Overpopulation

In the biological sciences, overpopulation is defined as a state in which the population size of a species has surpassed the carrying capacity of the environment. In this condition, natural resources like food and water will be consumed at a rate at which they cannot be replenished quickly enough. Such a state usually results in the morbidity and mortality of members of the species through famine and disease, such that their numbers are reduced to a population size more compatible with available resources. The application of overpopulation to humans began with the publication of Thomas Malthus's Essay on the Principle of Population at the beginning of the 19th century. Malthus proclaimed that because human populations increase geometrically and food production grows arithmetically, in the future the majority of humans would struggle to meet their most basic needs. He warned of an impending crisis and recommended drastic corrective measures. However, with the industrialization of Europe, the birth rate fell and offset the falling mortality rate. In the case of Europe, increased prosperity and the switch from an agricultural to an industrial way of life seemed to result in a desire for fewer children.

This European model of demographic transition proved to be deficient in describing demographic trajectories in all areas of the world. In less developed countries (LDCs) in Asia, Africa, and South America, birth rates remained high despite decreases in mortality rates. Thus in the mid-to late 20th century, the majority of world population growth took place in less developed countries. The observation of dramatic population growth at midcentury in LDCs caused alarm among academic demographers and policy makers in the industrialized world. Out of this alarm grew a neo-Malthusian international population control movement.

The phrase international population control movement belies its fractured nature and creates a false sense of a centralized, unified movement. Nonetheless, many major and minor agencies, from multinational aid agencies to small-scale nongovernmental organizations, were driven by similar concerns with overpopulation. And they responded by promoting the use of contraception in LDCs. Some LDC governments embraced the population-control discourse, developing and enforcing coercive population-control projects on their own. The most well-known examples are the one-child policy in China and Indira Gandhi's compulsory sterilization campaign in India. While effective in terms of lowering fertility, such policies have led to human rights abuses. Some feminists agree that the provision of contraceptives is a basic reproductive right, but they have criticized policies that give the decision-making power to someone other than the individual in question. In addition, the safety and acceptability of the [Page 1059]use of certain contraceptives in developing countries, such as intrauterine devices and Norplant, have been challenged because of the lack of sufficient healthcare services to handle complications or removal of the devices.

Overpopulation is defined as a state in which the population size of a species has surpassed the carrying capacity of the environment. In this condition, natural resources will be consumed at a rate at which they cannot be replenished quickly enough.

According to neo-Malthusians, rapidly growing populations are a major cause of poverty, and lowering fertility rates through the use of contraception would lead LDCs out of poverty to prosperity. A variety of objections to this position were formed in response. Marxists argued that if systems of production and distribution were made more efficient and equitable, the amount of resources could be sufficient for the world's population. At the 1974 United Nations World Population Conference in Bucharest, delegates from LDCs declared that development was the best contraceptive. Countries with a tradition of pronatalism also were skeptical of the neo-Malthusian movement. Leaders of LDCs with low population densities thought that population growth would help the economic development of their countries. Some environmentalists argued that more environmental degradation was caused by overconsumption in industrialized nations than by overpopulation in LDCs. And demographers debated the causes of fertility decline and its relationship to economic development at the national level as well as prosperity at the household level.

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