From population to overpopulation

With this introduction we wanted to summarize the situation of overpopulation problems in two words, but we will analyze one by one the most important issues.

Population growth

When the number of people is high, social inequalities tend to increase.

Formerly the growth rate was 2% in a thousand years and in the years 1950-1960 it stood at 2% annually. Thus, the world population increases by one billion people every twelve years. Every minute there are 150 more people, 220,000 more each day and 80,000,000 more each year. Thus, the population of the Earth in 2000 will be 6,100 people.

Although demographic rates have begun to decline, between 1985 and 2025 the population will increase by 3 billion. It will take a century for growth to be zero, but then the population will be 10,000 million, double the current. Most of them were born in developing countries. Between 1950 and 1985 the population of the developed world grew from 800 million to 1.2 billion, from 1.7 billion to 3.7 billion in the undeveloped world.

In this growth, health campaigns have to do with decreasing infant mortality and increasing life expectancy. But population growth creates problems.

In Kenya, for example, the growth rate is 4% per year. Therefore, the population doubles every 18 years. This growth is reflected in the division of land. The best lands have been divided into numerous parts and in 1969 agricultural lands have gone from 0.4 hectares to 0.2 hectares. Poor peasants are forced to cultivate marginal lands or migrate to cities. In the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, its population has grown 600% between 1950 and 1979.

Along with the political commitment to achieving demographic and land adaptation, part of human and financial resources must be invested in special management plans. States like China, Costa Rica, Cuba, Indonesia, Mexico, Republic of Korea, Sri Lanka or Thailand have achieved this goal.

Urban growth

Since 1950 the population resident in the cities has tripled to around 2 billion in 1985. In developed countries the urban population doubled between 1950 and 1985, from 477 million to 838 million. The undeveloped world urban population in the same period multiplied by four, from 286 million to 1,140 million. By 2000, 75% of the South American population, 42% of the African population and 37% of the Asian population will live in cities.

Children who are older than the first years of their lives in undeveloped villages do not find adequate social conditions.

Taking into account the world average, the city with a population of one million inhabitants consumes 625,000 tons of water, 2,000 tons of food and 9,500 tons of fuel, and generates 500,000 tons of dirty water, 2,000 tons of solid waste and 950 tons of atmospheric pollutants.

In addition, urban growth has caused a decrease in agricultural land that can be very serious in some municipalities. In Egypt, for example, today, only 4% of the land is suitable for agriculture.

Maternal mortality

Pregnant women have a higher risk of dying from common disease. Every year 500,000 women die during pregnancy, of which 99% live in undeveloped countries. This mortality occurs in a quarter of women aged 15 to 49 years. The risk of birth mortality of an African woman is 1/14 and in some aspects of Asia 1/18. The probability in developed countries ranges from 1/4,000 to 1/7,000.

Infant mortality

One third of the deaths worldwide correspond to children under five. In undeveloped countries, 11,000,000 children die annually, mainly from infections. 100,000,000 children under 5 do not eat enough.

Shortage of agricultural land

In 2100 the world population is expected to stabilize at 10,200,000,000 people. Of these, 8,500,000,000 will live in undeveloped localities, so the distribution of agricultural land and water resources will take on special relevance. Between 1950 and 1985 the growth of world grain production was higher than that of the population. It went from 700 million tons to 1.8 billion tons, representing an annual growth of 2.7%. This increase is due to the use of new seeds, chemical fertilizers, pesticides and irrigation systems.

However, there are currently 730 million people who do not eat enough and most of them live in East Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa.

African women get married very young and have health problems due to lack of experience and children born do not have the necessary care.

On the other hand, there are estimates that land degradation and erosion will lead to the disappearance of 65% of Asian, African and South American land by 2100.

Marriages in youth

In many undeveloped countries women marry very young. 50% of African women, 40% of Asian women and 30% of South American women marry before the age of eighteen. Men marry later. The difference between Sudan, husband and wife is eight years, six from Pakistan and four or five from Colombia and Paraguay.

This age difference has several consequences. On the one hand, let the woman have less experience than her husband and on the other, increase the possibility of the woman becoming a widow. The number of widows in Cameroon is 19 times higher than that of men. In Africa, in general, the number of widows represents 25% of adults.

Sterility

There are many women in the world who have not been able to have children. This situation is not positively valued in societies in which many children are born. Because in these places many parents assure their old age with children. According to the World Health Organization, one in ten couples worldwide is sterile. Primary infertility (when one cannot have a child) can be 1.5% in some places, but in certain countries it can be 40%.

Secondary sterility, due to damage caused by the presence of one child or another, is much more widespread, especially in Africa.

Old age

Three-fifths of the world's population feeds on its own, but 80% of the population in undeveloped countries do not have old age wages or pensions. According to the International Labour Organization, in 2000 25% of retirees worldwide and 6% of women will receive old-age pension.

Urban growth often leads to the expansion of poor neighborhoods.

In the industrialized world, economic security is achieved through wages, savings and pensions, but that does not exist in an undeveloped world.

Discrimination against girls

In most undeveloped countries, children prefer daughters. Parents do not expect too much from their married daughter. In addition, the economic contribution of the girl before getting married is hardly valued. In Malin and Afghanistan, for example, 89% and 97% of employment, respectively, corresponds to men, while women's wages are lower than men, even if they work the same.

So far, the main factors affecting overpopulation have been analyzed. In short, developmentalism and the situation of women are the factors explored. So that overpopulation is not a problem or as rational as possible, a series of recommendations have been made on the two factors mentioned:

The political and economic priorities of the different programmes for obtaining these recommendations must take into account the need to conserve the ecological capital of the Earth and that development must be carried out through the controlled use of resources.

To do this, the first step is to establish the concept of “environmental accounting” in all activities related to planning and development. And the second step will be to create an international economic structure of economic and social development that does not harm the environment.

To achieve rational development at the international level it is necessary to establish cooperation in research and industrial processes without risk. If industrialization continues to use dangerous technologies, the toxic load will exceed the environmental recovery capacity.

At the same time, industrialized countries must help undeveloped countries control the rate of population growth and especially urban growth.

Currently there are 5,200,000,000 inhabitants in the world and some forecasts point to the XXI. In the middle of the 20th century the world population will reach 10,000,000,000 inhabitants. You cannot know beforehand whether the Earth will be able to swallow so many people or not, but the answer will depend in part on those we live today. The reduction of social differences and a more rational exploitation of natural resources can help future generations in their tasks.