Population Growth: A Burden on Society
Keywords: Population Growth, overpopulation, economy, society, religion, gender, illiteracy
Population growth today has become a serious matter of concern for the world. The world population has been consistently increasing at an alarming rate. Uncontrolled population growth leads to rapid urbanisation and depletion of resources. Natural resources that are pretty scarce in some parts of the world become scarcer due to increased consumption. Apart from depleting resources, a population increase means more buildings and factories and more trees and forests are destroyed. It also puts a strain on the availability of basic amenities like health, education and welfare.
INTRODUCTION
Population growth is the increase in the number of people in a dispersed group. Population growth is the increase in the number of humans on Earth. For most of human history, our population size was relatively stable.
Overpopulation is harmful to any country in many ways but it has some positive sides too. Increased population leads to an increase in manpower for a country where more people are easily found helping in the development of different sectors.
CAUSES OF POPULATION GROWTH
- Child Marriage and Multi-Marriage System: In India the tradition of child marriage and the multi-marriage system is prevalent. Marriage of around 80% of girls in the country is taking place at the young age of 15 to 20 years. Thus, the result of long married life comes in the form of excessive childbirth. The tradition of a multi-marriage system increases the rotation of childbirth.
- Religious Superstitions: The person remains engaged in the continuous process of giving birth, one by one, in search of a male baby.
- Illiteracy and Unawareness: In India around 36% of males and 61% of females are illiterate. Neither do they have full knowledge of family planning nor do they know about the consequences of excessive childbirth.
- Poverty: Due to poverty, the population is increased by the poor families of our country. People who live in slums, use their children as a tool to earn money, hence they always try to increase the number of children in their families.
- Birth Rate: In India, the average age for marriage is very low, compared to other nations of the world.
- The arrival of Refugees: The population is very much increased due to the continuous arrivals of refugees in India. At the time of the division of India and Pakistan. In 1947, more than 1 crore refugees came to India. In 1962 at the time of the attack on China, a huge number of Tibetan refugees came to India. Similarly, in 1971, more than 1 crore Bangladeshi refugees came to India and even today this problem continued.
- Indifferent towards Family Planning: Illiterate persons and people living in rural areas are indifferent towards family planning. They feel fear even by the name of ‘Operation’. They are not interested even in the use of the simplest and cheapest means of family planning.
EFFECTS OF POPULATION GROWTH
- Ecological Degradation: An increase in population will inevitably create pressures leading to more deforestation, decreased biodiversity, and spikes in pollution and emissions, which will exacerbate climate change.
- Increased Conflicts: The scarcity brought about by environmental disruption and overpopulation has the potential to trigger an increase in violence and political unrest.
- Higher Risk of Disasters and Pandemics: Many of the recent novel pathogens that have devastated humans around the world, including COVID-19, Zika virus, Ebola, and West Nile virus, originated in animals or insects before passing to humans. Part of the reason the world is entering “a period of outbreak activity” is that humans are destroying wildlife habitats and coming into contact with wild animals on a more regular basis.
SOLUTIONS TO POPULATION GROWTH
- Empower Women: Studies show that women with access to reproductive health services find it easier to break out of poverty. While those who work are more likely to use birth control. The United Nations Population Fund aims to tackle both issues at once, running microcredit projects to turn young women into advocates for reproductive health.
- Promote Family Planning: Simply educating men and women about contraception can have a big impact.
- Removing Barriers to Contraception: Across the world, some people choose not to use contraception because they are influenced by assumptions, practices and pressures within their nations or communities. Religious barriers may also be overturned or sidelined.
- Quality Education for All: Ensuring every child receives a quality education is one of the most effective levers for sustainable development. Many kids in developing countries are out of school, with girls affected more than boys due to gender inequality. Education opens doors and provides disadvantaged kids and young people with a “way out”.
- Exercising the Choice: In the developed world, most of us have the power to choose the size of our families. Although we may also face pressures of all kinds over the size of the families we choose to have. When making choices about that, it’s important to remember that people in the rich parts of the world have a disproportionate impact on the global environment. Through our high level of consumption and greenhouse gas emissions.
CONCLUSION
The way the population is growing is a matter of concern and is the biggest issue on this earth for humanity and the entire nation and environment.
World Population Day is of great significance as the day is observed annually to highlight the problem of increasing population. World Population Day 2022 sheds light on the fact that the rapid rise in the population impacts various aspects of the resources that human beings need to survive.
If the population continues to grow at this rate then the economy of the overpopulated countries will be unable to cope with the growth of the population. Every attempt to bring peace, comfort and welfare to everybody’s door will be thwarted and misery will become prominent. If the population is not kept within proper limits.
“The power of the population is indefinitely greater than the power in the earth to produce subsistence for man.”
AUTHOR: TANISHKA RANJAN
Mail us at edumoundofficial@gmail.com
