Population Explosion With Its Causes Effects and Solutions

 

Population explosion refers to the number of people that live in an area. It is a major issue for developing countries. It refers to the rapid increase in the population of an area among human beings.

Furthermore, it is a situation where the economy is not capable of coping with the increasing demand of its population. Global human population growth amounts to around 83 million annually, or 1.1% per year.

The global population has grown from 1 billion in 1800 to 7.8 billion in 2020. It is expected to keep growing, and estimates have put the total population at 8.6 billion by mid-2030, 9.8 billion by mid-2050 and 11.2 billion by 2100. 

Many nations with rapid population growth have low standards of living, whereas many nations with low rates of population growth have high standards of living. World population has been rising continuously since the end of the Black Death, around the year 1350. 

Population began growing rapidly in the Western world during the industrial revolution. The most significant increase in the world's population has been since the 1950s, mainly due to medical advancements and increases in agricultural productivity.

Specifically, population growth rate refers to the change in population over a unit time period, often expressed as a percentage of the number of individuals in the population at the beginning of that period.

A positive growth rate indicates that the population is increasing, while a negative growth rate indicates that the population is decreasing.

A growth ratio of zero indicates that there were the same number of individuals at the beginning and end of the period—a growth rate may be zero even when there are significant changes in the birth rates, death rates, immigration rates, and age distribution between the two times.

Many of the world's countries, including many in Sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East, South Asia and South East Asia, have seen a sharp rise in population since the end of the Cold War.

The fear is that high population numbers are putting further strain on natural resources, food supplies, fuel supplies, employment, housing, etc. in some of the less fortunate countries. Also, the government is not taking proper measures to control this problem.

However, since people in developing countries con­sume far less, especially of non-renewable resources, per head of population than people in industrialized countries, it has been argued that the West should set an example in population control instead of giving, for example, universal child benefit.

Besides, it generates many issues in the country that cause many problems for people.

Causes of Population Explosion/Over Population:

1.   Poverty:

Poverty is believed to be the leading cause of overpopulation. A lack of educational resources, coupled with high death rates leading to higher birth rates, result in impoverished areas seeing large booms in population.

The effect is so extensive that the UN has predicted that the forty-eight poorest countries in the world are also likely to be the biggest contributors to population growth.

Their estimates state that the combined population of these countries is likely to balloon to 1.7 billion in 2050, from 850 million in 2010.

2.   Child Labour:

As distressing as it may be to hear, child labour is still used extensively in many parts of the world.

UNICEF estimates that approximately 150 million children are currently working, primarily in countries that have few child labour laws. This can result in children being seen as a source of income by impoverished families.

Furthermore, children who begin work too young also lose the educational opportunities they should be granted, particularly when it comes to birth control. 

3.   Reduced Mortality Rate:

Improvement in medical technology has led to lower mortality rates for many serious diseases. Particularly dangerous viruses and ailments such as polio, smallpox and measles have been practically eradicated by such advances.

While this is positive news in many ways, it also means that people are living longer than ever before. This “delay” in the cycle of life and death has led to birth rates outstripping death rates by over two to one in modern times.

4.   Decline in 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.

5.   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.

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. 

6.   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.

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

Effects of Population Explosion:

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, causes pollution, and creating a host of other problems.

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.

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. 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.

5. Rise in Unemployment and High cost of Living:

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.

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.

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. 

2.   Awareness of Good 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.

3.   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.

4.   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 enrol their female children in school.

Overpopulation is a crisis that potentially stands alongside climate change as one of the biggest challenges facing humanity today.

Despite this, there is little in the way of education or dialog relating to the issue, particularly in schools.

If this doesn’t change, the issues highlighted in this article may continue to grow unabated. If that happens, this one issue could have a knock-on effect that will lead to untold problems in the future.

Written by – Sakshi Chauhan