Welcome to the World Overpopulation Information website! Everything you need to know about population issues around the world. Click on the links below to find out more.

World Overpopulation Website

Cultural Aspects

One of the world’s greatest and upcoming problems is undeniably world overpopulation. Many people are not aware that population is such a huge issue, or at least, that it will be. I was interested in this issue because living in a huge country with a population density of 43 people per square mile doesn’t expose us much to how serious the issue really is. The basis of many problems in our world  all start with human demand, and therefore, human overpopulation.

Some religions believe that you should not restrict life and many cultures don’t have birth regulations. For example, the Catholic Church represents major religious opposition to controlled population. The Church’s official stand is against any birth control whatsoever. They believe God should plan families.  Abortion, abstinence, and delayed marriages will help, although modern medicines have increased the human lifespan and decreased the infant mortality rate. Migration also plays a big factor in population. One-third of the population growth in the world is the result of incidental or unwanted pregnancies. 90% of births now take place in the countries least able to cope with supporting population. Because of this, two billion people are starving, 790 million people around the world will go to bed tonight, not knowing where they will get their next meal, and 40,000 children die of hunger and malnutrition every day.

Physical Aspects

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Everyone is affected by overpopulation. Because of human demand, we have had to deal with timber over-harvesting, ocean depletion, food shortages, air pollution, water pollution, flooding, plant and animal habitat loss, and global warming. Water tables are dropping worldwide. Cities are growing at an alarming rate. Pollution in cities is the number one killer of young children because of respiratory diseases. Farming lands are suffering from soil erosion and desertification. In the ocean, the marine animals are being over-fished and the coral reefs are dying because in the last 40 years fishing quotas have tripled. Wild habitats that shelter endangered plants and animals are giving way to human activities and needs. Just in the last ten years, 600,000 square miles of forest have been cut down. 50% of the earth’s last remaining rainforests are located today in three countries: Congo, Brazil (the fifth most populous country), and Indonesia (the fourth most populous country). Last year we lost 26 billion tons of topsoil. Because of desertification, deserts increase longitudinally by six miles each year. The ozone layer is rapidly disappearing because the artificially created greenhouse effect is developing on a global scale. In the last 15 years, the world has experienced 14 of the warmest years in recorded history, with virtually each year succeeding the last. The land surface is reduced daily, and along with the rising ocean water level, these problems even produce an increase in natural disasters.

Economic Aspects

Overpopulation is the root of almost all economic issues. For example, 1.2 billion people worldwide are living on one dollar a day or less. Money and wealth is definitely unevenly distributed. The wealthy 33% of the world’s population reside in the north and on average earn over ten times more per capita than the people in the poor Third World’s nations. This wealthy third produces 80% of the economic input in the world. Furthermore, the northern economic nations use two-thirds of the planet’s consumption craze (natural resources, raw materials, and energy reserves). Developing nations often promote industries that pollute to compete economically. However, the earth does not contain enough resources to indefinitely sustain the current enormous population growth. For instance, there is a limited area of arable land and living space. In China, the increase in wealth has increased the demand of food. The demand is so great that China went from exporting 8 million tons of grain in 1992 to becoming a net importer of 16 million tons of grain in 1994. This caused a worldwide grain shortage, which raised prices, which in turn put food out of reach of even more people. Being stuck in a traffic jam is another result of overpopulation. Just in California, 300,000 hours are wasted in traffic congestion each year at an estimated annual cost of over 892 million dollars.

Political Aspects

The political situation in overpopulation is improving, although as a unit, countries around the world have not done much to come to an agreement on population. Many governments don’t control birth rates, which leads to a mass amount of people. Furthermore, each individual’s political power is reduced with increased population.