The accelerating pace by which world population grows is becoming increasingly a central issue of current global affairs. This growth is further exacerbated by what has come to be increasingly referred to as "overpopulation". The "overpopulation" phenomenon occurs when overall number of people inhabiting earth exceeds planet's capacity for sustainable and healthy living. If anything, overpopulation is, primarily, a result of excessive sexual reproduction. Notwithstanding rising annual death rates globally because of diseases, accidents and abortions, one cannot deny population is increasing at staggering annual rates as well potentially resulting in wide-scale negative effects, not least for non-human life and, indeed, for planet's overall ecological balance. In order to better assess how overpopulation impacts (or has a direct, negative effect) on human- and non-human life on Earth, a more detailed analysis is required. For current purposes, more focus is laid on how innovations impact on human overpopulation and, in complex cause-and-effect relationships impact on planet's overall sustainability. This essay aims, hence, to explore cause-and-effect relationships between innovations and overpopulation.
If anything, innovations in many areas, particularly in more developed countries, have helped shape human population in different ways. According to Boserup, "[T]his multiplication of world population would not have been possible without successive technological changes” (Boserup 3). Indeed, owing to innovations in medicine, people have not only been able to get cures for once deadly diseases but also to live longer. For instance, 100 years ago people simply died for lack of proper medication of infertility diseases. Today, infertility medications are abundant including, for example, Intravenous Pyelogram (IVP) and Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection (ICSI). Thanks to fertility medications in 2003, most couples, around 84 out of every 100, who have regular unprotected sexual intercourse will get pregnant within a year and around 92 out of 100 couples who are trying to get pregnant will do so within two years ("How long does it take to get pregnant?"). Consequently, more babies are born and couples hoping for a baby can do so in much easier ways compared to past practices. Interestingly, more and more couples are getting married even when fertility rates are low for one or both due to advances in medical approaches and innovations.
The case for rising populations in less developed countries is even more interesting. Notwithstanding bad economic conditions and complicated social contexts, medications are, more or less, widely available and are becoming increasingly accessible in more remote areas. Interestingly, developing countries represent approximately 80% of world’s overall population (Ernestina). This means, if anything, overpopulation in developing countries is a particularly risky business. For one, implications for overpopulation are broad and are compounded by poor economic and social conditions. Moreover, in developing countries birth rates are increasingly outweighing death rates, an imbalance which risks economic progress, if any, achieved over decades of painful economic measures. The poorest countries will, consequently, realize highest percentage in population increase globally. Predictably, given an accelerating pace of population growth, economic conditions in more populous, developing nations are deteriorating more and more.
The case for overpopulation in developing countries is further complicated by poor, if any, family planning. Moreover, many developing nations have a sizeable part of population who are illiterate, live under not only global but also national poverty lines and, not least, lack access to basic family planning strategies, let alone more sustainable methods. By enabling marriage at very early age, chances of having more children increases at very high stakes given how risky early pregnancy is. Sadly enough, a sizeable part of populations in developing countries do not realize negative effects of overpopulation, an ignorance which drives couples away from pursuing proper family planning measures. Indeed, most couples are not even aware of proper methods to avoid unwanted pregnancy. The implications become, as a result, broad including, not least, serious health hazards due to early marriage, not to mention education drop-out phenomenon most common in developing countries due to lack of proper awareness of pregnancy precautions and safe sex practices (Loaiza and Wang).
Works Cited
Boserup, Ester. Population and Technological Change: A Study of Long-Term Trends. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1981. Print.
Coast, Ernestina. Population Trends in Developing Countries. LSE Research Online. London School of Economics, 2002. Web. 3 March 2016.
"How long does it usually take to get pregnant?" National Health Services. National Health Services, 21 November 2015. Web. 3 March 2016.
Loaiza, Edilberto and Sylvia Wang. Marrying Too Young. United Nations Population Fund, 2012. PDF file.
