Free «Rising Population » Essay

This week’s readings majorly deal with the rising population and its effects on environment and economy around the world. What really struck me in them is the continuous increase in the world’s population which is impacting negatively on the world’s economic growth. Only in 1950’s the world’s population was 2 billion and now it is 6.7 billion. It is further estimated that by the year 2050 it would be at about 9.2 billion people (Campbell, 240). It is even worse that the least developed countries are the ones which lead in the birth rates. For instance, in Africa the average number of children in a poor family is 8 while the rich, who are financially capable, have an average of 3 children. This rapid population therefore implies that the society will be dominated with unemployed people, and consequently leading to more poverty in such areas. However, there are global concerns about this situation and many organizations and movements have been started in order to deal with it. For instance, in Africa, there is the African Population and Health Research Center (APHRC) (Potts & Campbell, 2).

What does this have to do with the environment? Research shows that as the world tries to industrialize to accommodate this ever increasing population, the rate of environmental degradation is in the increase. This is because of the unfriendly emissions from the manufacturing companies. This means that the ever growing population is under threat of future poor environmental conditions. This increasing population should be blamed since it is responsible for destroying some of the natural resources such as forests (Party Parliamentary Group on Population, Development and Reproductive Health, 1)

Conclusion

Due to the need for a better economy throughout the world, more efforts should be put in place to control the rapidly growing population. This would help to curb the associated environmental problems. The various population and the environmental degradation control programs must therefore step up their campaign towards solving these problems.