With the staggering 7-billion people on our Earth today, there is no doubt that our global population is growing at an exponential rate. As of right now, it is estimated that the global birth rate is more than double the global death rate, more specifically 18.5 births and 7.8 deaths for every 1,000 people. With the innovations in technology and healthcare that we have today, there are certainly significantly more people that are being born than are dying as compared to a period of time such as the Black Death, where proper healthcare was scarce. As a result, our Earth is on its way to reaching its carrying capacity, so how worried should we be about this, and what can we do about it?
What Exactly is Carrying Capacity?
Carrying capacity is simply the number of people that the resources on our Earth can support. This factors in essential commodities such as water, food, and space. For example, let’s say there is a city that has enough food and water to sustain 200 people. If the city somehow reaches a population of 400 people, those resources are going to run out too quickly, thus depriving the population of the essential materials needed to survive. Because of this, it is important that we monitor and stay cautious of how fast our Earth is growing in case we ever reach the point where there are not enough resources for every human on the planet. This concept was popularized by Thomas Malthus, an English demographer and the creator of the Malthusian theory, who believed that our population will always outrun the amount of food we have, which was proven to not be true.
What Will Happen if we Exceed the Carrying Capacity?
As of right now, there is no commonly respected number of people that our Earth can support. However, if the Earth were to ever reach its carrying capacity, people would have to leave or pass away until the population is either at or below the capacity. This way, the population will return to the point where there are just enough resources to support every single person without running out.
Why Exactly is Our Population Growing so Fast?
Our population depends on how many children parents decide to have. Before, parents were in need of labor on farms and factories, which meant that they would have more children to maximize labor and profit. Because of this, more people are born than the number of people that are dying. For example, let’s say that a couple decides to have four children. When the couple ends up passing away, there will be two people to replace them, but there will also be two more, thus increasing the general population. If the couple were to only have two children, however, then the population of that sample would stay the same after the couple passes away.
What Are Countries Doing to Control Population Growth?
Some countries have implemented policies aimed at controlling the number of children that parents decide to have. China’s one-child policy, for example, was enacted to lower the population by encouraging families to only have one child. The reason behind this was that the country wanted to reduce its population that resulted from families having more children to boost the economy after World War II. However, this policy was later abolished as it failed to provide any notable results as it skewed the gender balance in the country since some families abandoned their babies based on their gender.
Will We Ever Reach the Earth’s Carrying Capacity?
There is no telling in whether or not our world will actually reach and exceed its carrying capacity. As of right now, there is currently no defined number of people that our Earth can currently support as are constantly innovating healthcare and technology. Currently, there are many countries that are observing the detrimental effects of overpopulation, more specifically those that are more undeveloped due to lack of proper healthcare and technology.
Overpopulation is an ongoing issue that is being observed in many countries. As the Earth’s population continues to grow, we are getting closer and closer to experiencing the detrimental effects that come with overpopulation. Unfortunately, there is no telling in whether or not the Earth will actually reach its carrying capacity due to the unpredictable factors that are essential to consider.
Sources
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Donald Gunn MacRae. “Thomas Malthus | Biography, Theory, Books, & Facts.” Encyclopædia Britannica, 28 Sept. 2018, www.britannica.com/biography/Thomas-Malthus. October 2011, Natalie Wolchover 11. “How Many People Can Earth Support?”
Livescience.com, 11 Oct. 2011, www.livescience.com/16493-people-planet-earth-support.html#:~:text=Earth.
“Story Map Journal.” Www.arcgis.com, www.arcgis.com/apps/MapJournal/index.html?appid=2849fd1434a64a0ea45d0b3d2e89a045.