Okay this is quite an important topic in my opinion, as I get really frustrated by people that will blame problems on overpopulation. Whether that is global food or water shortages, housing, energy, jobs. It doesn’t matter what the argument is, overpopulation is not the problem, but it is the easiest and simplest scapegoat.

The backbone of the argument

The entire concept of this problem lies in the very idea that there are simply not enough resources to go around, and a point will be reached at which society will suffer because of this. This idea was first formally recognised by Malthus, who stated that as population increased, the rate of food production would also increase but at a slower rate. Therefore, periodically the society would collapse as a famine occurs and population would drop, at which point the cycle would start again.

Although this hasn’t occurred, as things like the green revolution which vastly increased our capacity to produce food, has meant food supplies have continued to be in surplus. In most places anyway.

The argument one may take then is why is there currently people starving in developing countries around the world. Well good question.

In response to such a question you simply need to look at the figures for how much food is wasted every year. One third of food grow for humans is wasted. A third. To further break that down that’s 1.3 billion tonnes of food lost or wasted, and that’s 670 million tonnes from developed countries and 630 million tonnes from developing countries. We are producing far far more food than we consume. So why are people starving? It is a food distribution problem; better more efficient and well organised structures need to be put in place to distribute food from locations that are producing excess to transport it to areas that produce less or are in difficult agricultural environments. It is not an overpopulation problem, we produce enough for everyone and more, it is simply a distribution problem, while ensuring that food prices are low enough for everyone to afford.

So what about water?

Water is a similar problem, although far more and expensive infrastructure may be needed to distribute water to some locations. Recent droughts however are mainly being caused by climate change, with regions that historically have received more water and hence are now struggling with a more limited supply. Yet other places will receive vast amounts of water that isn’t utilised and transported efficiently or at all to those regions that do need it.

Housing and infrastructure?

Rising populations do however put pressure on things like housing and infrastructure, such as schools, hospitals etc. But with a rising population your workforce also expands, meaning you should in theory gain more doctors, teachers, builders and businesses generating jobs. With that increase in work force you can build the extra facilities needed, as of course without infrastructural expansion, existing facilities would bear the brunt of the pressure.

Not everywhere is even experiencing an increase in population

Now some point out the fact that developed countries aren’t experiencing an increase in population. Albeit at a relatively slow rate if they are. Several developed countries are seeing population decrease, with fewer people having children leading to their workforce is depleting as fewer younger people are being born to join the work force as people retire. Therefore, there are incentives in places like Japan and France to encourage people to have children and raise the population to ensure there are enough people to keep the countries populated and economically competitive. These places form a case study showing that developing countries that currently may have huge numbers of young people are likely to follow suit as development occurs leading to better health care and hence people choosing to have less kids given their survival chances are higher. This would point to the population continuing to rise although theoretically it should plateau, which is expected at about 11.2 billion at 2100.

So its about resource management.

The question then forms of how sustainable are current levels of resource use? Because that is effectively key. Water and food can be sustainably used and if distributed correctly famine and water shortages would be negligible. But what about other resources? Like timber, rare earth metals or fossil fuels? This is more where problems come from although I have no doubt this will also change eventually. Essentially recycling is key.

The world should be able to sustain its self with many resources if they are ensured to be used sustainably through reuse and recycling of key elements like metals to ensure they can be used well into the future. As we can only take so much out the ground at the end of the day, mines are fine while economically viable (they are currently more economic than breaking apart old products to extract valuable metals from). However, over time the easily accessible resources will be extracted driving up the prices for further fresh unused resources to be extracted as more advanced technology would be needed as well as ever more highly skilled workers, not to mention the likely increase in risks. Therefore, recycling for most resources will be key to allow for the resources available to be used and distributed sufficiently across the globe in the future.

That’s all

So In conclusion Overpopulation isn’t really a problem, it’s a concept that doesn’t exist. Food, water, infrastructure, could all in theory be organised and distributed in a way to accommodate for everyone.  In many places the populations are decreasing not increasing anyway, and the world population is likely to plateau anyway in the future. We simply need to ensure that resources will be plentiful enough at that point to support everyone. Which they will be given sustainable choices are taken now, allowing a brighter future for everyone worldwide.

This topic really gets to me, so possible expect more slight rants like this in the future.

Thanks for reading

Bryce dixon