Tiffani Larsen

3B AP Classification Essay
March 15, 2015

Overpopulation
Unlike plagues of the dark ages or contemporary diseases we
do not yet understand, the modern plague of overpopulation is
soluble by means we have discovered and with resources we possess.
What is lacking is not sufficient knowledge of the solution but
universal consciousness of the gravity of the problem and education
of the billions who are its victim. -Martin Luther King, Jr. The
answer, it seems, is simple. There is no question that
overpopulation is an ever present danger to every inhabitant of the
Earth and countless methods of resolution have been presented. So
why does the world population continue to grow exponentially
despite the ever increasing wealth of scientific data warning the
public of the dangers of overpopulation? The world population
reached 7 billion in 2011 and studies indicate that it will likely
rise to 11 billion by the year 21001. The present rate at which food
is produced and housing is built is simply not fast enough to keep
pace with the birth rate. The world is fast approaching a time when
the land can no longer provide for its occupants. Twelve percent of

1 Moeller, Holly. "Human Overpopulation: When No News Is Bad News."

Stanford Daily. October 2014.

the current population does not receive enough to eat each day2 and
although it is impossible to calculate the exact number of
inhabitants the Earth can sustain, quality of life is sure to
suffer if this problem is not resolved in the near future. The
danger of overpopulation is no longer a distant fear. Gone are the
vague hopes that someday, they will find a solution. It is not
reality, and never was, to expect the scientists of the future to
step in with the perfect solution. The danger of overpopulation is
looming and it is now that action must be taken to avoid the
disastrous effects that will surely follow if this danger continues
to go unnoticed. The threat of overpopulation can be attributed to
several different areas of concern which, if properly addressed,
may serve as a significant aid in ending this problem.

Awareness

The mere concept of the human population overwhelming the

Earth is far too abstract for most to serve as a viable reason to
fear overpopulation. It is difficult to imagine that the birth rate
could possibly be so much higher than the death rate as to present
a problem. However, the daily birth count is more than double that
of the number of deaths each day3, therefore exceeding the
replacement rate. In order to maintain the current population- and
2 Dimick, Dennis. "As World's Population Booms, Will Its Resources Be
Enough for Us?" National Geographic. September 2014.

to preserve balance- it is necessary for each woman to produce two

children, one to replace herself and one to replace her partner. Of
course, not every woman will have children and not all children
will survive to adulthood. This leads many to believe that it is
okay, even essential, that they produce more than the recommended
two children. Nonetheless, a trend towards larger families have a
more noteworthy impact than many would realize. Six children
equals a tripling of population every generation. It is vital that
people realize that population growth is exponential, not linear. A
seemingly innocuous growth rate of 1.5 percent a year... leads to a
doubling of population in 50 years.4 As illustrated here, what may
be viewed as a small insignificant change can have catastrophic
effects in the long run. It is naive for any one individual to
believe that they are helping the planet by having more than the
necessary number of children. Propagandists who propose the idea
that overpopulation is a myth often use statistics on differing
fertility rates across the world as the backbone of their pitch.
While it is true that a number of nations worldwide do not
currently meet the replacement rate, they fail to recognize the
fact that there are also a number of nations who exceed it. This is
evident in experts unsteady predictions on when the population
will hit its next milestone. In an article written in 2007, Peter
3 "Worldometers - Real Time World Statistics." Worldometers. April
2015.
4 Ballance, Peter. "Overpopulation." The Nelson Mail. May 2007.

Ballance predicted that the world population will reach 8 million

in the year 20575. However, more recent studies show that this may
occur as early as 2030, 27 years earlier than Ballances
projection. The erratic pattern at which the population is
developing signifies the lack of control and instability of the
situation.

Contraception

Lack of access to birth control or contraception is a major cause

of the persistent difficulty confronting efforts to control
overpopulation. Educating people of the potential dangers of
overpopulation is not enough. It is foolish to believe that uneven
population growth will stabilize if people are simply presented
with a list of facts. They must also be given a method of solution.
Holly Moeller of Stanford states, Educating women, and providing
them with access to reliable birth control methods, is perhaps the
most reliable way to reduce population growth.6 However obvious
providing contraception as a means of controlling population growth
may seem, the failure of past efforts has discouraged others from
making any earnest efforts to assist those in need. But without
outside help, even those who are aware of the urgency of
5 Ballance, Peter. "Overpopulation." The Nelson Mail. May 2007.
6 Moeller, Holly. "Human Overpopulation: When No News Is Bad News."
Stanford Daily. October 2014.

overpopulation will fail to provide aid in rectifying the situation

solely because they have no access to contraception. The UN notes
that 25 percent of Sub-Saharan African women of reproductive age
want to delay or avoid pregnancy but still have no access to
reliable birth control.7 The population cannot be expected to take
active measures in stabilizing growth under the pretense of naive
expectations. Yes, people must first understand the grave reality
of the current situation, but without affordable, realistic access
to and knowledge of contraception, little to no change will be
made.

Medical Research

For most people, if posed the question, Is it ethical to continue

research with the intent to increase the lifespan?, the answer
would seem obvious. Advances in medicine have increased the
lifespan by decreasing the incidence of devastating illnesses,
therefore providing relief to those suffering through an
innumerable variety of diseases and conditions. But could this
actually serve as a detriment to the overall well-being of the
human race? Citizens of countries which were previously most
susceptible to life-threatening illnesses have been spared the fear
of immediate death only to be subjected to prolonged suffering in
7 Moeller, Holly. "Human Overpopulation: When No News Is Bad News."
Stanford Daily. October 2014.

an environment not suited to support their basic needs. It is clear

that there is a significant flaw in the order of events to which
this relief is being administered. In Brave New World Revisited,
Aldous Huxley addresses the topic of quantity, quality, and
morality through the use of a hypothetical tale. In his scene,
researchers have freed a tropical island from the threat of
malaria. However, by doing so they have created a new complication.
In the words of Huxley, The hundreds of thousands of human beings
thus saved, and the millions whom they beget and bring to birth,
cannot be adequately clothed, housed, educated or even fed out of
the island's available resources. Quick death by malaria has been
abolished; but life made miserable by undernourishment and overcrowding is now the rule, and slow death by outright starvation
threatens ever greater numbers.8 Despite eradicating malaria, they
have inadvertently sentenced thousands to suffer a new fate:
overpopulation. In this scenario, researchers are left to wonder if
the inhabitants of this island were better off before. So, on the
question of the continuation of medical research, perhaps more
focus should be spent on first ensuring the resolution of a problem
that threatens 7 billion people. Should this type of research be
halted altogether? No, but the current situation must be examined
more realistically in order to prevent scenarios such as this from
becoming a reality.
8 Huxley, Aldous. Brave New World Revisited. New York: Harper &
Brothers, 1958.

Government Policies

If citizens are unable to remedy this situation on their own, it

may become necessary for the government to implement birth
policies, limiting the number of children each couple can have.
This aspect in particular has been the source of much controversy.
One could argue that the government should not have that much
control over the lives of the citizens. But at what point does it
become necessary, even essential for survival, for the nations
leaders to step in? Are they to stand back as the effects of
overcrowding become more prominent and quality of life
deteriorates? Questions such as these spurred the institution of
Chinas birth policy: one child per couple. Although this decision
undoubtedly helped to bring their birth rate down, the substantial
negative effects undermine the ethical foundation of the policy;
preference towards one gender over the other led to an increase in
abortion and infanticide. Consequently, Chinas male-to-female
ratio strayed from the global average of 107:100 to 118:1009. If
this trend continues, an uneven gender distribution could have
grave social and economic consequences for the Chinese10. For this
reason, any intention to enact a policy such as this would require
extensive consideration of the effects it will have on citizens. A
9 Livingston, Gretchen. "Will the End of China's One-child Policy
Shift Its Boy-girl Ratio?" Pew Research Center RSS. November 2013.
10 Riley, Charles. "The Economics of China's One-child Policy Economy." Economy RSS. August 2013.

birth policy must be treated as a last resort and should only be

considered when it can be determined that all other possible
efforts to resolve the problem are yielding no results.

As it stands, overpopulation is inexorable. The current amount of

effort focused on remediation and prevention is simply not enough.
Far too many people feed into the delusion that overpopulation is a
farce and it cannot, or will not, happen. They fail to realize that
overpopulation will not occur over the span of one day. It will
begin, and has already, to slowly chip away at the quality of life,
replacing it with more overcrowding, a shortage of food supplies,
and a lack of housing. The lives of the next few generations will
be immensely different from those of the current. Many people have
allowed themselves to rely on the belief that an easy solution will
simply be presented to them before any real threat arises. They are
content to sit back and wait until a clear plan of action is
bestowed upon them. It is foolish to believe that any change will
be made if humans continue to allow themselves to place the blame
on others when the effects of overpopulation will be felt by all.
Ultimately, it is the responsibility of every inhabitant to take on
the task of putting an end to overpopulation. All must cease to
seek respite under the veil of ignorance.