The population is growing, bringing wealth or poverty?
The world population is expected to exceed 8 billion on November 15. The global population is growing at a rate of 70 million more per year, but 80% of the population growth is concentrated in the poorest areas in the world that are most lacking in food, education and jobs. This population growth has caused widespread poverty and ecological damage. Mitigation of this trend will bring about widespread economic and environmental effects.
In the world, 70 million people live in extreme poverty, and this group of people is concentrated in Africa - 23 of the 28 poorest countries in the world are located in Africa. There is no doubt that Africa is also the continent with the highest birth rate and population growth rates in the world. At the same time, it also faces the challenges of climate instability, water scarcity, and food shortages, while the inflation of and the rising fuel costs have made the situation in Africa worse. The latest report predicts that by 2050, the economy in sub-Saharan Africa will be unsustainable. Rapid population growth is a deadly threat to Africa and other highly impoverished areas.
Some economists believe that continuous population growth is a good thing because it will bring more economic benefits. They said that population growth is synchronized with technological development, so some problems caused by overpopulation can be solved through the subsequent technological innovation .
But why not look at those hungry areas? Economists who hold the "economic growth theory" are wrong in many ways. Economy is an appendix to the environment, not the opposite. If population growth and economic activities will lead to environmental degradation and climate change, which in turn will threaten human beings, then higher average income cannot be a reason for us to destroy the environment.
The theory of population growth benefit is based on the global or national average. But this is deceptive because they hide the opposite details. Increased incomes of the richest 1% may increase the average income, but the poorest simply cannot benefit from it. In many countries, economies continue to grow, but increasing wealth inequality has put more and more people in poverty. There is little evidence that population growth has improved the economic situation of these poor families.
On the contrary, slowing down population growth can truly benefit all families. For decades, we have known " demographic dividend ", that is, countries with rapidly declining fertility rates have benefited from high savings, high investment, and high growth, and enterprises can borrow and expand, thereby increasing employment rates and wages and developing the middle class. This allows the government to tax the increased income, build the necessary infrastructure such as roads and schools, and increase economic productivity. In many countries, such as sub-Saharan Africa, small middle-class people live affluently, while high fertility populations remain in poverty.
Family Planning , promote sustainable development
The good news is that the slowdown in population growth is a window period focusing on expanding women's development opportunities, services and rights. This is one of the many benefits brought by the slowdown in population growth. In addition, the slowdown in population growth will also help reduce poverty and narrow the gap between the rich and the poor. " Asian Four Tigers /Four Tigers" like South Korea and Thailand have successfully improved the country's economic prospects by supporting families of different classes of care. This is a model worth following. However, in many countries, policies tend to increase the wealth of the richest 1% of the population and widen the gap between them and other populations.
This has a profound impact on the environment and economy, and threatens the earth's home on which we rely for survival. A report on the extinction crisis of the United Nations Environment Programme found that the expansion of human settlements and human farming are the main factors in extinction of species. These two factors are fundamentally driven by population growth.
In contrast, a decline in fertility will reduce people's living space.This is why Paul Hawken pointed out in his book "Drawdown" that popularizes education for girls in developing countries, promotes family planning, promotes late marriage and late childbirth, and avoids unexpected pregnancy. It is the most effective way to deal with climate change. However, in many poor countries with high fertility rates, girls are denied the right to education and cannot choose to have children independently.
It is certain that family planning has undoubtedly been successful in the past few decades. In 1960, about 9% of adult couples used modern contraceptive methods, compared with 59% today. Now, most people in the world know how to contraceptive and where to get knowledge about contraceptives. This is one of the greatest advancements in public health history.
But there are still 1 billion people who have not used it. In countries with high population growth rates, such as sub-Saharan Africa, contraceptive use rates are extremely low. Those who do not want to get pregnant still face too many obstacles, including misinformation about the safety and effectiveness of family planning, as well as social, educational, physical and legal barriers.
We need to go further. If we ignore population growth, work together to eliminate obstacles to family planning, and expand people's choices in poor countries with rapid population growth, we are actually blind to the growing inequality and deteriorating environmental damage.
We know that educating girls, stopping child marriage and other forms of violence against women, and providing extensive family planning information and services can slow population growth, promote economic development, reduce our impact on the environment, and mitigate climate change. is one of our most effective strategies for achieving shared, sustainable prosperity. With the global population exceeding 8 billion mark, it is time for us to face this problem.
