Population growth: Bane or boon?
Sahil Wani
Demographically, the world population can be expounded as the total number of humans currently living, and which was estimated to have outstretched to 7.8 billion according to the 2020 world population data sheet.
Startle thought let that would be noticed was that this huge number took over only 200 years to grow rapidly. The world population took over 2 million years of human prehistory (period of human history between the use of first stone tools by early life and the invention of writing system) and history for the world’s population to reach 1 billion and only 200 years to more to grow to 7 billion.
Succinct Doctrinaire on Population Growth
Population growth is the increase in the number of people in a population. Annually, human population growth amounts a swift incrementing of around 83 million globally i.e. 1.1% (supplemental) per year. The global population has grown from 1 billion in 1800 to 7.8 billion in 2020.
For now, the detectable reckoning of projected population to keep growing is approximately 8.6 billion in mid-2030, 9.8 billion in mid-2050 and 11.2 billion in 2100 according to the data analytical sheet of UN. It should be noted that some academics outside the UN have increasingly developed human population models that account for additional downward pressure on population growth; in such a scenario population would peak before 2100.
World population has been rising consistently since the termination of the Pestilence (The Black Death), around the year 1350. Population began growing rapidly in the Western world during the Industrial revolution. The most significant increase in the world’s population has been since the 1950s, mainly due to medical advancements and increase in agricultural productivity.
Likewise, India also appears as overpopulated among the Asian and Eastern or outward western countries. Inevitably, Asia is Earth’s largest and most populous continent and India exhibit as the 2nd most populated country after the China whose population can be estimated as the approximation of 1.37 billion. The new data of India’s population reveals the upmost population of 1.299 billion folks living and sustaining their life in India. Again it should be cognizant of knowing that Asia comprises a full of 30% of the world’s land area with 60% of the world current population. It also has the highest growth rate today, and its population almost quadrupled during the 20th century.
India and China’s population
• The current population of India is 1,393,827,579 which manifest the portion of departure from the foregoing data mentioned above, in the view of fact that population data swaps with respect its sex ratio and density. So the recently developed data shows the total population of 1,393,827,579 as of Saturday, July 10, 2021, which is based on Worldometer elaboration of the Latest UN data. The population of India is equivalent to 17.7% of the total world population.
• The current population of China is 1,444,994,064 as of Saturday, July 10, 2021, based on Worldometer elaboration of the latest United Nations data. China population is equivalent to 18.47% of the total world population.
Concluded Doctrinaire on Population Growth
Invariably increases in population include many reasonable elements and customary factors:
*Increase in the birth rate – Fertility rates or the birth rates are increasing speedily, due to lack of control and unawareness of people. Birth rates differ from country to country based on religion, cultural expectation, issues such as female participation in the workforce, or religious and political views of fertility limitation through birth control. Furthermore, the gap between death and birth has gone way wider than what we can think of. Additionally, birth rate has increased many folds in comparison to the death rate.
* Declining in mortality rate- More of lessening in death rates is attributed to advancements in Medical Science. The advances made within the faculty of medicine and surgery have greatly controlled diseases and have protected man from unnatural death.
* Amelioration in Agriculture- These have tremendously increased food production and availability. This has guaranteed adequate food for all.
* Life Expectancy growth – Indeed the amelioration of physical and prophylactic habitat and splendid medicine facilities increases the life expectancy which will be reckoning as average age of 70-75 years. The average life span of Human live can be estimated as 70-75 years which are improved one from the earlier expectancy.
Merits or advantages of population growth
Well explaining the known edge merits of population growth is itself a complicated and convoluted discussion. As many of the world’s most remarkable innovations over the past 3.5 centuries are attributed to population growth. Even the world’s increase in population is responsible for a greater consciousness of the need for extra resources as well as the innovations to make the measures of stable eco-friendly living and producing habitat with conferring of normal food at the pace of population growth.
Some of Relevant advantages-
*Generally, a growing population can generate economic growth. The size of individual country growth will increase with the increasing of marketable expenditures. If the needs are above the optimum expectation size, the country will be able to make better use of its resources.
* With incrementing in population growth, extra demands will be generated. This is likely to stimulate investment and this may lead to introduction of new technology.
* With population growth, generally folks will be forced to come up with new ideas and sophisticated ways of doing different profitable things to get clear up with vague diseases, food shortages and population discomfort like problems.
* With humans constantly reproducing there’s no chance for the human race to go extinct stage.
* At length, one of the remarkable merits of population growth for individual country is that it strengthens the country’s potentiality force within the faculty of militarization and other similar purposes to put aside and extricate the country from any standoff and conflict war zones.
Disadvantages of population growth
*Rising population is a major issue for the environment. Population affects it through and natural resources and production of wastes. This can lead to loss of air and water population and increased pressure on the land. More people in a country may result in damage to wildlife habitats, water shortages and depletion of non-renewable resources.
* When considering the effect of population growth on sustainability, we have to look at the impact of population growth on:
Resource Scarcity: – Food – Energy (coal, oil, uranium) – Raw materials (iron, copper, wood, water)
* Environmental Impacts – Pollution – Soil degradation – Deforestation – Global Warming
* Population growth would not be sustainable if it has important negative impacts that will jeopardize the ability of future generations to meet their needs.
* If there’s an increasing in the number of people working-age, who lacks independent reliable working skills and avenues of earning assets, the government may have to devote more resources to education and training. Normally, the job opportunity is not fixed and due to over exploitation of growth, every young adult can’t manage himself/herself on relevant departments. So due to increase in population growth, there is a chance of impose high pressure on employment system in a particular country.
* Increased population means more mouths to feed which, in turn, creates pressure upon available stock of food. This is the reason; the under-developed countries with rapid growing population are generally faced with a problem of food shortage. Despite all their efforts for raising agricultural production, they are not able to feed their growing population. Food scarcity effects economic development in two respects. Firstly, inadequate supply of food leads to undernourishment of the people which lowers their productivity. It further reduces the production capacity of the workers, Secondly; the deficiency of food compels to import food grains which place as unnecessarily strain on their foreign exchange resources.
* The large size of population also reduces per capita availability of capital in less developed countries. This is true in respect of underdeveloped countries where capital is scarce and its supply is inelastic. A rapidly growing population leads to a progressive decline in the availability of capital per worker. This further leads to lower productivity and diminishing returns.
* Rapid growth of population directly effects per capita income in an economy. Up to ‘income optimizing level’, the growth of population increases per capita income but beyond that it necessarily lowers the same. In a sense, so long as the rate of population growth is lower than the per capita income, rate of economic growth will rise but if population growth exceeds the rate of economic growth, usually found in the case of less developed countries, per capita income must fall.
(The author is a student)
