by Population Density (See '' List Of Countries By Population Density .'')]]
is a condition when an organism's numbers exceed the Carrying Capacity of its Ecological Niche . In common parlance, the term usually refers to the relationship between the Human Population and its Environment , the Earth .
Overpopulation is not simply a function of the size or density of the population. Overpopulation can be determined using the ratio of population to available resources. If a given environment has a population of ten, but there is food or drinking water enough for only nine, then that environment is overpopulated; if the population is 100 individuals but there is food, shelter or water enough for 200, then it is not. Overpopulation can result from an increase in Births , a decline in Mortality Rate s due to Medical Advances , from an increase in Immigration , a decrease in Emigration , or from an un Sustainable use and depletion of resources. It is possible for very sparsely-populated areas to be "overpopulated", as the area in question may have a very meager or non-existent capability to sustain human life (e.g. the middle of the Sahara desert or Antarctica).
The resources to be considered when evaluating whether an . If addressing the environment as a whole, the survival and well-being of Species other than humans must also be considered.
In the context of human societies, overpopulation occurs when the population density is so great as to actually ''cause'' an impaired quality of life, serious environmental degradation, or long-term shortages of essential goods and services. This is the definition used by popular dictionaries such Merriam-Webster . Overpopulation is not merely an imbalance between the number of individuals compared to the resources needed for survival, or a ratio of ''population'' over ''resources'', or a function of the number or density of individuals, compared to the Resources (ie. Food Production ) they need to survive.
Some countries have managed to increase their Carrying Capacity by using technologies such as Agriculture , Desalination , and Nuclear Power . Some people have argued that poverty and famine are caused by bad government and bad economic policies, and that higher population density leads to more Specialization and Technological Innovation , and that this leads to a higher standard of living. [http://www.jewishworldreview.com/cols/williams022499.asp , [http://www.pregnantpause.org/overpop/gnp.htm , [http://www.overpopulation.com/faq/ , [http://www.catholiceducation.org/articles/population/pc0001.html].
See Also: Malthusian catastrophe
In '' An Essay On The Principle Of Population '' (first published in 1798), Thomas Malthus proposed that while resources tend to grow linearly, population Grows Exponentially . He argued that, if left unrestricted, human populations continue to grow until they would become too large to be supported by the food grown on available agricultural land, causing starvation which then controls population growth. He argued that this had happened many times previously in human history and estimated that this would occur again by the middle of the 19th century. To avoid this happening, Malthus argued for Population Control through "moral restraint". While arguably he was right about human history up to his time, he made his prediction for the future exactly at the time the Industrial Revolution and a similar revolution in agriculture caused a very large increase in available resources. His specific predictions therefore failed because he used a Static Analysis , and Extrapolated his historical numbers into the future without considering factors that could increase the resource base available to humanity faster than he thought, (for example, the revolutions in agriculture at his time or later the Green Revolution ), or factors which cause population growth to decline or reverse, (for example, the Demographic Transition ).
On a global scale, since the industrial revolution, food production has grown faster than human population. However, it has been argued that other changes impacting earth's ability to function as a suitable habitat for human beings, such as Global Warming , Desertification , Overfishing and other environmental problems caused by industrialization, will eventually affect food production or factors necessary for well-being. Along with continued population growth, this may cause a Malthusian catastrophe.
Among the earlier best-known modern examples of such arguments are '' The Limits To Growth '' (1972) and '' The Population Bomb '' (1968) by Paul_R._Ehrlich . These reports have been subjected to criticism, and their predicted dates for such catastrophes have been proven false. ''The Limits to Growth'' stated that the world would run out of gold by 1981, mercury by 1985, tin by 1987, zinc by 1990, petroleum by 1992, and, copper, lead, and natural gas by 1993. Others, though, question this assessment [http://www.manicore.com/anglais/documentation_a/club_rome_a.html .
Paul Ehrlich "predicted", "The population of the U.S. will shrink from 250 million to about 22.5 million before 1999 because of famine and global warming", though it should be noted that between 1950 and 1984, as the by Bjørn Lomborg , Ehrlich's predictions did not come true. {Link without Title}
(See Erlich's Answer To His Critics and The Ultimate Resource , by Julian Simon , which challenges Ehrlich's ideas.) Interestingly Simon himself once stated "We now have in our hands in our libraries, really the technology to feed, clothe, and supply energy to an ever-growing population for the next 7 billion years... We able to go on increasing forever" (Myers and Simon, 1994, 65). These comments have subjected Simon himself to criticism [http://info-pollution.com/simon.htm .
David Pimentel claims that population outcomes for the 22nd century range from 2 billion people (characterised as thriving in harmony with the environment), to 12 billion people (characterised as miserable and suffering difficult lives with limited resources and widespread famine). {Link without Title}
, Bartlett , Diamond and others; for example, Simon's predictions would lead to a density of ten persons per square foot of planet within 774 years. For more see {Link without Title} .
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"overpopulation" class="copylinks" target="_blank">{Link without Title} Growth in the globe's population and material economy confronts humanity with this possibility It is the focus of this book The potential consequences of this overshoot are profoundly dangerous The situation is unique it confronts humanity with a variety of issues never before experienced by our species on a global scale We lack the perspectives, the cultural norms, the habits, and the institutions required to cope And the damage will, in many cases, take centuries or millennia to correct But the consequences need not be catastrophic Overshoot can lead to two different outcomes One is a crash of some kind Another is a deliberate turnaround, a correction, a careful easing down We explore these two possibilities as they apply to human society and the planet that supports it We believe that a correction is possible and that it could lead to a desirable, sustainable, sufficient future for all the world's peoples We also believe that if a profound correction is not made soon, a crash of some sort is certain And it will occur within the lifetimes of many who are alive today{{cite web
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Actual examples can, in fact, be found of the results of human overpopulation. In
Collapse How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed Jared Diamond pieces together the data to argue that it was overpopulation that led the now recovering inhabitants of
Easter Island (a.k.a. Rapa Nui) to destroy their once beautiful island paradise.
See also the book ''Easter Island, Earth Island'' (ISBN 0500050651).
France is one of the world's most densely populated countries. According to a 2007 story broadcast on
60 Minutes , nuclear power gives France the cleanest air of any industrialized country, and the cheapest electricity in all of Europe.
France reprocesses its nuclear waste to reduce its mass and make more energy. [http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/reaction/readings/french.html . However, the article continues, "Today we stock containers of waste because currently scientists don't know how to reduce or eliminate the toxicity, but maybe in 100 years perhaps scientists will ... Nuclear waste is an enormously difficult political problem which to date no country has solved. It is, in a sense, the Achilles heel of the nuclear industry ... If France is unable to solve this issue, says Mandil, then 'I do not see how we can continue our nuclear program.'" Further, reprocessing itself has its critics .
In the U.S., which does not reprocess nuclear waste, nuclear power has its own set of problems such as what to do with all the radioactive waste. "Already more than 80,000 tonnes of highly radioactive waste sits in cooling pools next to the 103 US nuclear power plants, awaiting transportation to a storage facility yet to be found. This dangerous material will be an attractive target for terrorist sabotage as it travels through 39 states on roads and railway lines for the next 25 years"
Even keeping track of it all has proved to be a problem [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A44916-2005Apr11.html . In fact fears have been expressed that terrorists could get ahold of some of it to make nukes
Additionally many point to the possibility of a catastrophic accident at one of these plants which could affect many thousands or even millions. Greenpeace has produced a report titled ''[http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/press/releases/nearly-two-hundred-near-misse An American Chernobyl: Nuclear “Near Misses” at U.S. Reactors Since 1986 '' which "reveals that nearly two hundred “near misses” to nuclear meltdowns have occurred in the United States". At almost 450 nuclear plants in the world that risk is greatly magnified they say. This is not to mention numerous incidents
many unreported, that have occurred. Another report called [http://www.greenpeace.org/international/press/reports/nuclearreactorhazards Nuclear Reactor Hazards: Ongoing Dangers of Operating Nuclear Technology in the 21st Century concludes that risk of a major accident has increased in the past years. See also [http://www.ucsusa.org/global_warming/solutions/nuclear-power-and-climate.html]. For these reason many feel the risks outweigh the benefits.
However, some people claim that the problems of nuclear waste do not come anywhere close to approaching the problems of fossil fuel waste.
[http://russp.org/nucfacts.html . A 2004 article from the BBC states: "The World Health Organization (WHO) says 3 million people are killed worldwide by outdoor air pollution annually from vehicles and industrial emissions, and 1.6 million indoors through using solid fuel."
In the U.S. alone, fossil fuel waste kills 20,000 people each year. [http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05180/529969.stm A coal power plant releases 100 times as much radiation as a nuclear power plant of the same wattage.
In addition, fossil fuel waste causes Global Warming , which leads to increased deaths from hurricanes, flooding, and other weather events. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Effects_of_global_warming
In 1800 only 3% of the will double every 38 years, say researchers. The UN forecasts that today's urban population of 3.2 billion will rise to nearly 5 billion by 2030, when three out of five people will live in cities.
Megacities Of The Future
The increase will be most dramatic in the poorest and least-urbanised continents, ,
Drug Addiction ,
Alcoholism ,
Poverty and
Unemployment . In many poor countries
Slums exhibit high rates of
Disease due to unsanitary conditions, malnutrition, and lack of basic health care.
Planet of Slums - The Third World’s Megacities By 2030, over 2 billion people in the world will be living in slums.
State of World Population 2007
In 2000, there were 18
Megacities – conurbations such as
Tokyo ,
Mexico City ,
Mumbai (Bombay),
Sao Paulo and
New York City – that have populations in excess of 10 million inhabitants.
Greater Tokyo already has 35 million, more than the entire population of
Canada .
The world goes to town
By 2025, according to the ''Far Eastern Economic Review'', Asia alone will have at least 10 hypercities, those with 20 million or more, including has grown from 300,000 in 1950 to an estimated 15 million today, and the Nigerian government estimates that city will have expanded to 25 million residents by 2015.
Lagos, Nigeria facts - National Geographic Chinese experts forecast that Chinese cities will contain 800 million people by 2020.
China's urban population to reach 800 to 900 million by 2020: expert
This region is inhabited by mostly indigenous peoples. The resource base is stretched thin by
Deforestation and inability of the fragile tropical forest soils to provide high yield agriculture. Decades of non-
Sustainable Agriculture including considerable
Slash-and-burn activity by native peoples have left the region unable to feed or support the present population (in terms of food,
Drinking Water ,
Sanitation and other factors).
Cèsar Barrientos, Asociacion para la Recuperacion, Manejo y Sana Emiento Ambiental and Victor Hugo Fernandez, ''Guatemala Case Study''
Despite sustained domestic and international efforts to improve economic and demographic prospects, . Retrieved 17 July 2007. Its
Per Capita Income in 2006 was US$2300, compared to the world average of $10,200.
Recent (2005-2007) estimates of Bangladesh's population range from 142 to 159 million, making it the 's population is only slightly smaller. Indeed, Bangladesh boasts the highest
Population Density in the world, excluding a handful of
City-states . Bangladesh's
Population Growth was among the highest in the world in the 1960s and 1970s, when the count grew from 50 to 90 million, but with the promotion of
Birth Control in the 1980s, the growth rate slowed. The total
Fertility Rate is now 3.1 children per woman, compared with 6.2 three decades ago. The population is relatively young, with the 0–25 age group comprising 60%, while 3% are 65 or older.
6
Bangladesh remains among the poorest nations in the world. Many people are landless and forced to live on and cultivate flood-prone land. Nearly half of the population lives on less than 1 US$ per day.
7
Massive
Deforestation with resulting
Desertification , water resource degradation and soil loss has affected approximately ninety percent of
Madagascar 's previously biologically productive lands. Most of this loss has occurred since independence from the French, and is the result of local people trying merely to subsist. The country is currently unable to provide adequate food, fresh water and sanitation for its population.
Madagascar does not have secure property rights.
{Link without Title}
Madagascar's long isolation from the neighboring continents (it is the oldest island in the world, isolated for at least 65 million years) has resulted in a unique mix of plants and
Malagasy Fauna , many found nowhere else in the world; some ecologists refer to Madagascar as the "eighth continent". Unfortunately, Madagascar has lost 95% of its
Rainforests during the last 50 years.
8
Its environmental problems are caused especially by rapid
Population Growth . Extensive
Deforestation has taken place in parts of the country.
Slash-and-burn activity, locally called ''tavy'', has occurred in the eastern and western dry forests as well as the on the central high plateau, reducing certain forest
Habitat and applying pressure to some
Endangered Species . Slash-and-burn is a method sometimes used by
Shifting Cultivators to create short-term yields from marginal soils. When practiced repeatedly, or without intervening fallow periods, the
Nutrient -poor soils may be exhausted or eroded to an unproductive state. The resulting increased
Surface Runoff from burned lands has caused significant erosion and resulting high sedimentation to western rivers.
Impact of Population and Poverty on Rainforests Deforestation in Madagascar
Some members of the Australian -based
Optimum Population Trust supports the view that Australia is overpopulated, and believes that to maintain the current
Standard Of Living in Australia, the optimum population is 10 million (rather than the present 20.86 million), or 21 million with a reduced standard of living.
Optimum Population Trust
India also has enormous problems with overpopulation. The current population is over a billion, but India does not have much land mass such as , not overpopulation.
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_population_density .
However, if
China and
India were to consume as much resources per capita as
United States together they would require two planet Earths just to sustain their two economies.
Booming nations 'threaten Earth' As Consumerism Spreads, Earth Suffers, Study Says
The
Worldwatch Institute said the booming economies of China and India are planetary powers that are shaping the global
Biosphere .
The State Of The World 2006 report said the two countries' high
Economic Growth hid a reality of severe pollution. The report states:
The world's ecological capacity is simply insufficient to satisfy the ambitions of China, India, Japan, Europe and the United States as well as the aspirations of the rest of the world in a sustainable way.
, and general living conditions in Nigeria are poor.
Life Expectancy is 47 years (average male/female) and just over half the population has access to potable water and appropriate
Sanitation . Nigeria, like many developing countries, suffers from a
Polio crisis as well as periodic outbreaks of
Cholera ,
Malaria , and
Sleeping Sickness .
9 Between 1990 and 2005, the
Nigeria lost a staggering 79% of its old-growth forests.
Nigeria: Environmental Profile
Nigeria, slightly larger than Texas, is losing 1,355 square miles of rangeland and
Cropland to
Desertification each year. About 35 million people in northern Nigeria are currently suffering from the effects of desertification. While Nigeria’s
Human Population was growing from 33 million in 1950 to 140 million in 2006, a fourfold expansion, its
Livestock population grew from 6 million to 66 million, an 11-fold increase. With the food needs of its people and land and the forage needs of cattle, sheep and goats exceeding the carrying capacity of its
Grasslands , the country is slowly turning to desert
Protecting Cropland - Advancing Deserts and Nigeria’s fast-growing population is being squeezed into an ever-smaller area.
Desertification Threatens Economy, Food Security
, poor
Infrastructure , lack of access to
Fertilizers and
Pesticides , the
HIV/AIDS Pandemic , and internal conflicts.
Humanitarian Crises in Ethiopia and Eritrea High population growth is a major factor.
Country Report - Ethiopia
Ethiopia's population has grown from 18 million in 1950 to an estimated 77 million today
Countries with highest population for 1950, 2005 and 2050 and is projected to be about 170 million by 2050.
Ethiopia: Struggling to end food aid dependency (FAO) news release,
6 January 2006 These conditions of drought, together with other factors including high cereal prices, overpopulation in the region, and conflict, lead to
2006 Horn Of Africa Food Crisis .
In a 2005 interview with the BBC, Ethiopian prime minister Meles Zenawi said, "There is a lot of fertile land in the low lands of Ethiopia which is not being utilised."
A 2005 article in The Economist states, "The state owns all the land in Ethiopia... One of two newly formed opposition groups, the Coalition for Unity and Democracy (CUD), offered a liberal alternative: campaigning, among other things, for land to be privatised." [http://www.ethiopiafirst.com/news2005/Jan/A-Taste-of-Democracy.html
The combination of decades of
Drought ,
Desertification , and fast
Population Growth are among the causes of the
Darfur Conflict , because the
Arab Baggara Nomads searching for water have to take their livestock further south, to land mainly occupied by non-Arab farming communities.
Looking to water to find peace in Darfur
In
Niger , people cutting down trees for firewood contributed to problems of
Deforestation and
Desertification . But then the country changed its economic policy, and started to allow private ownership of trees. Once the trees were treated as private property, people had an incentive to take care of them. People could now make more money by caring for the trees and selling the fruit, instead of cutting the trees down for firewood. As a result, the deforestation was reversed, and the forest grew bigger. This happened, despite the fact that the human population was growing. By adopting property rights, the environment benefitted, and the people became wealthier and better fed, even while the human population was growing.
{Link without Title}
2005-06 Niger Food Crisis was caused by an early end to the 2004 rains,
Desert Locust damage to some pasture lands, high food prices, and chronic poverty. The
Food Shortage impacts some 3.3 million people — including 800,000 children under age five — in some 3,815 villages. In January 16,
2006 , the UN directed an appeal for US$ 240 million of food aid for
West Africa to feed at least 10 million people affected by the food crisis, with Niger being the worst-affected country.
Niger food crisis timeline Niger
.
10 Haiti remains one of the least-developed countries in the
Western Hemisphere . Haiti now ranks 154th of 177 countries in the UN’s
Human Development Index (2006). According to the CIA World Factbook, about 80% of the population lives in poverty. Haiti is the only country in the Americas on the
WHO list of
Least Developed Countries .
Unemployment staying high, rising sharply in the mid to late 90's peaking at 70% in 1999 (2000 CIA World Factbook is the source for that number), and then decreasing to the usual rates of around 50% in recent years.
Americans constitute approximately 5% of the is approximately 250 times greater than the average
Sub-Saharan African 's.
Consumption Industrialized, Commercialized, Dehumanized, and Deadly October 4, 2006: U.S. Population Reaches 300 Million, Heading for 400 Million: No Cause for Celebration
In other words, with current consumption patterns, overpopulation in the
United States is more of a threat to the Earth's environment than overpopulation in any other part of the world.
in 2100.
1 billion Americans United States had approximately one million people in 1700, and approximately five million in 1800.
Balancing ACT - population growth E: The Environmental Magazine
Some people, such as , John Tierney said that all of the garbage produced in the United States fills up less than 10 square miles of landfill per year, and that after the landfills are full, much of that land gets turned into parks.
{Link without Title}
Paul Ehrlich made the point that a state or nation may have a large land area or considerable wealth (which implies, by conventional wisdom, that overpopulation should not be at play), and yet be overpopulated.Paul Ehrlich, ''The Population Bomb'', Buccaneer Books; Reprint edition (December 1995) ISBN 1568495870 The U.S. state of as a way to eliminate water shortages.
{Link without Title}
According to the
California Department Of Water Resources , if more supplies aren’t found by 2020, residents will face a shortfall nearly as great as the amount consumed today.
Los Angeles is a coastal desert able to support at most 1 million people on its own water; the Los Angeles basin now is the core of a
Megacity that spans 220 miles from
Santa Barbara to the
Mexican Border . The region’s population is expected to reach 22 million by 2020, 28 million in 2035, and 33 million in 2050. The population of California continues to grow by more than a half million a year and is expected to reach 48 million in 2030.
Water Shortage issues are likely to arise well before then. California is considering using energy-expensive
Desalination to solve this problem.
{Link without Title} ,
[http://www.ocregister.com/ocregister/news/local/huntingtonbeach/article_1715555.php ,
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Uganda had a population of approximately seven million people at independence in 1962, and in 45 years the population of Uganda has grown to 30 million. By 2050, there will be a projected 130 million Ugandans, making Uganda the 12th biggest country in the world, with more people than
Russia or
Japan . Its population will have increased 18-fold in less than 90 years. Many people think that population growth is no longer a problem, and many consider it is
Politically Incorrect to discuss it. In 1968, when
Paul Ehrlich produced his book
The Population Bomb , overpopulation was seen by many as the gravest long-term threat facing the human race, but now it scarcely gets a mention, even in discussions on climate change: as if the number of people producing and consuming on this planet had no relevance to the magnitude of stress on the environment.
{Link without Title}
Uganda has 120 people per square km. By comparison,
Denmark has 126,
Switzerland has 176,
Italy has 193,
Germany has 232, The
United Kingdom has 246,
Israel has 302,
Japan has 333,
Belgium has 341, the
Netherlands has 392,
South Korea has 480, and
Mauritius has 610 - and all of those other countries have a rich, first world standard of living. This suggests that Uganda's problems are aggavated by
Underdevelopment .
{Link without Title}
It should be noted that if
Developing Countries were to consume resources and produce pollution at the current U.S. per-capita level, it would require several planet Earths just to sustain theirs economies.
State of the World 2006: China and India Hold World in Balance Human consumption straining earth's resources
During the late 20th century, farmers in Zimbabwe were growing enough food to feed the country. The country also grew enough extra food for export that it was known as "the breadbasket of southern Africa."
Since that time period, President Robert Mugabe seized the farmland and exiled
White and foreign farmers from the country [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/2187453.stm , labelling white farmers as "enemies of the state" and approving the murders of several.
This later resulted in severe famine. However, the population growth of Zimbabwe is lower than many other African nations [https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/zi.html , thus the famine is more often attributed to poor governing, underdevelopment, corruption and other factors rather than overpopulation.
Some problems associated with or exacerbated by
Human overpopulation:
