Population Rise:A Serious Issue?
The Population Now.
It took mankind more than a million years to reach the first billion. That was the world population around the year 1800. By the year 1900, a second billion was added, and the twentieth century added another 3.7 billion. The present world population is estimated at 6.9737 billion as on 2011. It is estimated that the population increases by one million every four days.
In the year 1960 the population was about 3.0402 billion. By the year 2011 it became about 6.9737 billion. This means that the population doubled in about 50 years. Population is has always kept rising during the years.
China is the most most populated country of all with a population of 1.3441 billion, followed by India with a population of 1.2415 billion. The U.S, Brazil And indonesia follows.
What Will This Lead To?
From the above you are aware of how fast the population is growing year by year. This is good when we consider it on the basis of many religious ideas, but actually this rise in the population is really not that good when we consider the environmental problems rising due to the increased human population. The pressure on the environment is increasing as the population increases. This is because when the no of people who wants a certain resource increases the demand for that resource increases. This increase goes beyond the carrying capacity of the environment when the population gets beyond a certain limit. this is like the plimsoll line of a ship. If the Population goes beyond a certain limit it becomes dangerous.
Problems Arising Due To Over Population.
Over population results in many problems. These problems has already begun in many of the over populated areas of the world. Environmental degradation is the main problem due to overpopulation. As discussed earlier when the people rises the demand on the environment also rises. When this demand goes beyond the capacity of the environment then the resources which it provides will deplete the quality of the air, water and land decreases. The natural resources Are depleting faster than it regenerating capacity. The exhaustible resources are on the verge of being completely used up. When the number of people increases the requirement for housing like land would increase. This would result in increased deforestation, to cater with the housing requirements of the increased population. The increased population will result in the increased production of green house gases which will increase the effects on the environment.
When the population increases the number of poor will also increase. This results in increased infant and maternal mortality rates, due to the lack of quality health care facilities. The life expectancy of the people will also decrease gradually.The living conditions of the people will degrade. This will lead to increased crime rates, by these poverty stuck people so as to earn something to have at least a square meal a day.
The food production will prove to be insufficient to meet the growing demand and the land for cultivation will reduce because many of the agricultural areas would get converted into housing plots.The educational quality will go down and many children wont even get a chance to go to primary schools.
So now it is clear that the problems related to overpopulation far outweighs the arguments for increasing the population.
