The ‘global overpopulation problem’

For western urbanites accustomed to large crowds, it’s very easy to believe there are too many people being born in the world, and that this must be the reason for climate change, hunger and world poverty.

People aren’t hungry because there’s no food

The UN Food and Agricultural Organization says ‘there is more than enough food produced today to feed every last one of us.’ ‘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. Hunger is caused by poverty and inequality, not scarcity. For the past two decades, the rate of global food production has increased faster than the rate of global population growth.’ Eric Holt-Gimenez, Executive Director of Food First.

Population out of control?

Probably not! According to the UN World Population Prospects 2019 report, the population is certainly increasing overall, and will be around 9.7bn by 2050. Higher growth rates are confined to 9 countries, mainly poor and under-developed ones in south Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.

‘However, growth in these countries comes against the backdrop of a slowing global fertility rate. In 1990, the average number of births per woman was 3.2. By 2019 this had fallen to 2.5 births per woman and, by 2050, this is projected to decline further to 2.2 births: a fertility level of 2.1 births per woman is necessary to avoid national population decline over the long run (in the absence of immigration).’

In other words, any country with an average rate of births per woman of 2 or below, has a declining population.

That’s most western and advanced capitalist countries then, where women have control of their own fertility, and tend to have fewer children, especially as large families are no longer an insurance policy for old age and infant mortality is reduced.

In countries with high degrees of poverty and poor education, and often where patriarchal religious systems hold sway, women have no power over their own fertility. Solve these issues and population would stabilise.