Do we have a population problem?

Introduction
Do we have a population problem? No, the earth is not overpopulated by humans. In fact, the
earth has room for all of us. That said, let's talk about the population trends, why population
growth is not to blame for scarcity, and how we can change it for the better.
Worries over population growth have been for centuries with us. The world’s population of 950
million in 1800 grew to 1.65 billion in 1900 and in 1950 the population increased to 2.51 billion.
The average annual population growth rate increased from 1.79% to 2.04% in the period from
1965 to 1970. Well, what happened next is quite surprising. After 1970 the world population
growth rates started to decline (Institute for International Cooperation & Japan International
Cooperation Agency, 2003) mostly because of women’s education and access to contraception
not because of the population laws. The UN estimates the world population will peak at about
9.2 billion in 2075 with projections stating it might decline to 8.97 billion by 2300 (Department
of Economic and Social Affairs Population Division, 2004). So, the population is going to
stabilize at a certain level and then start going down.
In 1798 Thomas Malthus published his famous essay on human population and human
limitations. He made two predictions: First, that population will always outpace the rate of food
production; and second, that this would result in famine or war. The first prediction has not
occurred due to technological innovations. New lands were opened to agriculture, new
agricultural technologies appeared, new ways of preserving food limited the waste of spoilage.
The second prediction also did not come true because there were more than enough resources
available in the world and new technologies made sure of it (Malthus T.R et al., 1992).
In the 1800s, people worried that wood and whale oil will run out because of overpopulation but
these were replaced by coal and gas, which were then replaced by oil before others vanish.
Likewise, future innovations and technology will give solutions to resource scarcity. For
example, scientists have shown the possibility of using low-cost renewable electricity instead of
oil, fossil gas, and even coal in various sectors (Kåberger, 2018). Many people see population
growth as a good thing because it encourages economic growth. If there are more people, there
will be more thinkers and human capital which finally lead to technological innovations (Kuby,
1996).
People say that population growth will exceed the carrying capacity as a result the ability of the
land to produce food will be diminished result in degradation and social or ecological collapse.
But according to the work carried out by agricultural economist Ester Boserp(Mekuria, 2018),
population pressure can lead to the intensification of agriculture. This has been proven during a
case study done in Africa. Moreover, Bloomberg Green recently stated that we could feed the
population of two earths without clearing any new acre of land (Majendie, 2020). The population
today is around 7.8 billion. It takes about 3.7 billion metric tons of food per year to feed
everyone but according to UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization, about 1.3 billion tons goes
to waste. If we can find ways to reduce food waste during retailing and consumption we can
produce 2.4 times as much we need to feed every person on the planet.
 As you can see, population growth is not a problem, but more of an opportunity. As long as there
are more human minds in the world, there will be more innovations and products that will solve
the problems of scarcity. We don’t need to worry about population growth because it will be our
savior in the future.

References

Department of Economic and Social Affairs Population Division. (2004). WORLD POPULATION
TO 2300. https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/pais/research/csgr/green/foresight/demography/
united_nations_world_population_to_2300.pdf
Institute for International Cooperation, & Japan International Cooperation Agency. (2003). Second
Study on International Cooperation for Population and Development New Insights from the
Japanese Experience New Insights from the Japanese Experience. http://www.jica.go.jp/
Kåberger, T. (2018). Progress of renewable electricity replacing fossil fuels. Global Energy
Interconnection, 1(1), 48–52. https://doi.org/10.14171/J.2096-5117.GEI.2018.01.006
Kuby, M. (1996). Population Growth, Energy Use, and Pollution: Understanding the Driving Forces
of Global Change. .
Majendie, A. (2020, December 15). No More Hunger: How to Feed Everyone on Earth With Just the
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https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2020-12-15/no-more-hunger-how-to-feed-everyone-
on-earth-with-just-the-land-we-have
Malthus T.R, Winch Donald, & James Patricia. (1992). Malthus: “An Essay on the Principle of
Population” - T. R. Malthus, Donald Winch, Patricia James - Google Books. Press Syndicate of
the University of Cambridge.
Mekuria, W. (2018). The link between agricultural production and population dynamics in Ethiopia: a
review. Advances in Plants & Agriculture Research, Volume 8(Issue 4).
https://doi.org/10.15406/APAR.2018.08.00336