Overpopulation Cause

Is overpopulation a cause for concern in todays’ modern society?

Concern sorrounding the topic of overpopulation has been expressed since 200AD by philosophers such as Plato and Aristotle, at a time when the world populace amounted to only 190 million. Today in 2016 this concern is still ever present and the world population amounts to a total of 7 billion, this massive leap in the human population has caused major concerns in both the public and scientific society with regards to its possible effects on the environment and the worlds’ future economic structure and gives great reason to believe that yes, overpopulation is a valid concern in todays’ society.

Reasons for Concern

Mankind reached the population of 1 billion in 1804 after 200 000

Policies enacted by governments which reward parents financially based on the amount of children they have must be ended in order to discourage families financially from having more than one child. This is the least unethical of the solutions, making it the better choice as a solution which can be introduced worldwide to combat overpopulation. This form of measures to reduce the global population is supported by World watch Institute President Robert Engelman as he argues “By implementing policies that defend human rights, promote education, and reflect the true economic and environmental costs of childbearing, the world can halt population short of the 9 billion that so many analysts

Arguments ethically against population control consist on the supposed denial of opportunities for future generations and the targeting of poorer countries as a main cause of overpopulation when in fact people in developed countries contribute mostly to the depletion of resources and carbon emissions. In order to avoid these acts of blame shifting unbiased laws should be introduced which include the entire global community.

Ethical issues surrounding the Chinese one-child policy is that it takes away basic human rights of individuals. An appalling effect of the introduction of the Chinese policy which is often used as an example of why it is ethically wrong to introduce this policy worldwide is the female infanticide which resulted in a high sex ratio. As stated in this extract from “the impact of China’s one-child policy” by Bashir Mamdani “It is believed that sex-selective abortion and non-registrationa of female births account for the increased sex ratio. Sex-selective abortion is illegal but is known to be widely carried out, helped by a burgeoning private sector.” These violent acts are not condoned by the policy itself, but the sheer amount of individuals who resort to these actions do make it an unethical factor attributed to the