my teacher reading my essay on how to solve overpopulation

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How to solve overpopulation: with Education

Posted 4:57 pm by Sarah & filed under All Subjects , International Education .

It’s pretty apparent that the world’s in a very sorry state, we have warring, famine, disease, lack of resources, pollution and violations of human rights almost everywhere. But what if I told you that it can all be solved? It’s pretty obvious how, the world is simply over capacity to hold the amount of people that exist on it. Fighting occurs over land and resources, famine and disease follow from poor conditions, pollution and violation of human rights follow this in turn to try and fix the issue with short-term patches, but overall the issue isn’t solved. So you need to start with overpopulation.

Common misconception is just what overpopulation is, many people believe that all populations everywhere across the world are growing massively when this simply isn’t the case. If you consider that for every woman and man in a country, two children need to be produced to keep it stable, then you can also conclude than more than two children will make a country’s population fall, and, vice-versa, less than two children will make it fall.

So we need to lower population, but we can’t just kill people left and right, and we can’t impose limitations on how many children a couple can have. So what is the solution? It’s simple: Education.

Just take a look at these countries with the highest populations in the world:

• China – Population: 1.36 Billion (19% of the world’s total) (1.55 Children born/woman)
• India – Population: 1.26 Billion (17.5% of the world’s total) (2.51 Children born/woman)
• US – Population: 0.31 Billion (4.4% of the world’s total) (2.01 Children born/woman)
• Indonesia – Population: 0.25 Billion (3.5% of the world’s total) (2.18 Children born/woman)
• Brazil – Population: 0.2 Billion (2.8% of the world’s total) (1.79 Children born/woman)
• Pakistan – Population: 0.18 Billion (2.6% of the world’s total) (2.86 Children born/woman)
• Nigeria – Population: 0.17 Billion (2.4% of the world’s total) (5.25 Children born/woman)
• Bangladesh – Population: 0.15 Billion (2.1% of the world’s total) (2.45 Children born/woman)
• Russia – Population: 0.14 Billion (2% of the world’s total) (1.61 Children born/woman)
• Japan – Population: 0.12 Billion (1.7% of the world’s total) (1.4 Children born/woman)

Although China, the US, Brazil, Russia and Japan have some of the highest populations in the world and by extension you’d imagine they also are the main reason for overpopulation right? Wrong, the amount of children born per woman is too low to grow a population by any significant amount. In fact, with the exception of the US, all of the countries’ populations will actually fall due to outputting less than two children per woman.

Conversely, the countries that will impact the world’s population will be the ones that have significantly more than two children per woman; India, Indonesia, Pakistan, Nigeria and Bangladesh are some of the biggest candidates. Nigeria’s population, in fact, will more than double each generation. This means that in just a matter of decades, Nigeria could be one of the most populous countries on the planet.

The difference between the two types of countries on this list is education for women. Due to a better level of education in China, the US, Russia and Japan, you see less women having large families and more women moving into becoming successful in their respective field. Many will trade having a family off entirely for career success. Meanwhile, the countries that have a lower level of education for women tend to see them degenerated down to being child-bearers alone with little to no opportunity or right for a career.

The solution is simple, if you want to stabilize the world’s population you need to start at the source: Educating young men and women on human rights, equality and giving them access to a good level of academic study. As this happens, it’s only natural that a culture’s perspective will change and in turn, the country will stabilize into a more self-sufficient, better motivated and stronger economy.

[Source: Wikipedia – List of Countries by Population ]

[Source: CIA – World Fertility Rates ]

Overpopulation Has a Solution: But Can We Get There?

Educating girls and young women in developing nations can lead to lower birth rates – and therefore to a solution to the problem of global overpopulation. When women are educated, they learn skills and self-reliance that lead to starting families later and to having fewer children. But can empowering women through education become a path to easing overpopulation? There are many roadblocks – social, cultural, religious – along the way.

Overpopulation is a serious concern that does not yet have a practicable, humane solution. We know that overpopulation contributes to global warming and exacerbates food distribution and supply issues. Rapid population growth can also go hand in hand with impoverishment in less developed societies around the globe. And it increases the problems associated with sprawl and overcrowding in cities and metropolitan centers, where most of the impact of our rapidly growing population is being felt.  

Moreover, every person on Earth has a “carbon footprint” corresponding to their use of the world’s resources and the release of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Curtailing the rate of growth in “footprints” on the planet over time is the most effective way to ease global warming.

Theoretically (and logically), the solution to overpopulation would be to reduce the world’s birth rate. Currently, the planet’s population is growing beyond the “replacement level” at which each pair of parents “replace” themselves with a maximum of one child per parent. Much of the excessive growth is in developing countries, as the developed world’s birth rate is hitting just about at or below the replacement goal.

The one glaring exception to this trend is the United States, where birth rates are higher than the rest of our cohort. Some experts estimate that the U.S. population could almost double by the end of the century! The apparent indifference to rapid population growth in the U.S. spells trouble for family planning and population control advocates, because the U.S. is very powerful and influential, and we tend to export not only goods but also societal values to the rest of the world.

Regressive U.S. Population Policies Hurt Developing Countries

If we really want to “bend the trend” and start to counter the rapid rise in the world’s population, we should start by looking at our government’s advocacy issues. Here in the U.S., it’s easy to believe we’re on the “virtuous” side of the quest for a more livable planet. But our policies don’t always fit that profile.

For example, since 1973 (the year the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision lifted many abortion restrictions throughout the U.S.), our official policy has been to discourage women in countries to which we supply aid from seeking family planning assistance that includes abortion counseling. This long-standing (and, many would say, counterproductive) policy to limit the use of U.S. foreign assistance for abortion is called the Helms Amendment, after its primary sponsor, the late U.S. Senator Jesse Helms.

The Helms Amendment has been supported and expanded by the existence of another U.S. international aid policy:  the “global gag rule,” most recently signed and implemented in 2017 by President Donald Trump. This rule prohibits any funding not just in direct aid but also to any agency or nongovernmental organization (NGO) that provides abortion counseling or in any way provides information about abortion as one means of family planning.

(Image courtesy of Adobe Stock )

Closing that circle of regressive U.S. government policy is the Hyde Amendment, which prohibits the use of federal funding for any service provider in the U.S. that includes abortion as an option. The Hyde Amendment has been in effect since 1977 and was most recently updated in 2017, when it became “permanent” (meaning it no longer must be renewed annually).

Alleviating Overpopulation through Education

By its actions it’s apparent the U.S. government is not on board with any effort to ease the impact of overpopulation that involves abortion as an option. So, we need to come up with ways to reduce reproductive rates, particularly in developing countries, that don’t unnecessarily undermine much-needed U.S. assistance. This means that indirect strategies are more likely to be successful and sustainable. If the goal is to slow the rise in birth rates, then women must be encouraged and empowered to take control of their reproductive lives – and the best indirect means to achieve that goal is support for their formal education.

In my colleague Arthur M. Marx’s essay on overpopulation and global climate change , he laments that reducing the rate of population growth is not among the 17 goals listed in the  Sustainable Development Goals Report 2017 of the United Nations’ Department of Economic and Social Affairs. I would counter by highlighting two of the goals (nos. 4 and 5) – ensuring education and achieving gender equality to empower women and girls – both of which would affect birth rate indirectly by, together, providing young women with the knowledge, skills, and sense of self-determination to make considered choices about family planning.

I’m no mind-reader, but given the efforts of the U.S. to impede international family planning initiatives, these two goals may be as close as the U.N. can come to calling directly for reducing the world’s current – and unsustainable – birth rate. Scientifically at least (if not politically), the theories seem strong and consistent. For instance, Sweden’s University of Lund postulates that parents deciding to have one fewer child would pay off in reducing carbon footprints (and thus global warming) across the globe. It’s not a big leap to suggest that better educated parents are more likely to make such a positive choice.

This theory seems to bear out in practice as well. Harvard’s Global Health Review states that overpopulation can be combated by promoting secondary education for females . The article reports that:

• In developing nations, women who complete secondary school average at least one fewer child per lifetime than women with less education.
• Educated women are more likely to know about and use modern contraception.
• These women also are more likely to practice “healthy birth spacing” of about three years apart per child.
• Education is one factor that helps avert the worst fallout from many aspects of these women’s lives:  poverty, poor nutrition, reduced access to health care, and more.
• The strong link between female education and lower fertility is virtually universal.

Additional Benefits of Education for Young Women

Some analysts conclude that more schooling gives a young woman a sense of personal responsibility – and thus empowerment to shape her own future. A World Bank analysis of 65 countries showed that doubling the proportion of women with a secondary education reduced average fertility rates from 5.3 to 3.9 children per woman – a significant step toward the “replacement rate” of approximately 2 births average per women.

“The expansion of female secondary education may be the single best lever for achieving substantial reductions in fertility.” – Gene Sperling

The benefits of education and reduced fertility fan out in many directions, improving lives in significant ways: economically, socially, and intellectually. They also lead to women taking a more active interest in the world around them, and foster leadership by women in their social milieus. Moreover, educated women with fewer children tend to be wealthier than their counterparts with less education and more children. They are also less likely to be susceptible to fundamentalist extremism.

With all this evidence you might be lulled into believing that governments and societies worldwide are united in their support for increasing educational opportunities for all, and especially for women.

But you would be wrong.

Limiting Population Growth Blocked by Obstacles to Education

Many if not most developing nations encounter obstacles to basic and secondary education – and sometimes they even impose obstacles. Such countries often have precarious economies, and their governments have great difficulty providing adequate financial support for education and convenient access to schools (especially in rural areas). When these problems combine with regressive attitudes toward the role of women, the impediments to progress through education are multiplied.

UNICEF estimates that if all girls had secondary education in the sub-Saharan Africa and South and West Asia regions, child marriage would fall by 64 percent, from almost 2.9 million to just over 1 million.

Young women and girls are disproportionately affected by these shortcomings in access to formal learning. Let’s look at several of the most widespread obstacles to women receiving sufficient education to take responsibility for their future, including their reproductive future.

(Image courtesy of UNICEF, via Wikimedia )

• Being female . Over 130 million young women and girls around the globe are not currently enrolled in school. The vast majority live in male-dominated societies that do not value women equally as men, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, and South and West Asia. Entrenched gender norms persist, and child marriage – which totally disrupts education and effectively puts it out of reach for many girls – is common in some countries. The less education a girl receives, the more likely she is to have children early and to be vulnerable to exploitation.  
• Conflict and war . Education is often the first casualty of war.   A quarter of the world’s school-age children (462 million) live in countries affected by war and disasters. And according to UNICEF, more than half of these children (most of them girls) do not attend school.
• Poverty and hunger . Hunger is a widespread scourge in developing regions.  Persistent hunger before the age of 5 can cause a child to be stunted, physically and intellectually.  And cognitive problems are lasting, both in school and later in life. Impoverished families are less likely to enroll their female children in school for a variety of reasons – for example, lack of resources to afford tuition and uniforms, and needing girls to care for younger siblings or to work outside the home to help with financial support.

Numerous additional obstacles also exist, including access to schools in rural areas, insufficient numbers of qualified teachers, inadequate facilities and materials, and more. But we can summarize the threats to girls’ education in the three buckets above: hostility to women and girls’ education; conflict that disrupts societies, including educational systems; and poverty , which keeps girls from attending school.

Reaching a Sustainable Birth Rate

We can’t be serious about the threat of overpopulation to the planet’s resources without confronting birth rates and the need to achieve a sustainable world population. As you can read in my colleague Justine Damiano’s essay on overpopulation myths , there is still time to address these challenges. She makes clear that we have the capacity to feed everyone now alive, but we don’t have the infrastructure to ensure delivery to all those in need. And war and conflict all too often stand in the way of sharing resources among nations.

These problems may seem intractable. Who knows, perhaps they are. But we should not be mired in Malthusian pessimism, and we must proceed with the conviction that humans have the capacity to solve the population problem. After all, we are the population.  

Acknowledging the universal right of all children to education is a good place to start. The demonstrated benefits are overwhelmingly positive and undeniable. Plus, there’s a terrific side effect: lowering the world’s birth rate, and thus preserving our planet for future generations.

Kevin Martin is Senior Writer for MagellanTV. He writes on a wide variety of topics, including outer space, the fine arts, and modern history. He has had a long career as a journalist and communications specialist with both nonprofit and for-profit organizations. He resides in Glendale, California.

Title image: Crowd of people on the street. No recognizable faces (Credit: Anton Gvozdikov, via  Adobe Stock .)

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Overpopulation Solutions That Put Women and Girls First

Overpopulation puts us all at risk. Every person deserves equal access to natural resources—water, clean air, food, land—but as our numbers grow and the economically stable consume massive amounts of resources, we see devastating destruction of ecosystems. Our natural resources degrade and climate change threatens to harm each of us, especially the most economically disenfranchised.

However, this does not have to be the permanent path we follow. As we look to shift the direction of our future, we can focus on solutions that help the most economically and socially disadvantaged among us. As we advocate for overpopulation solutions as a means of sustainability, we must put women and girls first.

Impacting Population with Education and Job Security

Education for girls poses a complex dilemma. It is not merely a question of access—cultural attitudes must also shift. Families need to prioritize education for girls. 

The issue of uneducated girls is widespread, and increased rates of unemployment and underemployment follow. UNESCO reports that the number of out-of-school girls at the primary level has decreased, but not at a satisfactory level . Any number of unschooled girls is too many. Of the 960 million illiterate adults in the world, two thirds are women . 

The impact of this is not only felt by women, but also has ripple effects on the broader community. Women who do not have financial independence are subject to the whims of their partners, placing them at risk of social inequality and gender-based violence. According to UNICEF, when we invest in secondary education for girls, rates of child marriage, child mortality, maternal mortality, and child stunting decrease, while the lifetime earnings of girls greatly increase . Of course, the number of children women choose to have also decreases in direct proportion to the years of education.

So where do we go from here?

Advocacy for girls begins with education. As we provide the space for the critical thinking and confidence building that accompanies an education, we must also change social norms around vocational opportunities. Women who pursue successful careers gain independence and are better equipped to help their communities thrive. Financially stable women will pour money and ideas back into local economies and keep businesses and communities afloat. 

PMC’s Pambazuko (“New Dawn”) addresses the importance of reproductive health and education as effective means toward curbing population growth. Listeners of the show were 3.2 times more likely than non-listeners to say that girls should be encouraged to pursue their education to a high level. 

Impacting Population with Contraceptives and Family Planning

Beyond education, women face other obstacles that impede their paths toward self-sustainability. People around the world have now listened to the valedictorian in Texas who used her podium to talk about what might happen to her future if her contraception fails. In Texas, where abortion is now illegal beyond six weeks—before most women know they are pregnant—this college-bound valedictorian eloquently expressed how everything she dreams of and everything she’s worked for could be jeopardized. 

The availability of a wide range of birth control options is pivotal to the health and well-being of women and girls . Not only in a very physical sense, related to their health in delivery and the health of their children, but also in terms of the direction of their life, their economic status, and their social status. Women who have children before they want to or have many children—including young girls who fall victim to child marriage—endure health complications and economic hardships. 

We must build a world that prioritizes the health and well-being of women and ensures that every child is wanted and every mother is cared for. Access and agency to use contraceptives and family planning is the most comprehensive solution available. The WHO reports that 74 million women in low and middle-income countries have unintended pregnancies each year . And during the COVID-19 lockdown, millions of women around the world experienced a lack of access to contraceptives . 

The same report shares the story of Maya Bohara , a 32 year old from Nepal. Maya relied on injected contraceptives for nine years, but was unable to receive treatment during the lockdown. Or take Hira Lawad, a mother of two. Hira was unable to receive her contraceptive injection because of a lack of inventory, even though she and her husband had already decided they were done having children. As a result, Hira became pregnant for the third time.  

We must begin by funding family planning programs. Individuals, families, and entire communities need to be properly educated about contraceptive methods and family planning to effectively prevent unplanned pregnancies. Women and girls should be able to make informed decisions about if and when they want children. These decisions improve the mother’s ability to pursue her dreams and to ensure that her family will be cared for. This also dramatically impacts the healthcare and education for these children.

Impacting Population by Stopping Child Marriage

Child marriage must also be stopped as we work towards overpopulation solutions. Imagine not choosing your own life partner. Imagine that he has been chosen for you, and that you have no education. Imagine that your spouse is twice your age or more, with dramatically greater life experience. Imagine you know nothing about intercourse or pregnancy. Now, imagine the multitude of personal and societal risks child marriage presents, as it perpetuates a cycle of low social status and poverty for women, limiting prospects for an education and job opportunities. Girls who are married before the age of 15 are 50% more likely to experience physical or sexual intimate partner violence than those married after 18 .  

PMC’s Ruwan Dare (“Midnight Rain”) is based in Nigeria and includes a child marriage storyline. The girl’s young body cannot withstand a traumatic birth. The baby dies, so her husband returns her to her father deeming her “damaged goods.” As you well know, our stories are based on formative research to reflect reality. A reality we must change. 

Putting Women and Girls First

Overpopulation solutions must get to the root of the problem. What drives our dramatically increasing population? The truth is, population growth is high because women don’t have equal rights and equal opportunities. If women and girls were allowed to attend schools and given the time and space to learn and grow, population projections would dramatically change . If women and girls were given comprehensive sex education and had reproductive rights, population projections would dramatically change. If women and girls were never in positions in which they needed to marry in order to have enough money to provide for their families or have basic needs met, population projections would dramatically change. 

It’s time to flip the script. It’s time to put the focus where it needs to be in order to stop population growth. We need to focus on the rights of women and girls. Mandating the rights of women and girls is a human rights imperative, and a global sustainability imperative. The health of the planet—and the future of all Earth’s species—depends on it. We can reimagine a world in which all people can thrive. Our future depends on hers.

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Solutions to overpopulation and what you can do

| February 27, 2019 | Leave a Comment

Item Link: Access the Resource

Date of Publication: February 22, 2019

Author(s): The Overpopulation Project

Here at The Overpopulation Project, we try to keep a positive outlook. Although many environmental trends are grim, there exist clear paths forward toward a more sustainable world: one where people steward resources for the future and share habitat and resources generously with other species.

Recently, a correspondent wrote challenging us to identify  solutions  to the demographic and environmental problems we write about. We appreciate the reminder to remain forward looking and in response share the ideas below. Obviously, no one person or organization can cover all these efforts. But each of us can do something and together we can create a sustainable world.

These are personal and policy suggestions that we and others study. Some points are obvious, others fairly well established, but all need more research. If you are a scientist or scholar, one of the most important actions to take is to address population matters in your research, or join other researchers who are doing so.

What suggestions would you add or take off this list? Which ideas need further research? We would love to hear from you!

Actions on the individual level

• Have fewer children! One is good, two is enough – read more  here
• Consider adoption!
• Read, educate yourself about population issues – read more  here
• Reduce your personal consumption: go vegan, limit flying, share your household with others, and  more
• Educate your teenage child(ren) about sex and contraception early, without taboos
• Spread your knowledge and concern among your friends and family, raise awareness about overpopulation on social media – read more  here
• Donate to family planning programs in your own or other countries – for example to  International Planned Parenthood ,  FP2020  or another equally deserving organization
• Vote for politicians who acknowledge the detrimental impacts of population growth and propose political solutions

Actions on the community level

• Join local environmental groups, encouraging them to “connect the dots” between population and the environment and address population issues
• Write opinion pieces for local newspapers, contact local media sources requesting more reporting on population issues – create demand!
• Municipalities should set growth management boundaries, discouraging sprawl development on their fringes
• Towns and cities should purchase surrounding lands, or the development rights to such lands, in order to set them aside as nature preserves and open space
• City councils should pass resolutions accepting limits to growth, and directing their national governments to develop policies to stabilize or reduce national populations

Actions on the national level

In high fertility developing countries, governments should …  

• Generously fund family planning programs
• Make modern contraception legal, free and available everywhere, even in remote areas
• Improve health care to reduce infant and child mortality
• Restrict child marriage and raise the legal age of marriage (minimum 18 years)
• Introduce obligatory education as long as possible (minimum until the age of 16), and generously fund the necessary infrastructure

In low fertility developed countries, governments should …  

• Embrace rather than fight aging and shrinking societies – read more  here
• Reorganize pensions and other socio-economic systems to accommodate aging societies
• Eliminate baby bonuses, government funding for fertility treatments, and other incentives to raise fertility rates
• Reduce immigration numbers (at least to a level that will stabilize national populations, preferably to one that will lower them) – read our blog  here
• Reduce resource consumption and pollution through an effective mix of taxes, incentives and regulations

I n every country, governments should …  

• Empower women, assuring equal rights, treatment and opportunities for both genders
• Provide information and access to reproductive health care, including all types of low cost, safe, effective contraception – read more  here
• Make sterilization free, for men and women, or at least covered under all healthcare plans
• Legalize abortion without restrictions or social stigma – read our blog  here
• Integrate family planning and safe motherhood programs into primary health care systems
• Make population and environmental issues and sex education part of the basic educational curriculum
• Disincentivize third and further children non-coercively, by limiting government support to the first two children
• Create a national population policy built around an  optimal population size , and work to achieve it
• Set aside half the national landscape free from intensive development and dedicated to biodiversity protection – read more  here

Actions on the global level

• Make “ending population growth” one of the UN  Sustainable Development Goals  – read our blog  here
• Greatly increase the amount of foreign aid going to family planning – learn more  here
• Change the current foreign aid distribution, giving more support for health and education, while ending international military aid – read more  here
• Global religious leaders should approve modern contraception methods and forcefully reject a fatalistic view of procreation – read more  here
• Financially support media programs designed to change social norms to bolster family planning, best example is  Population Media Center
• Hold a new  global population conference , the first in twenty-five years, to reaffirm the ecological need to limit human numbers and the basic human right to family planning
• Connect family planning to international environmental and development funding; e.g., include family planning in the  Green Climate Fund
• Create a new global treaty to end population growth, with all countries choosing population targets every half decade with a plan on how to achieve them (similar to the  NDC  format) – read our blog  here
• Create an online platform similar to the  ClimateWatch  platform, where visitors can see countries’ goals, plans and achievements to date

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How to stop overpopulation before we reach 10 billion people on Earth

• global issues

Overpopulation Essay

500 words essay on overpopulation.

Overpopulation refers to an undesirable condition in which the number of existing human being exceeds the actual carrying capacity of the earth. It has many causes which range from a decline in the death rate to early marriages and more. The overpopulation essay will throw light on this issue.

Ill-Effects of Overpopulation

The ill-effects of overpopulation are quite severe. The first one is that natural resources deplete at a faster level. Our planet can produce only a limited amount of water and food . Thus, overpopulation causes environmental damage including deforestation, pollution, etc.

Similarly, there is the degradation of the environment which happens because of the overuse of resources like coal, oil, natural gases and more. As a result, the quality of air also gets affected in this manner.

In developing countries, overpopulation puts a strain on resources. Thus, it gives rise to conflicts and tension. It also causes more diseases that become harder to control. Next up, we have the issue of unemployment.

Moreover, it rises due to overpopulation. There is more number of people than job opportunities. As a result, unemployment gives rise to crimes like theft and more. We also have pandemics and epidemics which happen due to overpopulation.

It is because overcrowded and unhygienic living gives rise to infectious diseases . Another ill-effect is malnutrition and starvation. When there are scarce resources, these diseases will likely to be on the rise.

Most importantly, we have a shortage of water which makes it tougher for people to get access to clean water. Similarly, lower life expectancy also happens because of the boom in population, especially in less-developed nations.

We also witness faster climate change as nations continue to develop their industrial capacities. Thus, they emit industrial waste which gives rise to global temperatures . It will keep getting worse if things are not checked immediately.

Solutions of Overpopulation

There are many solutions which we may take up to prevent overpopulation. The best measure is family planning to keep the overpopulation check. In order to do that, one can ensure proper spacing between the births of the children.

Further, limiting the number of children as per income and resources must also be important. Similarly, it is essential to increase resources. The government must make the horrors of overpopulation reach the public through the use of media.

Moreover, better education can help implement social change which can curb overpopulation. Next up, knowledge of sex education must be made mandatory in schools so students learn young about everything they need to know.

Most importantly, it is essential to empower women so they can break out of poverty. This way, they can learn about reproductive health and make better decisions. Another solution can be government incentives.

Many governments of countries already have various policies which relate to tax exemptions for curbing overpopulation. For instance, some waive a certain part of income tax for married couples with one or two children.

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Conclusion of Overpopulation Essay

All in all, overpopulation is no less than a curse that poses a permanent threat to the development of any country. It is essential to stop the flood of population. In order to do that, one must indulge in proper family planning and creating balance in society for a better world.

FAQ of Overpopulation Essay

Question 1: What is the main cause of overpopulation?

Answer 1: It is believed that the main cause of overpopulation is poverty. When there is a lack of education resource which coupled with high death rates, it results in impoverished areas witnessing large booms in population.

Question 2: How is overpopulation affecting the world?

Answer 2: Overpopulation is affecting the world as it is outpacing the ability of the planet earth to support it. It also has environmental and economic outcomes which range from the impacts of over-farming on global warming.

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The Problem of Overpopulation Essay

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Overpopulation has become one of the main challenging trends over the past centuries. Governments accept the fact that they are no longer capable of managing this problem. According to Rieder, the significant aftermath of this event is that “the Earth will, at some point, be unable to provide for our population, even without more growth” (2). Commonly proposed ways of solving the problem and treating its current consequences are widely discussed in the literature. The purpose of this paper is to examine the causes and effects of overpopulation, potential threats to society, and the ecosystem, as well as the ways to overcome the problem.

The United Nations (UN) forecasts that the world’s population is expected to increase by 2 billion in 30 years. Despite the aging population and downtrend of fertility in European countries, the amount of people is growing because of developing states. For example, the people in Africa is expected to double by 2050 (Uniyal et al. 21). Scientists provide numerous reasons for overpopulation, which include historical, sociological, psychological, and other factors (Uniyal et al. 21). It is commonly believed that overpopulation is caused by the growth of natality, the decrease of mortality, and migration flows. Other causes are attributed to cultural and religious beliefs as well as lack of education (Farraji et al. 16). Overall, there is a complex set of multiple interrelated reasons that should be examined altogether.

Overpopulation carries many environmental and social risks. Approximately 40% of the land is used for agriculture, and this figure has to grow to keep up with the growth of the population (Uniyal et al. 22). To cover up the scarcity of food, companies, and farmers are required to increase production. Therefore, a fragile balance of the global ecosystem is directly and indirectly threatened by harmful human activities. Uniyal et al. state that “deforestation, the effect on welfare, climate change, the decline in biocapacity, urban sprawl, food security, increase in energy demand and effect on the marine ecosystem are amongst most severe impacts of overpopulation” (20). Overpopulation affects the overall well-being of the society: thus, overcrowded urban cities demonstrate high rates of unemployment and unhappiness.

There are several ways of reducing the rate of overpopulation, and the main actors responsible for implementing proper policies are the national governments. Chen suggests that governments should provide citizens with affordable healthcare and social security (57). Actions such as the promotion of smaller families, gender equality, and education are considered to be effective by the UN (Farraji et al. 16). Additionally, young people should have easy access to birth control. Developing countries must create partnerships with major non-governmental organizations to fight the threat. Including these measures on the agenda may help to reduce poverty and depletion of resources.

Sustaining a population remains a great struggle, and it is going to impact the development of society. Overpopulation is caused by a set of various anthropological and natural reasons. It imposes a massive risk for life on Earth due to the exploitation of natural resources and makes the lifestyle of future generations more challenging. If the issue is not treated, the surplus population will highly likely face the scarcity of food, accommodation, and fresh air and water. However, the situation may change with the help of a global community and national governance. Many types of research and enthusiasts have proposed a system of actions, such as the adoption of “small family” policies and welfare.

Works Cited

Chen, Ying. Trade, Food Security, and Human Rights. Ashgate, 2014.

Farraji, Hossein, et al. “Overpopulation and Sustainable Waste Management.” International Journal of Sustainable Economies Management, vol. 5, no. 3, 2016, pp. 13-36.

Rieder, Travis N. Toward a Small Family Ethic: How Overpopulation and Climate Change are Affecting the Morality of Procreation. Springer Nature, 2016.

Uniyal, Shivani, et al. “Human Overpopulation: Impact on Environment.” Megacities and Rapid Urbanization: Breakthroughs in Research and Practice , edited by Information Resources Management Association, IGI Global, 2019, pp. 20-30.

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Home — Essay Samples — Social Issues — Overpopulation — The Causes, Effects, and Consequences of Overpopulation

The Causes, Effects, and Consequences of Overpopulation

• Categories: Overpopulation Population Growth

About this sample

Words: 683 |

Published: Jan 29, 2024

Words: 683 | Pages: 2 | 4 min read

Table of contents

Causes of overpopulation, effects of overpopulation, consequences of overpopulation, potential solutions, references:.

• Cohen, J. E. (1995). How many people can the earth support?. Norton & Company.
• Daniels, R. J. (2008). The effects of overpopulation on environment and society. Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society, 105(2), 212-218.
• Ehrlich, P. R. (1968). The population bomb. Sierra Club/Ballantine Books.
• Mazur, L. A. (1998). A concise guide to the world population. ABC-CLIO.
• World Population Prospects 2019: Highlights. (2019). United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division.

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The Problem of Overpopulation - Reading Comprehension Text

Subject: Cross-curricular topics

Age range: 14-16

Resource type: Lesson (complete)

Last updated

9 January 2023

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This Reading Comprehension / Informational Text explores the overpopulation problem and its effects on the economy and the environment. The text analyses the effects of overpopulation, future projections and possible solutions and is suitable for advanced to proficient ESL learners or native English speakers.

After carefully reading the text, students are required to complete some comprehension exercises including:

• comprehension questions
• a multiple choice exercise
• a crossword
• a fill in the gaps text on “Intensive Farming”

This can be used as a mini-lesson, assigned for homework or used to for vocabulary building purposes.

Total number of pages: 6 Answer key included

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This bundle includes different Reading Comprehension Worksheets suitable for higher intermediate advanced ESL learners. The texts explore a number of environmental issues including air and water pollution, genetic engineering, climate change and nuclear radiation. After carefully reading each informational text, students are required to complete some comprehension exercises including: questions, True or False, gap filling exercises, crosswords, word search exercises, definitions matching exercises and engage in in-depth classroom discussions on topics relevant to each text. The vocabulary used in the texts is rather advanced and can also be used for IGCSE, TOEFL or IELTS vocabulary building purposes. Full answer keys are included.

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