The 20th Century is the fastest growth rate of population than it ever has before. The Earth will not be able to stay the way it is by even more people ruining its environment. Countries with high rates of growth usually have more young people than older people. When there is slow or no growth there would most likely be older people than younger people. The United States dropped below the replacement level the first time in 1972 but the baby boom helped it go above the replacement level and those kids eventually had children to raise it up even more. The fertility rates in the developed world are close to the replacement level.
The developed countries can sustain the new arrivals but developing countries are becoming even poorer as time goes on. Like India, they are projected to be one of the higher populated countries and they have major poverty along with many other countries in Africa, like Uganda, Ethiopia, and Somalia. And the average women in Africa has about five children which rises the population in Africa which has mostly developing countries up significantly. More than seven billion people live on this earth rather than the three billion in the year of 1967. What many people think is that the countries with extreme population and a high average numbers of kids is to have a family planning system so the number doesn’t reach so high.
Over one billion people don’t have access to food and safe drinking water. The natural resources are already being impacted today and just imagine two billion more people by the year of 2050. There would be a major loss of natural resources from now until then. In the United States over 2.2 million acres of farmland, ranchland, and forests are being destroyed every year. Every year almost 135 million people are born and only 55 million die, so in one year there was 80 million new people coming into the world. And for the average adult who doesn’t care about this would mean more traffic to and from your destinations.
The main problem is not overcrowding because all of the 7 billion people on Earth can fit into the state of Texas which means there can still be farmland for some time. The more people we have means the more ideas they have which they will need to have an understanding of having and sustaining natural resources, producing food, and controlling the pace of population. Even now we are starting to worry about water shortages and just imagine the levels of water in the future with more global warming, which is our fault. The speed at which resources are being used can have serious environmental issues. And more people means more conflicts between them which leads to war.
Some countries for the first time will have a zero growth rate or having a drop in population like China. The United States is projected to increase by 31% up to 400 million people by 2050. In the future people will have to be aware of respecting the Earth and not setting themselves up for failure (death). Many people think that overpopulation is not the problem and the main problem is us destroying Earth, like the Ozone Layer. If we live like we are now, the World will not be able to last as long as we think it will.
Is overpopulation just a myth and can it be proven?
Will people be able to keep the Earth in good condition or will it turn to chaos?
What do you think will be the population in the year of 2050?
Will there be major conflicts from the increase in people?
Its interesting to read about how much of the population doesn’t have access to food or safe drinking water. I think the website below has some very good and interesting facts about the population in overgrown countries and what life is like for them. It says that childbirth is the second leading killer in adolescent girls.
http://www.unfpa.org/news/10-things-you-didn%E2%80%99t-know-about-world%E2%80%99s-population