How to Control World Population: The Pros and Cons of Population Policies

Although population growth in the 20th and 21st centuries has skyrocketed, it can be slowed, stopped, and reversed through actions that enhance global justice and improve people's lives. Under the United Nations' most optimistic scenario, a sustainable reduction in the global population could happen within decades.

Section 1: The Problem

1.1 Current problems of over-population

There is too much wealth. There is not enough food. It's too much pollution. It's too many internal refugees. There is not enough money, medical care, or modern infrastructure to take care of the people. There are too many wars. There is not enough education. There are too many people crammed together in cities. There is not enough land to grow enough food. There are too many people living in squalor. There is not enough education for them to get a decent job. There are not enough proper places to live in. There is not enough clean water, energy, or sewage facilities. There is not enough medical care for them. There are not enough parks, forests, and beaches for them to enjoy.

Population Policies

The International Year of the Family 2009 created awareness about the United Nations' family-planning agenda and urged a "global public discourse." However, government family planning programs continue to operate in countries with some of the largest and fastest-growing populations. Millions of women are alive today due to family planning services introduced in the 1960s and 1970s. By 2016, an estimated 260 million pregnancies each year could have been prevented, saving nearly 8 million lives.

In the 21st century, rapid population growth in emerging countries, coupled with rapid advances in information technology, make it possible for governments to educate and provide people with birth control.

The Pros and Cons of Population Policies

Some call it "population control," some call it "redistribution," but as discussed below, the two terms are ambiguous. The term "population control" has a long history. It originally meant limiting the growth of the population through birth control. In recent decades, however, it has taken on a more sinister meaning, typically referring to coercive population policies that limit the growth of people to control population growth. However, population control is a severe issue that should not be taken lightly.

The World Population Watch (WPW) organization, one of the sponsors of this website, sees the positive side of population growth.

Conclusion

The key to resolving the crisis is a combination of incentives and responsibilities. There is no alternative.

Other posts on sustainable solutions to overpopulation.

Gearan, Chris. 2010. The Best of Chris Gearan: War, Climate Change, and Human Health. Used with permission of The Atlantic Monthly Press. Originally published in December 2010.

McGovern, James. 2009. The Greatest Generation: Five Lessons from the Second World War. New York: W.W. Norton & Company.

Solon, Walter and Steven Levitt. 2004. Freakonomics. New York: Riverhead Books.

Valeriano, Scott. 2005. The state of Doomsday. Free Press: New York.

Soren, Michael. 2010. Sick of Being Human: The Problems of Overpopulation in an Age of Globalization. Washington: World Future Society.

This paper manages the advancement of the writing on the issue of populace and development from the traditional period to the new report on endogenous development and improvement. The 'issue' concerns two particular topics: 1. instructions to clarify the noticed covariation of the levels and paces of development of per capita pay and populace size over the long run and space, and 2. instructions to develop further the human condition addressed by these factors through an obliging social approach. The development of the writing we overview is reflected by the ever-evolving treatment of critical factors as endogenous instead of exogenous to the development interaction. It is likewise reflected by a shift from the recorded worry about populace blast and its suggestions for development to the later concern about the relationship between development and populace collapse in many created nations.