So exactly how many people live on this planet?
Recent studies show that the world, up to this point in the mid-2000s, has a total population of about 6.1 billion people. From the United Nations Population Division, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, they say year by year we are slowly creeping up to an average of 1.2 billion more people. That means, by the year 2050, we will have accumulated almost 10 billion people! But one raises the question: what is the big problem with having all these people; the more the merrier…right?
Wrong. The problem with the numerous and excessive amount of people is the unequal balance of the resources available. Following through with recent studies and charts of our current resources shows we are very limited in the supply that flows throughout the world. The United States itself takes up almost 30% of all the world’s resources. So back to the people … how is it so bad? It is “bad” because from studies taken by the Department of Economic and Social Affairs, the areas with the most people are often those who face severe cases of poverty. That being stated, what can they do about their condition if they can not get the sufficient and necessary essentials to survive?
Human population is a problem because it raises many issues about the contamination and economic issues that we people face. If it had not been for the numerous amounts of people, we would not be facing such destruction of our earth in the first place. The more people there are, the increase of problems, such as: economic decline, stagnation, global poverty, hunger, and environmental devastation (Robbins, Globalissues.org). In some cases, it is said that the human population has much to do with the relationship between birth rates and mortality rates. This idea is called the demographic transition. As the technology and medicinal factors advance, many deaths are being prevented, allowing the birth rate to continuously progress as the mortality rate does not.
At this rate, by consuming as many resources as we do, at as fast of a rate as we are consuming them, the world as we know it will completely be destroyed.
