Population Growth: Is it actually a problem?

Population growth isn't a problem that's widely discussed by society & is often shunned away by bigger problems such as Corruption, Climate Change, Animal Abuse etc. Today, let’s dive deeper into this topic & understand this problem.

Population Growth can be defined as ‘The increase in the number of individuals in a population’.

Now across history, population growth has been a problem. From the times of the French Revolution to the times of Trump leading USA, numerous people have wondered about this phenomenon. Why is it a problem, you might ask?

Ok now picture this in your mind. You live in your house with your family of 4. You own a farm which produces 10 kilograms of food per day, which is just enough for your family. Slowly, the number of people in your house increase. First 5, then 6, but your production has just increased to 11 kilograms per day. What happens now? Well, each person is given less than what they used to get & if the ‘population’ isn’t maintained & is going to continuously increase, you’re going to have some people dying due to malnourishment.

Now in this hypothetical situation, the ‘house’ is actually the country & the ‘farm’ can be said to be the entire manufacturing industry of the country. Now, you might be thinking, “Well let’s just increase the power of the manufacturing industry.” Well, had it been that easy, why would I have been writing this blog? You see, when production of anything happens, there is always one thing that is required, which is... yes it’s land. Anything in the world starts from land; this also includes email services as they work on servers which are also placed on land. Although the exception of satellites is there, satellites also require ground communications for functioning.

Well this is all imagination & theoretical knowledge. Let’s go & check out some statistics.

From 1 billion in 1800 to 7.7 billion today, we have a growth of 6.7 billion in 220 years. Woah, that’s big. In India, the population growth rate was 1%, which is slightly high. By 2050, estimates by the UN state that the population will be slightly over 9 billion. Now that we have understood the topic in general let’s look at its effects:

1. The GDP per capita of a country might decrease. Well, it’s simple mathematics; Nominal GDP/Population of Country=GDP per capita.

2. Growth of Indian population is approximately 1.8%/year. To maintain income per capita, heavy investments in the manufacturing industry is required, which might not always be possible.

3. Problems in capital formation will be tough. In India, 35% of population is under 14, i.e., it is dependent on someone else for subsistence. This is also due to high birth rates & low life expectancy, which creates more dependants, ultimately reducing the number of people that can be saved.

4. Agriculture & food can get affected in 2 main ways:

• People who don’t get sufficient food due to low production can have negative health effects & on their productivity. Low productivity leads to low income per capita & ultimately, poverty.

• Shortage in food grains leads to imports. Hence foreign exchange takes place, which leads to negative effect on development.

5. For obvious reasons, unemployment has high chances of increasing.

6. Poverty

7. Increased pressure on land for production of food.

8. Impact on Maternity Welfare.

Now that we have understood its effects, let’s look at some possible solutions to Population Growth:

1. Promote family planning programmes.

2. Educate children about reproductive health.

3. Adoption of children is one of the best possible ways you can help as you can reduce poverty & population growth at the SAME TIME!

4. Make free & quality education more available to children. This helps decrease the ‘dependants’.

5. Legalization of abortion is another very important step.

6. The ‘End of Population Growth’ should become a part of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals.

7. Increasing of legal marriage age to a minimum of 18 & banning of child marriage.

8. Make Population Growth a part of education curriculums.

9. Vote for politicians who understand & want to act upon this matter.

Now here at Noddy’s Writings, I love to find the most wild facts. And believe me when I say that this is WILD. Now when I was researching possible solutions to this, I found out this bizarre statement. So Baba Ramdev, co-founder of Patanjali Ayurved, once suggested the revoking of voting rights of parents with more than 2 children & the special honour of people who are unmarried like him.

Well, do you think the Government of India work on this? Let me know in the comments section below!