The Myth of Overpopulation

Leslie Maliekal Reading Response to The Myth of Overpopulation 11/24/14

“The Myth of Overpopulation” was written by Michael Craven and published on June 13th, 2011 in the Christian Post. The article talks about some of the popular myths that people hold about overpopulation. For example, in the past a famous scholar, Thomas Malthus, believed that the “planet’s rapid increase in population would soon outstrip the planet’s ability to produce food, resulting in massive worldwide starvation”. This prediction was made hundreds of years ago but obviously his hypothesis has been proved wrong because we have had a rapid increase in our population however our ability to produce food for society’s members has been adequate even exorbitant at points. For example now the U.S government has to pay farmers to not grow enormous amounts of crops because farming has become so efficient. Furthermore, the government even has to store the crops for the farmers because otherwise the price of crops would drop so low due to the massive amount of crops sold during harvest season. What I find interesting is that the article states that recent estimates have postulated that the world population will reach a maximum of around 9 billion people before starting to decline. What is alarming is that it says that this will be reached around 2050 which means that during my lifetime there will be a decline in population which hasn’t happened for hundreds of years. This may be due to either low fertility or parents not wanting to have as many children anymore. Parents are now willing to have fewer kids due to improvements in technology and living conditions. Previously, children often died from various diseases or in wars but now that technology has improved and the fact that we are not in a world wide war, fewer children are dying. As a result, parents feel like they should rather only have a few kids that way they could spend more of their resources on each child. Another reason for the low birth rate is education. In developed countries women receive education which means that they are less likely to have a high number of children and are more likely to continue schooling and join the workforce ultimately opting for a few kids if any. In conclusion, the myth of overpopulation has been proved wrong by many experienced scientists and formulas. Although it’s impossible to forecast the exact population in the future, based of current statistics the number will eventually decline which may not be entirely a bad thing. However, it could turn out to be harmful to society if the population constantly declines. Ultimately, the only way we will find out what will really happen is to wait and find out.