to this problem, but some are just a little unrealistic. In the 1970’s the Prime Minister of India, Indira Gandhi implemented a forced sterilization program (Wikipedia.com). Men with two or more children had to agree to sterilization. I don’t think something like this would work in today’s world. Other people propose that governments should stop funding on child-vaccination because children should have to survive naturally. This idea is interesting, yet mean and sinful. Only an insane government would agree to do something like that. These are solutions that I would personally not go for.

There are two ideas that I believe would help in the assistance of controlling overpopulation. One would be reforming tax laws in a way to promote couples to have no more than two children. They would still be able to have as many kids as they want, but the tax code would no longer subsidize more than two (grinningplanet.com). Finally, the best solution to overpopulation is more access to family planning services. If countries could make family planning education, condoms, and birth control easily affordable and available to their public then that could be a great start to the downfall of overpopulation. It all could start with a little education. Arnold Joseph Toynbee once said, “We have been God-like in our planned breeding of our domesticated plants and animals, but we have been rabbit-like in our unplanned breeding of ourselves” (grinningplanet.com). If this rabbit-like approach continues, then this overpopulation will surely be the death of mankind.

Works Cited


S.L. Pimm, G.J. Russell, J.L. Gittleman and T.M. Brooks, The Future of Biodiversity, Science 269: 347-350 (1995)

"Overpopulation." Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. 31 Jan. 2009. .


Hoevel, Ann. "Overpopulation could be people, planet problem." CNN.com. 29 Jan. 2009.
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Connor, Steve. "Overpopulation 'is main threat to planet'" The Independent. 1 Feb. 2009.
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Oak, Manali. "Causes of Overpopulation." Buzzle.com. 2 Feb. 2009. .

"World Population Growth." Grinning Planet. 29 Jan. 2009.
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