07-17-2003, 01:23 AM
[b:8c94cfb934]Overpopulation: Myths, Facts, and Politics[/b:8c94cfb934][/color:8c94cfb934]
[i:8c94cfb934]By Abid Ullah Jan
Posted: 9 Jamad-ul-Awwal 1424, 9 July 2003[/i:8c94cfb934]
The UN is all set to observe yet another World Population Day on July 11, 2003. In developing countries, the day is "observed" with great fanfare and the highest-level government officials issue strong statements in favor of depopulation programs. An army of journalists in the press and electronic media further support them without paying any attention to the underlying realities.
To facilitate understanding, one needs to find out whether overpopulation is a reality and whether it is the real reason for poverty and underdevelopment. If we discover that what the media, textbooks and other means of communication tell us is not true, we then need to ponder what, in fact, are the real objectives of the sponsors of depopulation.
[b:8c94cfb934]Is overpopulation a reality?[/b:8c94cfb934]
Over the years many researchers have authentically proved that the problem is not too many people at all. Contrary to the claims of family planning and population control specialists, world population growth is rapidly declining. United Nations figures show that the 79 countries that comprise 40 percent of the world's population now have fertility rates too low to prevent population decline. The rate in Asia fell from 2.4 in 1965-70 to 1.5 in 1990-95. In Latin America and the Caribbean, the rate fell from 2.75 in 1960-65 to 1.70 in 1990-95. In Europe, the rate fell to 0.16 - that is, effectively zero - in 1990-95. And the annual rate of change in world population fell from 2 percent in 1965-70 to less than 1.5 percent in 1990-95. Official forecasts of eventual world population size have been steadily falling. In 1992-93, the World Bank predicted world population would exceed 10 billion by the year 2050. In 1996, the U.N. predicted 9 billion for 2050. If the trend continues, the next estimate will be lower still.
Overpopulation is a relative term. Over with respect to what? Food? Resources? Living space? The data show that no case can be made for overpopulation with respect to all three variables. Dr. Osterfeld, Professor of Political Science at Saint Joseph's College in Rensselaer, Indiana, concludes that although there are now more people in the world than ever before,
Quote:"by any meaningful measure the world is actually becoming relatively less populated."[/quote:8c94cfb934]It is true that the world has been experiencing a population increase that began in the eighteenth century. Population rose six-fold in the next 200 years. But this is an increase not explosion because it has been accompanied, and in large part made possible, by a productivity explosion, a resource explosion, a food explosion, an information explosion, a communications explosion, a science explosion, and a medical explosion. The result is that the six-fold increase in world population is dwarfed by the eighty-fold increase in world output during the same 200 year period.
Further reading
http://www.albalagh.net/population/overpop...opulation.shtml
-- Ali