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The human population of the planet is assessed to have passed the limit of 6 billion individuals. This can be counted as an example of overcoming adversity, because of enhanced medicinal services and decreased baby mortality while growing life compasses. Be that as it may, a typical concern is that as human population keeps on expanding, it will put more strain on nature, on countries' capacity to give, economies to develop, and society to prosper.
With a first glance at the world map of population, it can be seen that the Earth's population is located unevenly. High population density has long been observed in the areas with the most favorable conditions for agriculture. Calculations show, that 65 % of the population lives on 16 % of the territory, which means that is a big part of earthlings living on a very limited area.
The main reason for the rapid population growth is that more people are born than die. Modern medicine has made tremendous progress in the treatment of many diseases and contributed to the growth of life expectancy; although the birth rate remains high, particularly in countries of Asia and Africa. A long time ago, Dobzhansky had mentioned, that “the urgency of the problem of uncontrolled overpopulation exceeds at present that of genetic improvement” (Dobzhansky, 1967).
Unlike animals, people attempt to adapt the environment to their needs, wasting huge amounts of resources and energy. All that is helping to make people's lives more comfortable, but can cause a serious damage to ecosystems in which they live. The increase of population brings the necessity for further, more intensive exploitation of Earth's resources. The more people we have, the more energy is consumed. This leads to such environmental problems as global warming (the greenhouse effect), acid rain, oil spills, and storage of radioactive waste.
Population growth also means increased demand for food and drinking water, and therefore an increasing need for new arable lands. After taking all available arable lands, people begin to use chemical fertilizers to increase yields. However, after marked initial increase productivity, yield falls through erosion and salinization of soils.
This proceeding with, quick development of the human foot shaped impression on what has progressively come to appear a little planet, has genuine ramifications for about all parts of life. Issues identifying with wellbeing and maturing, mass movements and urbanization, interest for lodging and insufficient nourishment supplies, access to safe drinking water, and so much more (Un.org, 2015).
The effects of overpopulation are getting extremely amazing. The Earth can’t simply provide an obliged amount of water and food, which is provoking the short concerning of stream needs. Within last fifty years, the amount of damages made for nature was cause by increased number of people on the planet. We are building new warehouses and plants, ruining ecosystems and enlarging megacities that are about to cause a new wave of war for resources.
In developed countries, overpopulation emphasizes the necessity of using resources wisely. Conflicts over the amount of water happen to be the reasons of wars between nations. The lack of water causes serious illnesses, that couldn’t be controlled by governments. Starvation is becoming a tremendous issue, standing up to the world. Globalization will spread resources around the world, but it doesn’t mean, that the chance of survival would be provided.
When any country becomes overpopulated, an unemployment rate goes up, as the number of people does not correspond the number of opened positions. The rise of unemployment usually means, that poor families have less and less chances to provide children with all basis to get comfort in life.
Overpopulation also becomes the reason of price increasing, as proportions as supply and demand are changing. In this case policies of social insurance and safety are also changing, and individuals start taking care of this aspects of social life.
Wilmoth mentioned, “the most important changes accounting for the increased prominence of the population problem around this time regarded the social and political acceptability of bith control as a solution to overpopulation” (Wilmoth & Ball, 1995). Most researchers of the issue are convinced, that efforts to contain the growth of the world population have virtually no chance. According to Harvard research, “depending on whether the number of births per woman continues to decline, the ranges for 2050 vary from 8.1 to 10.6 billion, and the 2100 projections vary from 6.2 to 15.8 billion” (Datz, 2011).
Even though people disagree about overpopulation, we should still make it a top priority in order to avoid a war for resources and geopolitical changes of the planet.
References
Dobzhansky, T. (1967). Changing Man. Science, 155(3761), 409-415. doi:10.1126/science.155.3761.409
Un.org,. (2015). United Nations Global Issues. Retrieved 28 June 2015, from http://www.un.org/en/globalissues/population/
Wilmoth, J., & Ball, P. (1995). Arguments and actions in the Life of a Social Problem: A case study of "Overpopulation". http://demog.berkeley.edu. Retrieved 28 June 2015, from http://demog.berkeley.edu/~jrw/Eprints/wilmoth.ball.1995.PPP2.pdf
Datz, T. (2011). World population to surpass 7 billion in 2011 | News | Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Hsph.harvard.edu. Retrieved 28 June 2015, from http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/press-releases/world-population-7-billion/
