We’ve
all seen or at the very least heard of over-population. I imagine that everyone
in their life has heard someone say something along the lines of:
“People
need to have less children.”
“I
refuse to have a child when there are already too many people.”
“It’s
a responsibility to the future of mankind to have less children.”
“The environment is being put at risk.” And on
it goes.
Be it the news, social media, movies, books, tv,
or the radio – the world seems to be telling us that unless there is a major
change, the world is going to turn into an apocalyptic nightmare. In a way they’re
right.
Just
not quite in the way they think.
Personally,
over-population has never been a big problem for me. Now hold on. Before you
think I’m a terrible person, give me a second to explain. My views on this
topic tie back to my strong religious beliefs. Having a knowledge of our
Heavenly Father’s Plan
of Salvation, I believe that a huge part of why we are here on earth is to gain
a physical body.
It
has just never made sense to me, that if coming here to earth was a key part of
that plan, that it would be detrimental to the very earth we would live on. This
isn’t to say that I think people should take this earth for granted. We are
expected to be good stewards. As with anything that’s important, our world
ought to be treated with the utmost care and forethought.
Moving
forward. About a year ago, a friend shared a comedic video promoting having a
child. At the time I got a good giggle out of watching an older lady plot to
make her daughter and spouse get pregnant. Awkward, but funny. Now, bounce
forward a year and I’m chilling on my bed, “doing” homework and eating Oreos (SO
addicting). Per the assignment we were to watch and take notes on a mini-series
called “New
Economic Reality: Demographic Winter.” (honestly sounds boring, right?) Part way through, they started listing countries
that had a fertility rate of 1.3, 1.8, 1.2, 1.05 … etc. I was shocked.
(Side
note: for the purpose of this post, the definition of Fertility Rate is the average
number of children born over the lifetime of the average woman.)
Logically,
this means the population is going to see a dramatic decrease.
At
the moment, with improved medicine and health care, people are living longer.
So, while the newer generation is being born, the older generations are still
alive and well. When one looks at the world’s population as a whole, it’s easy
to see that its increasing. Thus, the big hype about over-population. In fact,
the UN put out a press release in 2009 stating that by the year 2050 the world’s
population would be around 9 billion. Studies show that it is expected to grow
and to peak by the year 2065. (Insane, right?!)
But
as the aforementioned documentary illustrates, population is only part of it. While
the population is growing, the fertility rates have seen a steep decline - which
means that there won’t be enough people to re-populate the earth. (This makes
sense considering the huge scare “The Population Bomb” by Dr. Ehrilich caused
the world in the 1960’s)
Countries
are actually offering financial incentives for people to have children. –
literally getting payed to have kids! – but people just aren’t. The fertility
rates have continued to decline. Who knows what will happen when the older generations
start dying off, and those numbers are finally reflected in that of the world’s
population?
A
few thoughts to give a general idea of what this may look like:
·
Health care for the elderly will be less
available and more expensive.
·
Extended family will disappear as children
grow up with few familial relationships beyond their parents.
·
Heavier financial burdens to the working class,
to support the care for the elderly.
·
Fewer people = fewer innovations.
·
Major change/crashes in the markets.
·
Immigration will cease.
·
Societies will eventually disappear.
Now, I’m just a college student. I don’t
have a doctorate in economics (haha or in anything at the moment), but personally
I can only imagine what that kind of world would look like. It sounds a lot
like an apocalyptic nightmare to me. So, in a way they are right. If something
doesn’t change, the future may be dark indeed.
On that depressing note, go eat some Oreos
and remember that there is always hope. Things can change.