Population

Introduction

Population can be defined as a state in which there are too many people on the planet to supply
them with basic things like drinkable water, food, breathable air and so on.

Population can also be defined as a state where the ecological footprint of humanity is bigger
than the planet’s carrying capacity, meaning that the damaging process is faster than the
repairment process carried out by nature, which eventually will lead to an economic collapse.

In the following, the causes, effects and also solutions to the overpopulation problem will be
examined.

Causes of Population Explosion

The cause of the population explosion includes many factors and reasons. These includes:

Increase in the birth rate- Due to lack of control on delivery and unawareness of people the
birth rate is increasing rapidly. In addition, the gap between death and birth has gone way wider
than what we can think of. Furthermore, the birth rate has increased many folds in comparison to
the death rate.

A decrease in infant mortality rate- Mortality rate refers to the number of death of infants
below the age of 6 months. Due to science and technology, we are able to minimize this rate and
now only a few cases of death are known per thousand death.

The life expectancy growth- Earlier the life expectancy of people was around 55-60 years. But
due to better and improved medical facilities, we are now able to increase the life expectancy of
people. Now the average age of a person increased to 70-75 years.

Besides, these better living conditions, good quality food, better nutrition, and better sanitation
facilities also helped in increasing life expectancy.

High level of illiteracy- The literacy level of women is one of the biggest problems of family
planning. In India, people pay very little importance to women’s education and marry them at an
early age. That’s why they do not have knowledge about birth control methods and the use of
contraceptives.

Unemployment: Generating employment for a huge population in a country like India is very
difficult. The number of illiterate persons increases every year. The unemployment rate is thus
showing an increasing trend.
 Poverty and Illiteracy: Another factor for the rapid growth of population is poverty.
Impoverished families have this notion that more the number of members in the family, more
will be the numbers to earn income. Some feel that more children are needed to look after them
in their old age. Also, hunger can be a cause of death of their children and hence the need for
more children. Strange but true, Indian still lag behind the use of contraceptives and birth control
methods. Many of them are not willing to discuss or are totally unaware of them. Illiteracy is
thus another cause of over population
 Age-old cultural norm: Sons are the bread earners of the families in India. This age-old
thought puts considerable pressure on the parents to produce children until a male child is born.
More the better.

 Illegal migration: Last but not the least, we cannot ignore the fact that illegal migration is
continuously taking place from Bangladesh, Nepal leading to increased population density.

Consequences of Population Explosion in India

Persons are means as well as ends of economic development. They are an asset if in adequate
strength and prove to be a liability if excess in strength.

Population has crossed the optimum limit in India and has become a liability.

So problem of population explosion in India has proved to be a big hindrance in the success of
economic planning and development.

Following are the main effects of population explosion:

1. Problem of Investment Requirement:

Indian population is growing at a rate of 1.8 percent per annum. In order to achieve a given rate
of increase in per capita income, larger investment is needed. This adversely affects the growth
rate of the economy. In India, annual growth rate of population is 1.8 percent and capital output
ratio is 4:1. It means that in order to stabilize the existing economic growth rate (4 X 1.8) = 7.2
percent of national income must be invested.

2. Problem of Capital Formation:

Composition of population in India hampers the increase in capital formation. High birth rate and
low expectancy of life means large number of dependents in the total population. In India 35
percent of population is composed of persons less than 14 years of age. Most of these people
depend on others for subsistence. They are unproductive consumers. The burden of dependents
reduces the capacity of the people to save. So the rate of capital formation falls.

3. Effect on per Capita Income:

Large size of population in India and its rapid rate of growth results into low per capita
availability of capital. From 1950-51 to 1980-81. India’s national income grew at an average
annual rate of 3.6 percent per annum. But per capita income had risen around one percent. It is
due the fact that population growth has increased by 2.5 percent.

4. Effect on Food Problem:

Rapid rate of growth of population has been the root cause of food problem.

Shortage of food grains hampers economic development in two ways:

(a) People do not get sufficient quantity of food due low availability of food which affects their
health and productivity. Low productivity causes low per capita income and thus poverty.

(b) Shortage of food-grains obliges the under-developed countries to import food grains from
abroad. So a large part of foreign exchange is spent on it. So development work suffers. So rise
in population causes food problem.

5. Problem of Unemployment:

Large size of population results in large army of labour force. But due to shortage of capital
resources it becomes difficult to provide gainful employment to the entire working population.
Disguised unemployment in rural areas and open unemployment in urban areas are the normal
features of an under developed country like India.

6. Low Standard of Living:

Rapid growth of population accounts for low standard of living in India. Even the bare
necessities of life are not available adequately. According to Dr. Chander Shekhar population in
India increases by about 1.60 crore. It requires 121 lakh tonnes of food grains, 1.9 lakh metres of
cloth and 2.6 lakh houses and 52 lakh additional jobs.

7. Poverty:

Rising population increases poverty in India. People have to spend a large portion of their
resources for bringing up of their wards. It results into less saving and low rate of capital
formation. Hence improvement in production technique becomes impossible. It means low
productivity of labour.

8. Burden of Unproductive Consumers:

In India, a large number of children are dependent. Old persons above the age of 60 and many
more in the age group of 15-59 do not find employment. In 2001, working population was 39.2
percent while 60.8 percent are unproductive workers. This high degree of dependency is due to
high rate of dependent children. This dependency adversely affects effective saving.

9. Population and Social Problems:

Population explosion gives rise to a number of social problems. It leads to migration of people
from rural areas to the urban areas causing the growth of slum areas. People live in most
unhygienic and insanitary conditions.

Unemployment and poverty lead to frustration and anger among the educated youth. This leads
to robbery, beggary, prostitution and murder etc. The terrorist activities that we find today in
various parts of the country are the reflection of frustration among educated unemployed youth.
Overcrowding, traffic congestions, frequent accidents and pollution in big cities are the direct
result of over-population.

10. More Pressure on Land:

Rising rate of population growth exerts pressure on land. On the one hand, per capita availability
of land goes on diminishing and on the other, the problem of sub-division and fragmentation of
holdings goes on increasing. It adversely affects the economic development of the country.

11. Impact on Maternity Welfare:

In India, population explosion is the result of high birth rate. High birth rate reduces health and
welfare of women. Frequent pregnancy without having a gap is hazardous to the health of the
mother and the child. This leads to high death rate among women in the reproductive age due to
early marriage. Hence to improve the welfare and status of women in our society, we have to
reduce the birth rate.

12. Pressure on Environment:

Population explosion leads to environmental degradation. Higher birth rate brings more
pollution, more toxic wastes and damage to biosphere. Briefly speaking, population explosion
hinders the economic development. It should be controlled effectively.

Solutions to the Overpopulation Problem

1. Improvement of family planning

2. Raising awareness on the topic
3. Education
4. Birth regulation
5. Extraterrestrial settlement

Improvement of family planning

People all over the world should be aware on what it means to provide for a family and of the
costs relating to it. People should ask themselves if it may be better to limit the number of
children they want. It is in our all interest to limit the number of people on our planet in order to
keep it intact and viable.
Raising awareness on the topic

Another related point is to increase peoples‘ awareness towards the topic of overpopulation.
Many people may never heard of this issue since it is quite normal for them to have as many
children as possible.

If they put the number of children in context to the overpopulation issue, it may become clear to
many people that overpopulation may kill the whole planet if we do not change our behavior.

Education

Education is key, also in the context to mitigate the overpopulation problem. As we have seen
earlier, poor people are likely to have more children than rich people.

This is due to the fact that poor people usually do not have pension schemes and thus depend on
their children to provide for them when they are old.

Thus, education can help people to get out of poverty and thus it can indirectly contribute to a
reduction in population growth.

Birth regulation

If people will not become responsible enough to reduce the number of children, the governments
will be forced to intervene and set strict regulations on the number of children that are aloud. A
prominent example of this strategy is China with its one child policy.

Extraterrestrial settlement

Another way to fight overpopulation relates to the science fiction literature. With extraterrestrial
settlement, we could move part of our population to other planets or space habitats and thus
could mitigate the overpopulation issue. However, this option can be regarded as quite unsecure
and has to be validated in the future.

Conclusion

Overpopulation is a serious threat to our whole environmental system. It is likely to cause severe
conflicts and wars as people will fight for resources in order to meet their daily energy demand.

It is therefore crucial that we solve this issue through suitable and sustainable measures. Only
then, it will be possible for humanity to live in peace in the future.

Reference:
1. Pk Dhar , "Indian Economy Its Growing Dimensions" Kalyani Publishers (2017), ISBN-
8127209570
2. Ruddar Dutt, "Indian Economy"S Chand & Co Ltd (2016), ISBN -9788121902984,
9788121902984