Human Population Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Human Population - Essay Example The number keeps growing every second. Human Population itself is not a problem. The Earth is meant for humans to dwell in it. However, it becomes a problem when too many or too less humans live in it and this is known as Over Population and Under Population respectively. Total population is increasing at a rate of around 1.15 % per year and the average annual population change is approximated at over 77 million right now. The increase rate was highest in the 1960s and it has almost halved since then. The total population in Year 1 was 200 million while today in year 2008 it has hit 6 billion. It is estimated to reach 9.2 billion by 2050! (World Population Clock-Worldometer, 2008) Better health-care facilities in developed countries imply fewer deaths. Despite this, most population increases are taking place in developing countries. This is because the birth rate increases more than the decrease in death rate. Alternatively, in developed countries, there is a problem of under population. Life expectancy has increased a lot and the fertility rate has decreased. This is true for countries like Germany. Human population follows the pattern of an exponential growth; it grows slowly at first but then very rapidly (Hopkins, J., 2008). This clearly has implications for the future as the world will become over-populated at one time. Over-population is when the resources of an area can not meet the needs of the humans living in it or in other words the Earth's carrying capacity is utilized. Hence, it is problematic, very. The concept of Over Population can be showed with an analogy. Take the example of a restaurant. It employs five waiters in the beginning. The restaurant gains from them. Slowly the number keeps growing and the number increases to 20 waiters. They start crashing into each other, damaging utilities and worrying other people around them. This is a problem because it becomes difficult for these waiters to behave naturally as they would with only five waiters. This, hence, is the problem of overpopulation. The thing to notice here is that it is also closely related to the economics concept of the Diminishing Law of Marginal Utility. Factors that contribute to and are affected by the Human Population Living Factors The most obvious factor that contributes to human population is humans themselves. Population obviously increases because of increased birth rates or an increase in the fertility rate. People in developing countries are having more and more babies everyday because of which the number is increasing. Humans are also affected by the growing population themselves. Non-Living Factors Along with increased birth rates, decreased death rates or mortality also could also contribute to human population. The death/mortality rate decreases when medical and health care facilities are good. The number of deaths, therefore, decreases when countries are developed or are moving towards development. Because of globalization, today all boundaries between countries have been removed. This promotes specialization and the overall growth of economies of different countries. The growth in an economy is shown by increased and enhanced health-care facilities and hence, a lower number of deaths and a higher life expectancy age. Therefore, there is the