The "overpopulation problem" is a myth. Fertility has been declining for 20 years. World population will peak at 9 billion later in this century and then begin declining.
Fertility has been dropping for decades and almost certainly will continue to do so for some time. Therefore, any problems arising from large populations will gradually work themselves out over time. It's not a problem. Total population is going to rise in the short term, but not to levels where it threatens doomsday or even a major impact on quality of life.
Historically, the overpopulation myth has been used to justify these which is why it keeps repeatedly poping up even those its predictions are consistently false.
"What most frequently meets our view (and occasions complaint), is our teeming population: our numbers are burdensome to the world, which can hardly supply us from its natural elements; our wants grow more and more keen, and our complaints more bitter in all mouths, whilst Nature fails in affording us her usual sustenance. In very deed, pestilence, and famine, and wars, and earthquakes have to be regarded as a remedy for nations, as the means of pruning the luxuriance of the human race" - Tertullian, 2nd century C.E.
With current technology we can produce enough food to feed 30-35 billion people. People have been talking about a "population bomb" since ancient Carthage, over 2,000 years ago. Back in the '60s and seventies there were all sorts of ominous predictions based on this myth. They never happened and they're never going to happen. People starve because of capitalism, not overpopulation.
Site Feed