Overpopulation as a Social Problem free essay sample

With these shocking numbers in mind, it is not hard to believe that overpopulation is an issue in the world today, effecting countries on nearly every continent. For the record, overpopulation is not a complete concrete concept; many different opinions exist in determining criteria for overpopulation and deciding which countries should be labeled â€Å"overpopulated. † However in this paper, the following questions concerning overpopulation will be addressed in hopes of developing a better understanding of overpopulation and how it affects many countries of the world: What is overpopulation? Where are some places in the world that are heavily overpopulated? Why is overpopulation a social problem? What are some solutions that have been carried out to address overpopulation? What is overpopulation? In referring to human population, overpopulation occurs when the population of a country, city, or area exceeds the amount of resources available in that area during a given time period. In other words, the concept of overpopulation not only depends on the size of the population, but the ratio of population to sustainable resources available (â€Å"Overpopulation†, 2011). Overpopulation also depends on the way that resources are used and distributed throughout the population, large or small. For example, very low population areas like desert or arctic areas can be considered overpopulated if the amount of resources available is not enough to sustain human life. Essentially, overpopulation affects resources on two different levels: basic life sustaining resources and quality of life resources. An area can be primarily considered overpopulated if resources such as clean water, clean air, food, shelter, and warmth are in shortage, but areas can also be considered overpopulated if certain quality of life resources are in question, such as medical care, education, clean sewage treatment, and waste disposal (â€Å"Overpopulation†, 2011). Where are some places in the world that are heavily overpopulated? The Optimum Population Trust, which is a British organization that advocates population control in the United Kingdom, produced an overpopulation index that ranks countries of the world by assessing three different primary criteria: per capita consumption (ecological footprint) versus per capita biologically productive capacity (measured in global hectares per capita), self-sufficiency versus dependency, and actual population versus sustainable population. According to this index, the ten most overpopulated countries of the world are Singapore, Israel, Kuwait, Korea Republic, Jordan, United Arab Emirates, Japan, Lebanon, Iraq, and Belgium. Although China and India are two of the most typically conceived overpopulated countries, they respectively rank 29th and 33rd on the index because they are marginally less dependent on other countries for resources (â€Å"Overpopulation index†, 2010). The Optimum Population Trust states that this helps to demonstrate that overpopulation is not just a matter of population size or density. Why is overpopulation a social problem? The lack of resources that defines overpopulation makes overpopulation a social problem and leads to other social problems. The most obvious result of overpopulation is in land usage. Close to 90% of the worlds food is produced on land. The more land that is required for living decreases the amount of land that can be used for production. Land is a limited resource and will eventually run out. Other essential resources such as food, water, and shelter also become limited as humans use of land increases. Since these resources are no longer available to everybody in surplus; malnutrition, dehydration, and starvation become worse problems as population increases. These limited resources then increase crime rates as people struggle to get necessary supplies to survive. High population in confined areas also increases the amount of pollution, lowers the living conditions, and decreases personal freedom (â€Å"Overpopulation†, 2011). Several people argue that overpopulation is not a social problem. One claim references the fact that the entire world population could relocate to the United States and the population density would be less than 2,000 people per square mile. When this population density is compared to larger United States cities that are typically home to around 10,000 people per square mile, the claim is made that the United States alone has sufficient resources for the world population and that overpopulation is not a problem on a global scale. This claim is made under the false belief that land and population density are the only factors that are affected by overpopulation (Williams, 1999). With 2,000 people per square mile, there would be no room for enough food production and massive levels of starvation would exist. The amount of available fresh water in America would be another overpopulation problem caused by this scenario. North America is currently home to about 15% of the world’s fresh water and does not have enough to supply to everybody in the world at a sustainable rate (Postel, Daily, Ehrlich, 1996). The Population Research Institute makes the claim that overpopulation is a myth and increased population leads to a greater increase in production(â€Å"Overpopulation is a myth†, 2010). While population increases have increased living conditions in developed countries that can produce or maintain sufficient resources, this idea vastly simplifies the problems that overpopulation can cause. As mentioned previously, overpopulation is a problem because of limited resources. Since every resource in the world is limited the sustainable population also has a limit. This means that at some population point the world as a whole will consume more than they produce. This is already happening in several countries, including the United States, where local overconsumption is forcing the import of foreign goods to maintain a healthy society. The most overpopulated countries in the world have a mix of developed countries that have the ability to import the large amount of resources that cannot be produced and poor countries that do not have these capacities. The common theme is that these countries cannot produce sustainable amounts necessary resources and must import items to maintain a healthy living environment (â€Å"Overpopulation†, 2011). Trade is a zero sum gain and countries that have high imports must be offset by countries that have large amounts of excess resources to exports. When the excess resources in these countries disappear, the sustainability of these overpopulated countries will also disappear and the social problems will be undeniable. What solutions have been carried out to address overpopulated areas? While there is no sure solution to overpopulation, measures have been taken to address the issue and limit the negative stresses that it places on the world. Two common solutions that have been carried out to address overpopulated areas are the concept of sustainability and curbing reproduction rates. As previously stated, overpopulation occurs when the population of a country, city, or area exceeds the amount of resources available in that area during a given time period. The concept of sustainability focuses on the second part of that definition: the amount of resources available in that area. An attempt to curb reproduction rates focuses on the first part of that definition: the population of a country, city, or area exceeds, or is in excess. While these two measures directly focus on different aspects of the overpopulation issue, they act as one to solve the problems that overpopulation creates in the world today. Firstly, sustainability is the practice of conserving resources to ensure that people will have enough resources throughout their life and the lives of future generations (Pitts, 2011). Sustainability is practiced by conserving energy, resources, and materials, as well as using new technologies and attempting to monitor reproduction rates in the world. Sustainability is important to preventing a depletion of key resources in our environment because depletion of these resources usually leads to poverty, disease, malnutrition, and sometimes death (Pitts, 2011). Secondly, curbing reproduction rates is an attempt to decrease the population growth of an area by focusing on birth rates, rather than immigration and other issues.