OVERPOPULATION: CAUSES, CONSEQUENCES AND POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS - CULTURE VOCABULARY - 2025

The overcrowding, also known as overcrowding, is the social phenomenon in which an increase in human population is given excessive and uncontrollable manner relative to the environment wherein said population is. When a global overpopulation is generated, disturbances occur that cause chaos.

This chaos is generated not only in the living conditions of people in societies around the world, but also in the environment, as a result of the excessive exploitation of natural resources to try to satisfy the needs of the population as a whole.

Figures from the World Bank from 2012 indicated at that time that 200,000 people were added to the world population daily. These data are alarming, given that there are many limited resources that will not be able to satisfy all people; this situation generates famines and many housing crises.

According to data from the census office in the United States, at the end of 2017 about 7.5 billion people were counted on the entire planet. Those same figures showed that China, India and the United States, in that order, are the three most populous countries. They are closely followed by Indonesia, Brazil and Pakistan.

Current data

The problem of human overpopulation is practically recent, if the age of planet Earth is taken into account.

Man has been on the face of the Earth for approximately two and a half million years. During all that time the human population growth rate was very low and grew very slowly, reaching an estimated around one billion people around the globe.

It was from the year 1820 to date -that is, in less than 200 years- that overpopulation emerged as a global problem: during this brief period, the population increased six times the amount previously reached after millions of years.

Currently the world population exceeds 7 billion people and it can be alarming to see the population clock of the Census Bureau or Census Bureau of the United States, in which it is perceived how this number is increasing rapidly.

For some it may be dramatic that the world's population is increasing by about a billion people every ten years.

The inhabiting population of the Earth sustained an increase of 67,000 people per year during the period that includes the years 8000 a. C. and 1750 d. C., but that same number of 67,000 people are currently born every seven hours.

That is, the number of people who joined the planet in 24 years, now add up in a week. And with it the set of consequences of this phenomenon increases in equal proportion.

Main causes of overpopulation

Increased life expectancy

Life expectancy is the estimated age that a person or a population living in certain social conditions will live. In recent years life expectancy has increased.

The main causes of this can be attributed to scientific research in health, which has managed to cure diseases and eradicate outbreaks of pandemics.

Scientific development and technological advances have also made it possible to improve people's quality of life, which results in an increase in the average life span of a specific person, and of the population in general.

The decrease in infant mortality

There are many factors that have made it possible for infant mortality to decline in recent generations, from the second half of the 20th century to the present.

Some of these factors are scientific discoveries in the medical area, vaccines, drug development, the increase in advanced methodologies for pediatric care and birth controls. This ensures the progressive and sustained increase of the population on the planet.

Misinformation or underestimation of the phenomenon

The lack of knowledge on the part of the population regarding the consequences of global overpopulation and its effects on living space and life forms on the planet prevent timely decision-making.

Therefore, no programs or policies are designed or implemented to encourage awareness within the organized societies of the world.

Religious fundamentalisms

Different religious currents condemn the use of contraceptive methods and encourage procreation outside of family planning. This doctrine has a considerable influence on the accelerating pace of global overpopulation.

In many countries the religious authorities are taken as infallible spiritual guides. Therefore, societies subjected to this interpretation of pregnancy and procreation will be more reluctant to adopt measures for birth control.

In general, in these religious communities, large motherhood and fatherhood are usually considered synonymous with fertility, abundance and spiritual and physical prosperity.

Main consequences of overpopulation

The world population increases by more than eighty-one million people per year. Every decade that passes adds about a billion people to the population of planet Earth. Let's look at some of the consequences of this phenomenon.

More accelerated depletion of natural resources

If the current pace is followed and the projections materialize, in the next fifty years the total population of the planet could double.

This would not be a cause of problem if natural resources and planetary space increased to the same extent.

However, as there is no growth in the latter, the increase in the population in the projected number is a global problem.

Disappearance of green areas

The unusual and disproportionate increase in the population increases the demand for urban spaces and encourages the proliferation of cities to increasingly expand human settlements.

Because of this dynamic, sixteen million hectares of green spaces disappear each year. Likewise, the wooded areas and the great forests that constitute natural lungs are altered and condemned to sterility and indiscriminate devastation. That is to say: the more human beings, the less oxygen sources.

Possible extinction of species

The destruction of nature to try to make space for human settlements leads to the constant destruction of natural habitats.

These are home to animal and plant species that are left vulnerable and, in the best of cases, are forced to move to places with different conditions. This change forces fauna to adapt to new rigors of climate, food sources and living space.

In the worst case, if they cannot adapt to the new conditions, species of fauna and flora may become extinct. The disappearance of a species upsets the balance of any biome, with irreversible consequences.

The extinction of species in the history of the planet is a natural fact since life appeared on Earth.

Due to global overpopulation and the inadequate use of natural resources by man, species extinction occurs today ten thousand times faster than it has naturally always been.

Excessive use of water

Another crucial consequence of this population phenomenon is the indiscriminate use of water. Since 1900, half of the world's aquifers have been lost.

It is natural to deduce that from the increase in human settlements, the demand for water sources is also increasing. And some societies alter the natural course of rivers to sustain activities, whether industrial or agricultural.

Conflicts between nations over resources

The installation of industrial complexes and the urbanization of places that for centuries were natural spaces, requires appropriation of sources and the construction of hydroelectric systems. Without this, a city could not function.

Therefore, geostrategic frictions between nations, tribes and peoples, as well as private and public industrial consortia, are intensifying.

Even when wars may be fought in the name of freedom or other noble causes, deep down the appropriation of extraterritorial natural resources is part of the motivation, although not publicly manifested.

More pollution

The overexploitation of natural resources for the industrialization of modern life brought as a consequence a greater emanation of waste and the consequent environmental pollution.

Global warming and the production of greenhouse gases have gradually accelerated, causing, among other things, the gradual elevation of oceanic storage levels, the reduction of coasts, the alteration of rainfall cycles and the direction of both maritime currents. like wind.

Recent research indicates that about five million people die each year from diseases associated with organic waste. Global overpopulation causes an imbalance between the production of organic waste and the collection and disposal of it.

The gap in that relationship is widening. As the human population increases, the treatment of organic waste becomes more expensive.

The contamination of river waters and oceans makes it increasingly difficult to obtain potable water. Just as serious is the rise in viral outbreaks and disease from garbage dumps, stagnant water swamps and waste. All this unstoppably, especially in low-income populations.

Damage to the ozone layer

Something that has attracted world attention in relation to the imminent consequences of the overpopulation phenomenon is the damage that the ozone layer has suffered from the middle of the 20th century to the beginning of the 21st century.

This has been gradually ruined by the effect of the massive emission of chlorofluorocarbons by-products. The concentration of these chemical wastes has increased in direct proportion to the growth of human populations.

This has caused the thickness of the ozone layer to have decreased so much that it has formed a hole that is constantly widening.

Possible solutions

Considering how serious, serious, and imminent this social phenomenon is and understanding that it is a growing problem, then the future becomes bleak. It is urgent to become aware and propose measures to confront this growing danger.

Solutions must emerge in all spheres of human interaction, both individually and institutionally.

It is urgent to take steps to agree on decisions from which solid measures emanate, from awareness raising to norms and laws that oblige, in the national and international framework, to prioritize the decrease in the population growth rate.

The importance of information

It is recommended to work on the formation of informative structures that take the exhortation to all corners of the planet for awareness.

Everything would begin to work from personal understanding, and from that instance initiatives would rise to supranational institutional instances. These initiatives should call for birth control in the world to stop the trend.

Some countries affected by the phenomenon of overpopulation have begun to take fiscal measures in order to encourage the conception of a low number of descendants, and even penalize the conception and gestation of a certain number of children.

It requires the dissemination of informative messages that detail the process of formation of this anthropological phenomenon, detailing the causes, the present situation and showing accurate statistics.

These publications should above all emphasize the imminent consequences of the phenomenon. In this way, the drafting, stipulation and regulation of legal instruments could be motivated to cover all initiatives with a legal framework, according to the cultures of each region.

In this, the countries with the highest population growth rate play a preponderant role, these countries are: China, India, the United States, Indonesia and Brazil. It is these countries that have to get involved with the greatest commitment to solve the problem of global overpopulation.

So far, in countries with poor Gross Domestic Product, the birth rate is still below the death rate, but that trend could be reversed and then the problem of overpopulation would not have a solution even in the long term.

References

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2. Nahle, N. (2003). Human Overpopulation. Published on November 11, 2003. Recovered from: biocab.org
3. A world with 11 billion people? New population projections shatter earlier estimates (2016). Recovered from: web.archive.org
4. How many people are there in the world? Recovered from: elespectador.com
5. Mazzini, Andrea. Overpopulation: a problem that does not stop growing. Recovered from: voicesofyouth.org