Population Growth and Depleting Resources

In year 2027, India is anticipated to surpass China as the world's most populous nation. Whereas China's population is anticipated to fall by 31.4 million, or roughly 2.2%, between 2019 and 2050. Factors affecting population growth are fertility rate, increased longevity, and international migration. With increasing population, social and economic development becomes a challenge and it slows down the development. It is more challenging for low-income and lower-middle-income to enhance the health and education of their citizens as the rapid population consumes more resources. Their ability to respond to and adapt to new environmental risks, such as those brought on by climate change, is further diminished by their rapid expansion and the delayed development that goes along with it. It is imperative slow down the global population growth in order to achieve SDG targets related to reproductive health, education, and gender equality 

//www.un.org/en/desa/population-growth-environmental-degradation-and-climate-change

//www.un.org/en/global-issues/population

//population.un.org/wpp/Publications

"A world of 8 billion: Towards a resilient future for all- Harnessing opportunities and ensuring rights and choices for all" was the theme of World Population Day 2022. The world's population reached 7 billion in 2011. This year, the figure will surpass 8 billion.

This dramatic increase has been driven primarily by an increase in the number of people reaching reproductive age, and has been accompanied by significant changes in fertility rates. Fertility rates and life expectancy have changed dramatically in recent years. Women had 4.5 children on average in the early 1970s; by 2015, global fertility had dropped to less than 2.5 children per woman. Meanwhile, global average lifespans have increased, rising from 64.6 years in the early 1990s to 72.6 years in 2019.

Various opportunities and progress can be seen all over the world. However, progress is not universal, bringing inequality into focus. Too many people still continue to face discrimination, harassment, and violence because of their gender, ethnicity, class, religion, sexual orientation, disability, or origin. Therefore it is essential to tackle this barrier for a developed and healthy 8 billion world population.

//www.un.org/en/observances/world-population-day

Rapid population growth may exacerbate the difficulty of securing future improvements. Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, particularly those related to health, education and gender equality, can lead to slow global population growth. The world's population has tripled in the current era of unprecedented population growth, reaching nearly 8 billion people in 2022. Furthermore, the United Nations predicts that the global population will reach nearly 11 billion by 2100. Mainly it will affect on low-income and lower-middle-income countries to afford the increase in public expenditures on a per capita basis that is needed to eradicate poverty, end hunger and malnutrition, and ensure universal access to health care, education and other essential services.

Despite the fact that the rate of global population growth is expected to decrease in the coming decades, but world population in 2050 is expected to be between 20% and 30% higher than in 2020. Achieving sustainability, firstly can focus on ensuring individuals, particular women should have increased access to high quality reproductive health-care services, including for safe and effective methods of family planning, could help reduce fertility and accelerate economic and social development

//www.un.org/development/desa/pd/sites/www.un.org.development.desa.pd/files/undesa_pd_2022_policy_brief_population_growth.pdf

@kamalpreet Agreed. Rapid population growth remains one of the leading causes of environmental degradation and is a threat to the sustainable use of natural resources. Read more here

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It took hundreds of thousands of years for the world population to reach one billion, and then it grew sevenfold in about 200 years. The global population reached 7 billion in 2011, and it is expected to grow to nearly 7.9 billion in 2021, 8.5 billion in 2030, 9.7 billion in 2050, and 10.9 billion in 2100.The world is experiencing rapid urbanisation and accelerated migration. In 2007, more people lived in cities than in rural areas, and by 2050, cities will house approximately 66 percent of the world's population.

The relationship between population and sustainable development should be considered in the context of climate change and other global environmental challenges that have a direct impact on sustainable development. Population growth may not be the direct cause of environmental damage; however, it may exacerbate the problem or hasten its emergence, depending on the problem at hand, the timeframe considered available technology, and the demographic, social, and economic context.

The current age distribution of a population has a significant impact on future population trends due to a phenomenon known as "population momentum." The relative youth of today's global population ensures that the number of women of reproductive age will continue to rise for years, if not decades. The current age distribution of the global population will drive nearly two-thirds of the expected increase in the global population between 2022 and 2050. (United Nations 2021a). Over time, however, the influence of today's age structure will fade, and population growth will become increasingly dependent on the future course of mortality and, in particular, fertility.

//www.un.org/en/observances/world-population-day

//www.un.org/development/desa/pd/sites/www.un.org.development.desa.pd/files/wpp2022_summary_of_results.pdf

Rapid population growth in a country like India is threatening the environment through expansion and intensification of agriculture, uncontrolled growth of urbanization and industrialization, and destruction of natural habitats. Rapid population growth play an important role in declining per capita agricultural land, forest, and water resources. This study reveals that outcomes of high population growth rates are increasing population density and number of people below the poverty line. Population pressure contributes to land degradation and soil erosion, thus affecting productive resources base of the economy. The environmental effects like ground water and surface water contamination; air pollution and global warming are of growing concern owing to increasing consumption levels. 

Reference

Sarbarpriya Ray, Ishita Aditya Ray impact of population growth on environmental degradation: Case of India- Journal of Economics and Sustainable Development 2011