Tackling the Population Problem

Overpopulation!

How many times have we heard that term! We've been told that this year's World Population Day is all about tackling population problems! But what does that mean? How are we going to do it? What are the proposed solutions? What are the challenges?

Every year on July 11, people around the world mark World Population Day to bring attention to topics like the impact of population growth, gender equality, the value of family planning, poverty, maternal health, and human rights.

2022, the focus of world population day is the attention of the world on the importance of population issues and how tackling the population problem can relieve the disruption of natural ecological processes.

Proposed solutions and mitigating actions

The possibility to alleviate overpopulation exists in several remedies and mitigation strategies.

Some remedies need to be adopted at the level of national or state governments, while others need to be executed at the family or individual level. Some of the suggested mitigation strategies are meant to assist in the adoption of new social, cultural, behavioural, and political norms that will either completely replace or considerably alter the existing norms.

For instance, some governments have rules in place that limit the number of children that a couple is permitted to have. Social marketing and awareness techniques have been used by other countries to increase awareness of the negative impacts of overpopulation through booklets, brochures, and videos.

Some countries would promote utilizing contraception and having an abortion is made simpler if of course, socially acceptable by their respective government legislation.

Minimizing population growth

The deliberate control of a population's growth rate is known as human population planning. Human population planning has historically been carried out to accelerate the increase of the human population. However, between the 1950s and 1980s, initiatives to slow down population increase were made in response to worries about the consequences of population growth on poverty, environmental degradation, and political stability.

Although population control techniques may help people live better lives by giving them more reproductive control, some countries such as China with their "one-child policy and two-child policy," have employed coercive tactics!

Empowerment and education

Family planning, birth control methods, and overpopulation education must be emphasised in addition to making birth control products like male and female condoms, contraceptive tablets, and intrauterine devices accessible. Research has shown that nearly 40% of pregnancies worldwide are unwanted and unplanned leading to an increased number of abortions. family planning education, birth control, and awareness campaigns are among those programs that some countries put in place to reduce their overpopulation.

Increased accessibility to contraceptives

Today, contraceptives are no longer taboo. Whether you are young and single or happily married, it is your right to decide whether you want to have kids or not. Plus, women’s rights shall be granted when it comes to these choices. Contraceptives for both men and women are available everywhere in various ways to directly limit or deter births. However, it depends on countries as not every cultural and religious perspectives support these ways.

Birth control

Improving access to sterilisation and contraception is the first step that springs to mind when thinking about ways to reduce birth rates.

Birth control can help lower the population; certain countries, like the People's Republic of China, enforce rigorous birth control laws. Overpopulation and poverty have been linked to ideological and religious opposition to birth control.

With the rapid population growth, WHO has been promoting and encouraging contraception. Yet, some countries like France still encourage having children, through welfare motives such as family allowances.

Social systems

One of the strongest motivations for childbearing is to 'secure one's old age. Even today, advocates of natalist policies question the need to have children to finance pensions. A fortiori, in countries without a pension system, the only way to secure a livelihood in later life is to have several children.

Without the establishment of pension systems and/or old-age insurance to counteract this fundamental drive, no effort to reduce the number of births can be effective.

Urbanisation

Despite the increase in population density in cities and the emergence of megacities), urbanisation may be the best compromise for global population growth. Cities concentrate human activities in limited areas, limiting the extent of environmental damage. But this mitigation can only be achieved if urban planning is significantly improved and city services are properly maintained.

Both the problem of overpopulation and the solutions to it are intricate and multifaceted. The solutions provided above are non-exhaustive. there isn't a universally applicable solution because it depends on each country's culture, laws, and values yet, there is one fundamental truth: the world is overpopulated, and this is only the core cause of many other societal ills harming our world.