The Myth of

Overpopulation
STS THY GROUP 11
Definition
Overpopulation
- condition where there
are too many people
for the amount
of resources
available.
Origin
 1798 - England
Reverend Thomas
Robert Malthus
“Population,
when unchecked,
increases in
geometric ratio.
Substinence,
only increases in an
arithmetic ratio”
More than 200,000 years =1 BILLION
Less than 100 years = 2 BILLION
33 years = 4 BILLION
Effects
- depletion of natural resources
- degradation of environment
- conflicts and wars
- rise in unemployment
- high cost of living
 Is overpopulation
happening right now?
What is population growth?
POPULATION GROWTH
Definition: “the increase in the amount
of members within a group
; e.g. citizens in a country”
The increase in global
human population between
the years 1900 and 2000 was
three times as much as the
growth in the previous years.

1.5 to over 6 billion

 Population Growth Rate
Definition: “the rate of change of population growth”

Before the 1800s, the global population

growth rate was below 1%

From the 1800s to 1962, annual growth rate

increased to 2.1%

After 1962, the annual growth rate

decreased and is still going down
 Peak of the Population Growth Rate

The world population growth rate

was highest between 1962 to 1963
Are we running
out of food?
The world is abundant of resources and it
currently produces enough food to feed 10
billion people. In fact, approximately 1.3
billion tonnes gets lost or wasted.

From Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

“The world already produces more
than 1 ½ times enough food to feed
everyone on the planet. That’s
enough to feed 10 billion people, the
population peak we expect by 2050.”

- Eric Holt-Giménez
Agroecologist; Executive Director, Food First/Institute for
Food and Development Policy
“But the people making less than $2
a day — most of whom are
resource-poor farmers cultivating
unviably small plots of land — can’t
afford to buy this food.”

- Eric Holt-Giménez
Agroecologist; Executive Director, Food First/Institute for
Food and Development Policy
Overpopulation is not the cause of
hunger; it is poverty and inequality.
Causes of hunger: (accdg to The World Food Programme)

war
poverty
natural disasters
over-exploitation of the environment
poor agricultural infrastructure
(no reliable way to transport food to people who need it)
Water
 Today there is just as much water on the
planet as there was when the first signs of
life appeared.
Space
Is there enough
space on Earth
for the world
population?
Migration
Why are people
moving?
Push factors:
Things that make a person move out of a
place

● Unemployment
● Underemployment
● Health and environment
● Political conditions
● Poor socio-cultural and
economic conditions
Pull factors:
Things that entice a person into moving into a
place

● Employment opportunities
● Good political conditions
● Better environmental conditions
● Better socio-cultural and
economic conditions
Why do we think that the world is
OVERPOPULATED?
So many -homeless people?
-cars?
-houses?

Crowded -hospitals?
-schools?
URBAN OVERCROWDING
Those conditions mentioned generally exists only in cities and
industrialized countries in general.
Cities

-a place where people are deliberately

grouped together

-they make innovation, collaboration and

economic progress possible
As living standards
improve, people tend
to have smaller
families
As opposed to the rural area,

More children =
More working hands
Conclusion

Even if population growth is slowing down, a billion

people every 15 years is still a lot of people. However,

there isn't any convincing evidence to show that the size of

our population is the cause of the world's most pressing
issues, like war, famine, disease, and poverty.
References
- http://www.conserve-energy-future.com/causes-effects-solutions-of-overpopulation.php
- http://voices.nationalgeographic.com/2012/03/14/are-we-running-out-of-water/
- http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/837101/water-crisis-looms-in-metro-manila
- https://overpopulationisamyth.com/content/episode-6-urbanization-whos-afraid-big-bad-city
- Quisumbing, A. R., & McNiven, S. (2005). Migration and the rural-urban continuum: Evidence
from the Rural Philippines. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI),
FCND Discussion Paper Series, 197.
- Roser, Max. "World Population Growth." Our World In Data. Our World In Data, n.d. Web. 01
May 2017.
- http://www.huffingtonpost.com/eric-holt-gimenez/world-hunger_b_1463429.html
- http://www.worldhunger.org/2015-world-hunger-and-poverty-facts-and-statistics/#produce1
- http://www.fao.org/docrep/006/y4525e/y4525e04.htm
- https://www.oxfam.org/en/pressroom/pressreleases/2009-10-16/world-food-day-there-enou
gh-food-grown-world-everyone-op-ed