Why overpopulation causes poverty

Most of the increase will come from what the U. Without question, overpopulation is, and will still be, a major problem in the Third World. The widening gap between rich and poor will cause more civil unrest, revolutions and deaths. Ways must be found now to avoid a future global catastrophe due to economic underdevelopment.

The obstacles are many in terms of development in poor nations. Overpopulation is just one hurdle. Overpopulated, developing countries face more food shortages, water scarcity and stunted economic growth by far than more developed nations.

Chronic hunger is common in these countries where poverty reigns. Some other problems are overcrowding, misguided economic policies, mounting debt, land shortages, high rates of childbearing, inadequate infrastructure, capriciousness of the climate, unusable land, lack of agricultural technology, soil erosion, air pollution, depletion of aquifers, wars, dislocation, unfair trade, deliberate economic retribution, and powerlessness of the masses, among many other problems.

Lack of education, unresponsive governments, and poor resources also characterize the state of developing countries. Without even going into battle, Third World countries have already lost the war on poverty. And as for Third World inhabitants, where every day is a major struggle just to survive, overpopulation contributes to intractable problems.

According to neo-Malthusians, overpopulation causes hunger and other problems in developing countries. Uncontrolled fertility causes poverty, which causes hunger, scarcity and distress. The solution to problems of world hunger, therefore, is population control.

Stories are powerful. We are drawn to them. We remember them. These are the real implications of PMC shows. There is good news. The solutions to our social and environmental challenges are many, and they are progressive. Your donation helps solve some of today's most pressing challenges. Conversations about overpopulation can quickly become controversial because they beg the question: Who exactly is the cause of the problem and what, if anything, should be done about it?

But with a population approaching 8 billion, even if everyone adopted a relatively low material standard of living like the one currently found in Papua New Guinea , it would still push Earth to its ecological breaking point.

Incredibly, the average person in the United States uses almost five times more than the sustainable yield of the planet. Experts say this has been the case every year since , with each successive year becoming more and more damaging.

Today the Earth is home to more than 7. By the population is on track to hit Many factors contribute to these unsustainable trends, including falling mortality rates, underutilized contraception, and a lack of education for girls. The primary and perhaps most obvious cause of population growth is an imbalance between births and deaths. The infant mortality rate has decreased globally, with 4.

This is welcome public health news, of course. At the same time, lifespans are increasing around the world. Those of us who are alive today will likely live much longer than most of our ancestors. The issue is compounded by the difficulty in providing solutions for this problem and the misunderstanding of the causes and effects of overpopulation. Here we will cover both causes and effects of overpopulation in order for you to have a more informed view of the risks that come with it.

Causes of Overpopulation are different for many countries but are mostly associated with poverty, reduced mortality rates, poor medical access, poor contraceptive use, as well as immigration.

With overpopulation comes a decrease in resources and an increase in symptoms of illness and disease. There are a number of factors that contribute to overpopulation. These are the leading causes:. Poverty is believed to be the leading cause of overpopulation. A lack of educational resources, coupled with high death rates leading to higher birth rates, result in impoverished areas seeing large booms in population.

The effect is so extensive that the UN has predicted that the forty-eight poorest countries in the world are also likely to be the biggest contributors to population growth. Their estimates state that the combined population of these countries is likely to balloon to 1. This issue is exacerbated in underdeveloped areas.

As distressing as it may be to hear, child labor is still used extensively in many parts of the world. UNICEF estimates that approximately million children are currently working, primarily in countries that have few child labor laws. This can result in children being seen as a source of income by impoverished families. Furthermore, children who begin work too young also lose the educational opportunities they should be granted, particularly when it comes to birth control.

Improvement in medical technology has led to lower mortality rates for many serious diseases. Particularly dangerous viruses and ailments such as polio, smallpox and measles have been practically eradicated by such advances.

While this is positive news in many ways, it also means that people are living longer than ever before. Though it only plays a minor role in comparison to the other causes of overpopulation, improved fertility treatments have made it possible for more people to have children.

The number of women using various fertility treatments has been on the rise since their inception. Now most have the option of conceiving children, even if they may not have been able to do so without such treatments. Unchecked immigration into countries may lead to overpopulation to the point where those countries no longer have the required resources for their population.