Globally, the human history was not a great concern, especially to human population dynamics. This was as a result of a match between natural resources and human needs. However, around the XIX century, the untold millennia of human history was revealed due to socio-economic and environmental issues that begun to affect humanity both in positive and in negative ways. Global population in the XIX century was estimated to have reached the first billion. Scientist have calculated that the world population grows by one billion every twelve years (Does population growth impact climate change?, 2009).
For example, the 20th century population was estimated to be 1.6 billion people, but at the dawn of the new millennium the population was about 6.1 billion. This was a huge increase, especially in the light of the fact that the replenishment of natural resources consumed by the population takes ages, not to mention the fact that some resources, such as crude oil, are non-renewable. Crude oil and coal in the 18th and 20th century were the main sources of energy, especially as the industrial revolution erupted in Europe and Asia, particularly, in United Kingdom and China (Does population growth impact climate change?, 2009). There were major social and economic benefits from the industrial revolution, including the rise of living standards, yet it took little time for the emergence of adverse environmental issues, such as air and water pollution, which led to policies and legislations formation to regulate the issues on a national and global level.
Climate Change: Anticipating Drastic Consequences
Climate in both the northern and the southern hemisphere had been relatively stable up until the end of the 20th century, when the issue of global warming emerged. Simultaneously, due to climate change over time, gradual cooling had been taking place up to the beginning of 20th century. Afterwards, universal average surface temperature of air moved to about 0.6 degrees Celsius (Earth is ‘committed to 0.6ºC of unavoidable warming, n. d.). Due to this climatic variation, the frequency of air frost has decreased in many areas. As a result of these changes, sub-tropics and tropics vegetation has been drying.
Greenhouse gas concentration has become the key factor facilitating global warming. The latter, in its turn, is as a result of long rays from the sun being trapped in the Earth atmosphere after the short rays are refracted after hitting the earth due carbon concentrations brought about by anthropogenic activities, such as mining and transportation activities. The negative effects of global warming have been experienced in many countries, including Japan. Developed countries have devoted a range of conferences to the issue; for instance, Agenda 21 was adapted at the United Nations conference on Environment and Development in 1992 in Rio de Janeiro (UNO, n. d.) to apply the strategy of sustainable development at a national level. This was a major foot forward in helping developing countries design a strategy for management of the environment.
Natural Hazards: What May Entail Major Problems
Natural calamities are a result of geophysical activities, such as landslides, flooding, earthquakes and volcanic activities. Developed nations have invested in addressing this problem through involvement of geomorphologic activities in natural disaster field on local, regional and global levels (Alcántara-Ayala, 2002). Collaboration of the developed and the least developed nations to establish adequate strategies of risk management and assessment can be a pro-active measure to prevent from further instances of statewide natural disasters. The impacts of this international frame work have been taken worldwide/ since natural disasters continue to affect developing nations, such as Haiti, which was recently hit by the earthquake.
Therefore, support and collaboration of healthcare units and the disaster management departments should be considered a top priority in every state, so that no major injuries could occur in case of a disaster. More to the point, it is important that further geomorphologic researches should be carried out to define the patterns of natural disasters occurrence.
Population control is a very controversial subject. This paper will give a stringent analysis of the subject by addressing four main issues:
why population policy makers should avoid population control,
positive effects of the increasing global population,
main and potential problems of the increasing global population,
solutions to avoid the problems without reducing the global population.
Why population policy makers should avoid population control
Saving human species: Reproduction is the only way to save the life of some desirable human species. Nations that restrict families to deliver one child endangers the existence of the families in future (Sen, Germain, & Chen, 2004). If the only child dies before reproducing, families with intellectual brains are wiped out, and the world losses greatly.
Survival for the fittest hypothesis: If the population is not controlled, the natural selection aspect will work efficiently to ensure that the best species of the human race survive. The healthiest, the most intelligent people, and most aggressive people will survive while the sickly, lazy, and dim-witted people will die. Therefore, the world will select the best human species to reproduce and evolve the world.
Violation of human rights: Enforcing laws to limit the number of children that a family should bear is violating human rights (Caldwell, Phillips, & Barkat, 2002). A family ought to have the freedom to bear the number of children that they want. The issue of governments controlling population suppresses the human fraternity, as there are people who would wish to have many children but it is against the law.
Women health: Most population control measures emphasize that the woman ought to use contraceptives. The vast side effects that the contraceptives have to the women’s health are ignored (Robinson & Ross, 2007). Women are obligated to prevent further births at the expense of their health, which is unreasonable.
Religious considerations: Most religions support their followers to bear as many children as possible. Essentially, the Creator commanded people to multiply and fill the earth. Therefore, restricting the number of births is against the will of God (Knudsen, 2006).
Ethical considerations: It is noteworthy that some nations are too strict with the population control measures. Some women have to abort their fetuses out of the fear of the adverse consequences that they might face because of bearing more children than required. The merciless killing of innocent children is unethical, as mothers will always undergo psychological torture (Gordon, 2003).
Biodiversity concerns: The increasing population triggers innovators to come up with ideas to solve problems and generate more resources than before. Controlling or reducing population will discourage new inventions, and the development processes may come to a halt.
Remedy for good governance: An increasing population will prompt governments to find ways of distributing its resources equally. Governments will struggle to bring accountability and transparency to meet the demands of the increasing population (Louhiala, 2004).
Globalization concerns: The increasing population triggers the desire of companies to target customers across the globe. Controlling population will adversely affect globalization, as international companies would cut on their international trade because of the decreased number of customers.
Migration concerns: Some industrialized nations are in desperate need of human resources. Such national will save overpopulated nations in times of war, famine, diseases, and during tough economic conditions. Controlled migration would play a great role in vacating people from densily-populated regions instead of denying someone a chance to live.
Positive effects of increasing global population
Enhanced global economy: One of the main factors that businesses consider is the end user of their products and services. An increasing global population is a clear indication of the growth and development of a flourishing business (Campbell, Merrick, & Yazbeck, 2006).
Fulfilling human rights: Human beings will be happiest if they have the freedom to bear their desired number of children. Their religious concerns and the fulfillment of God’s desires will happiness and contentedness in the human fraternity.
Remedy for innovations and inventions: Human being will work hard to ensure that they feed, educate, and provide for their children. The survival for the fittest proposition will take full effect, whereby, in the process of working hard, human beings will innovate and invent new ideas that are very essential in global development.
Human resources: An increase in population indicates that there are plenty of human resources, which are necessary for the evolution of the world economy. Indeed, some nations with inadequacy of human resources can have the opportunity to outsource human resources.
Dismissal of false allegations: Many people associate increasing population with poverty and hunger. The allegation is somewhat false as some nations are highly populated yet they are able to come up with upgraded ideas to handle their issues in a simplified manner (Zhu, 2005). Many hands make work easier, and an increasing population would work towards simplifying problems.
Main problems of immense population
Poverty: It is evident that an increasing population strains the government. The little revenue that the government collects is used to import foodstuff instead of investing in development. The cycle continues and such nations will always remain poor with the increasing population (Birdsall, Kelley, & Sinding, 2001).
Health issues: In the third world nations, health care facilities are limited. Therefore, women who bear children uncontrollably do not access medical attention whenever needed. Such women are prone to health complications, and infant mortality is considerably high. The children who are lucky to survive would be malnourished, unhealthy, and unproductive (Glasier & Gülmezoglu, 2006).
Unemployment is a major issue in developing nations that have more human resources than needed. The learned youths are frustrated because of the lack of employment opportunities within their country.
Internal conflicts and wars: Conflicts are likely to arise in an overtly populated region with idlers. The idlers will argue of some negligible stuff and create endless problems that lead to recurrent wars.
Most third world nations with high populations have a great gap between the rich and the poor. The poor will always do menial jobs for the wealthy individuals and earn their little pay because they have no otherwise. The wealthy individuals will mistreat the poor workers, pay them poorly, and continue earning massive profits from their hard labor.
Potential problems of global population
World hunger: With the increasing population, there is a possibility of reaching a point where the available food will be inadequate to feed the entire population (Gwatkin, Rutstein, Johnson, Suliman, & Wagstaff, 2003).
Increased crime rates: An increasing population will mean that at some point, there will be inadequate resources to cater for the needs of every person. Therefore, the people who lack a share of the national cake would opt to join crime troops to steal from the wealthy individuals to earn a living.
Environmental deprivation: An increasing population will lead to overuse and overexploitation of the available resources (Alexandratos, 2005). Therefore, the increasing demands of the increasing population may strain the natural resources without adding value, which is a great threat for future generations.
Political instability: Most leaders in developing nations encourage people to bear many children so that they can have many votes. The ethnically based political aspect would lead to political uproars if one of the ethnic groups decides to control births. Therefore, such nations are susceptible to political instability issues in future.
Collapse of the ecosystem: The increasing population increases consumption rates, where, people may have to clear the natural environment to grow crops (Paige, 2004). The increasing population will endanger the lives of rare animal species and indigenous vegetation cover.
Solutions to avoid the problems without reducing the global population
The potential issue of world hunger is solvable if nations agree to work together. Wealthy nations should make it their obligation to educate developing nations of the methods of increasing agricultural productivity using new technologies.
Nations can reduce crime rates if they improvise ways to ensure there is equal distribution of the scarce resources. Governments should employ social safety measures to prevent crime incidences instead of fighting with criminals.
It is evident that some parts of the world have inadequate human resources. The population policy makers can find ways of transferring some people from overcrowded nations to regions that have deficits of human resources (Schultz, 2003).
Poverty is an issue in most developing nations. However, population is not to blame because most developing nations have not fully exploited their natural resources. Developed nations should help the poor nations to exploit their resources and employ the latest technologies to reap maximally and sustain the growing population.
Political instability based on ethnicity and population is solvable through enlightenment of the entire population. Political education, modernization, and civilization of citizens of nations that are susceptible to political uproars would be a great way to address political instability issues.
Governments should make it their obligation to add value to the existing natural resources, and exploiting of new resources to prevent the problem of overexploitation.
Governments should make it their obligation to ensure that their citizens access medical attention. In fact, high infant mortality rates are a threat to the global population, and governments should seek for help from global health organizations to address the issue.
If people adopted the modern agricultural techniques that do not require much land, they could save the ecosystem. Greenhouse farming, hybrid farming, and all forms of urban farming techniques would need less space than the traditional farming techniques that require large pieces of land.
The internal conflicts and wars resulting from idleness are solvable if governments of such nations improvised ways of occupying the minds of the idlers. Devolution and creation of industries would offer the idlers with some manual job opportunities and they would have little time for conflicts and wars.
The governments should improvise strict laws that protect the workers. Employers who mistreat or underpay their workers should face criminal charges and have their companies closed if they cannot adhere to the employment laws (Bongaarts, 2004). Whistleblower policies will also play a great role in protecting the employees.
References
Alexandratos, N. (2005). Countries with rapid population growth and resource constraints: Issues of food, agriculture, and development. Population Development Review, 31(3), 237-258. Web.
Birdsall, N., Kelley, A.C., & Sinding, S.W. (2001). Population matters: Demographic change, economic growth, and poverty in the developing world. South Melbourne, Vic: Oxford University Press. Web.
Bongaarts J. (2004). Population policy options in the developing world. Science, 263(1), 771-776. Web.
Caldwell, J.C., Phillips, J.F., & Barkat, K. (2002). The future of family planning programs. Family Planning Studies Journal, 33(3), 1-10. Web.
Campbell, W. A., Merrick, R.W., &Yazbeck, A.S. (2006). Reproductive health: The missing millennium development goal. Washington, DC: The World Bank. Web.
Glasier, A., & Gülmezoglu, M. (2006). Putting sexual and reproductive health on the agenda. Lancet, 10(16), 140-185. Web.
Gordon, L. (2003). Woman’s Body, Woman’s Right. New York: Penguin Press. Web.
Gwatkin, D.R., Rutstein, S., Johnson, K., Suliman, E.A., & Wagstaff, A. (2003). Initial country level information about socio-economic differences in health, nutrition, and population. Washington, DC: The World Bank. Web.
Knudsen, L. (2006). Reproductive Rights in a Global Context. Nashville, TN: Vanderbilt University Press. Web.
Louhiala, P. (2004). Preventing intellectual disability: Ethical and clinical issues. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Web.
Paige, W. E. (2004). Global Population Policy. Aldershot, England: Ashgate Publishing. Web.
Robinson, W. C., & Ross, J.A. (2007). The global family planning revolution: Three decades of population policies and programs. Washington, DC: World Bank Publications. Web.
Schultz, T.P. (2003). Investments in the schooling and health of women and men: Quantities and returns. Journal of Human Resource, 28(2), 694-734. Web.
Sen, G., Germain, A., & Chen, L.C. (2004). Population Policies Reconsidered: Health, Empowerment and Rights. Boston: Harvard University Press. Web.
Zhu, B.P. (2005). Effect of inter-pregnancy interval on birth outcomes: Findings from three recent US studies. International Journal of Gynecology Obstetessi, 89(5), 25–33. Web.
Population ageing refers to the aspect of a society in which the number of the elderly people past the retirement age is continually increasing with respect to the total population. An ageing population is normally characterized by increased percentage of the categorized older people in a given society. This paper seeks to discuss the topic of population ageing in Canada.
The paper will look into aspects of population ageing in Canada in terms of its causes and impacts as well as policies that should be considered in order to alleviate possible problems that the population ageing may cause in Canada.
The Canadian Demography
The structure of the Canadian demography is majorly determined by the country’s aspects of birth rate, mortality rates, life expectancy, emigration from the country and immigrations into the country. The birth rate and the total period fertility are statistical projections calculated from past records of a society. The two elements describe the average number of children that is expected of a woman in her lifetime.
The trend in birth rate in Canada can be categorically described in three groups due to the similarity in past and projected patterns that is realized. The birth rates of women between the ages of twenty and twenty seven has a characteristic decreasing trend in the past observed data with a similarly decreasing trend which is almost stagnant in the projected statistics.
The category of women ranging from twenty eight years old to thirty two years has experienced a decreasing trend in birth rate which however picked up in the year 2005 and is projected to increase in future. The other category is the age group of thirty three to thirty nine years who have experienced an increasing past trend in birth rate and a corresponding increasing projection in the future periods of time.
The total period fertility of the country registered a decreasing trend up to the year 2001 before rising until the year 2010 with further projected increase. The average birth rate has been significantly low, decreasing from 1.7 percent in the early 1990s to almost one percent in the year 2003 before slightly increasing (Dungan and Murphy, 2010).
The Canadian population is recorded to have a fair balance in terms of gender. The death rates in Canada also exhibit a trend that slightly varies across different ages. The death rate in Canada has fairly been constant at the age group of between thirty to thirty nine years. This rate is also projected to remain constant.
Age group between forty to fifty nine years has averagely experienced a reduced death rate which is projected to decrease over the future. However, the older generation has over the past experienced a fluctuating death rate which retained the general decreasing tendency with a smoothly decreasing projection. The average death rate is significantly noted to be relatively higher in males than in females.
The life expectancy in the country has on the other hand been constantly increasing with a corresponding increase in its projections. It is again notable that the life expectancy is relatively higher in women than in men through out the considered statistics (Dungan and Murphy, 2010).
Emigration of Canadians as well as the number of those returning from foreign countries has been slightly fluctuating in the past years at less that two percent with a prediction of constant percentage figures. Immigration into the country has been oscillating with convergence to 0.7 percent at which it is projected to stabilize in future.
The Canadian population is therefore identified to be majorly dependent on the birth rate and the life expectancy which is a factor to mortality rate. The reduced birth rate towards the end of the twentieth century together with the generally increasing life expectancy reflects a threat to a shift in the demographic structure of the country with the tendency of an ageing population (Dungan and Murphy, 2010).
Possible causes of the Ageing population in Canada
The major determinants of the Canadian economy are identified to be the birth rate and the mortality rate with life expectancy determining the structure of the population.
Studies under economics have revealed a paradox that contrary to the perception that improved national economies which is reflected in living standards and conditions should encourage and support higher rate of population increase, it has been noted that wealthy countries have been characterized by reduced number of children.
It is recorded that the birth rates in developed countries have over the past years reduced from about eight percent to almost one percent in the current periods. This together with the increased life expectancy is significantly transforming the demographic patterns of these countries. A comparison of demographics indicates a transition in the structure and composition of populations.
Four decades ago, the human development index was generally low across the globe with the highest possibly being realized in Canada at almost 0.9. The trend in Canada is realized to be characterized by reduced fertility rate under its high human development index. With the low fertility rates of almost one percent, the population of Canada is threatened by significant reduction since the rate is relatively lower that the mortality rates.
The reduced birth rate has been a result of women empowerment that has witnessed their active engagement in employment activities. As a consequence, women moved to control their birth rates as a step to adjusting in their active role in economic activities. The result of the controlled birth rate is a shrinking population characterized by a relatively lower percentage of the young people in the country (Economist, 2009).
Impacts of Ageing Population in Canada
Population trend in Canada and many other developed countries has also shifted in terms of its relevance to the economies. In the early periods and up to the mid times of nineteenth century, when a number of countries started to introduce pension schemes, the life expectancies in variety of countries were generally low and people rarely reached old age.
This view represented societies where every one was actively participating in the economy. The imminent impacts of the demographic change include the general reduction of the total population and the emergence of an economically less active population. The reduced population will as a result reduce the labor force in the economy leading to labor shortage.
The shift in the population pattern also has the effect of reducing labor supply as the majority of the population will be too old to work, or even if they are fixed into the economy, they will not effectively yield the output that could have been realized from a younger employee. The impacts have not yet been felt, though expected to heavily impact the economy if no action is taken to avert the situation.
Another significant problem is the expenditure on the elderly who will be economically passive and will depend on either government’s pension schemes or on family members for support (The Economist, 2009).
Possible Policies to Alleviate Impacts of Ageing Population
One of the possible measures of averting the imminent labor shortage in the future Canada, and any other country faced with the problem of an ageing population, is the importation of labor by encouraging immigration.
Solution could also be achieved through developing policies that will encourage women to have more children to increase the population of the young as well as recycling retirees into the economy (Economist, 2009).
Conclusion
The ageing population is evident in Canada. Caused by reduced birth rate and increased life expectancy, the changed demography is a threat to the country’s economy and necessary policies should be adopted to avert future labor shortage in Canada.
References
Dungan, P and Murphy, S. (2010). A Population Projection for Canada with an Updated Application to Health Care Expenditures. Toronto: University of Toronto.
What promotes exponential population growth? What constrains exponential population growth?
The exponential population growth gives rise to many concerns because researchers believe that the existing resources are limited. Thus, the increasing number of people can lead to significant risks such as food insecurity and violent conflicts between and within various states. There are several factors that contribute to this process; for instance, one can speak about the improvement of healthcare, increasing life expectancy, and the growing availability of food in various developing countries (Botkin & Keller, 2014). In contrast, there are factors that limit population growth. For example, one can mention economic instability, growing availability of contraceptives, unemployment, violent conflicts, and changing lifestyles of people.
What is carrying capacity? What will occur if carrying capacity is exceeded?
The term carrying capacity is defined as the maximum population of species that the environment can sustain (Botkin & Keller, 2014, p. 8). This term is usually applied in demographic studies. Predictions about demographic trends in developed and developing countries differ significantly. For example, the population of advanced countries can increase due to the inflow of immigrants, lower infant mortality rate, and higher life expectancy. In contrast, the population of developing states can grow due to some improvements in healthcare and a higher fertility rate. If the carrying capacity is exceeded, the environment can sustain significant damages. Moreover, there is a risk of violent conflicts.
Reference List
Botkin, D., & Keller, E. (2014). Environmental Science: Earth as a Living Planet. New York, NY: Wiley.
Thomas Malthus, a notable demographer and economist, proposed a population growth theory almost over 200 years ago which still attracts much attention. His prediction mainly comprised of a time where population would outrun the food supply resulting in a decline in food per person. The outcome of such a situation is mass starvation. This theory was based on the fact that population grows at a geometric rate, if unrestrained, whereas food at an arithmetic rate, causing a scare of possible mass starvation.
Mass starvation, simply put, is the shortage of food supply for the masses ultimately resulting in death. It often arises due to the inability to exchange their precious possession, usually money, for food. The term “mass starvation” can also sometimes be used interchangeably with famine.
Overpopulation, of humans as well as animals, is a condition that arises when the number of inhabitants of a region exceeds the capacity that can be supported by that region. It may be because of high birth rates, reduction in the number of deaths due to advancement in medical facilities, depletion of resources or increasing immigration.
Mass starvation due to overpopulation, I believe, is a real danger for humans and steps need to be taken to prevent such a catastrophe. Overpopulation of mainly humans and to some extent of animals, contributes the greatest to the issue of mass starvation as seen in the recent times, thus proving Malthus’s theory to be correct.
Mass starvation, as seen in the light of Mathus’s theory, poses to be a real danger for people the world over. It generally affects all classes of the country or region where the shortage of food supply has occurred. However, there may be some regions that may be more severely affected than others.
Hunger mortality statistics have shown that 1 person dies every one second due to starvation. 4000 persons die every one hour. 100000 people die every day. Almost 36 million people die every year (Ziegler 2001).
History
The world population in the past 200 years or so has seen to be grown exponentially. It has been predicted that by the year 2600 population would be heightened at such a level that people would be standing shoulder to shoulder (Hawking 2007). Population of animals, including humans, in general has arisen tremendously over the past few decades.
In the year 1958, population outran the food supply resulting in severe shortages of food. Laws of demand and supply for food worked in such a way so as to drive up the food costs immensely. Inflation heightened. From then onwards, the world saw mass starvation in a number of regions. In 1966, the world population grew by about 70 million in a single year. The food supply however remained the same compared to the preceding year.
Fasted growth rates in population were seen during the 1950s for a short period in time. In 1960s and 1970s these growth rates were observed for longer periods of time. It is during the agricultural and industrialization periods that life expectancy was increased. Growth was maximized when better medical and sanitation facilities were provided to the masses. The gap between the rate of deaths and births widened to a great extent during this time. 1985-1990 was a time when population grew the fastest annually.
Africa, Ethiopia and India have seen some of the worst starvation periods in history. Africa has just crossed the 1 billion mark in population recently and India stands at number 2 in the world’s most populated countries. Other countries suffer starvation as a result of overpopulation are China, Pakistan, and a few other Asian countries. China is the world’s most populated country and Pakistan is in one of the top ten.
Causes and Effects
In recent times, third world countries are seen to be facing scarcity of food supplies due to their increasing population. These countries have a wide gap between the rich and the poor and it seems to be on the constant increase. This proves to be detrimental as a considerably major chunk of their population is left to starve and die eventually.
There are a number of drawbacks that arise as a result. U.S. is pressurized into producing more food in order to save the dying masses. These third world countries are becoming increasingly dependant on food aids supplied by developed countries since their food supplies are insufficient to support their population.
Developing countries rely heavily on food imports from the U.S. U.S. may be able to adhere to their needs for a while. But there is only so much it can do and the food imports are nowhere enough to what is actually required. U.S. agricultural surpluses are gone and the idea of increasing production in its already highly efficient agricultural system would not seem to work.
Another problem that has arisen is that due to the increasing production to meet the food shortages, the quality of farmlands is being compromised. Certain pests have come into existences that are immune to pesticides causing destruction of farmlands. Harmful chemicals like DDT find their way into the food chain which is hazardous for the masses.
In order to prevent the masses from starvation and famine, developed countries are striving for efficient and effective mechanisms to produce food in order to save the dying people. Increased industrialization and deforestation have occurred which has given way to numerous environmental problems. “Greenhouse effect” is one of them. Greenhouse effect results in global warming. Infrared radiations are trapped by greenhouse gases resulting in an increase in the global temperature (Brown, Laws 2003). Ozone layer is being depleted increasing the risk of people contracting diseases such as cancer.
Mass starvation also leads to a sort of rebound where more births take place in the post-starvation period, which is why population growth does not decrease. A long term effect of mass starvation might be emigration where people move out of regions with food shortages into areas where there is availability of food putting a pressure of those areas.
Numerous food riots are taking place in several regions of the world in order to acquire food supplies forcefully. Organizations that provide food supplies to people work with limited resources in order to counter the rising levels of food insecurity among the masses and face a number of difficulties.
Overpopulation of animals seen in the recent years has given way to lesser food available to humans. Farms can be destroyed by animals and they may eat away the crops grown to serve the masses dying of starvation. This worsens the problem of starvation. Grazing of animals and collection of firewood becomes a problem when stray animals are around.
Extinction of some animal and plant species has occurred due to deforestation in order to make use of land. It is also because of pollution of the ecological environment caused by increased human activities. Countries face a lot of other problems due to mass starvation. These are frustration, criminal activities, illegal means of acquiring foods and murder.
Following are some other consequences that may arise when overpopulated regions face mass starvation:
Poverty
Decreased levels of literacy rate
Unemployment problems that may give rise to other social problems
Malnourishment
Diseases
GDP is low
Unhygienic living conditions
War
Pollution
The notion that technology is the solution to many problems is not always correct. Technology has further fuelled the population growth as it has helped in curing diseases and saving lives and increased food production because of increased fertilizer and pesticide usage (Hanauer 1998). In some cases, where technology may help, poor countries cannot afford it.
The Earth has only limited resources to offer. With overpopulation, it is almost impossible to have enough land to feed billions of people. Millions are left to starve as a result. And with unchecked population growth, these millions of people are soon turned into billions with the land losing its strength in producing food.
What Needs To Be Done?
A lot of work needs to be done in order to avoid the mass starvation catastrophe. The key to putting an end to mass starvation is undoubtedly the control of population growth levels. It seems to be the root cause of the problem.
Population growth may be controlled in a number of ways. The first and foremost step to take is educating people on family planning. This needs to be encouraged in third world countries as literacy rates are observed to be lower there compared to developed countries. Adults have been brought up in big families and they believe bigger families are their road to happiness. Population growth has detrimental effects on society and this fact needs to be pointed out to people. Family planning may be done by the use of contraceptives. These may include the use of condom, birth control pills, vaginal ring, and IUD (The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists 2009). People require greater and easy access to these facilities. Legalization of abortion may also control the levels of population growth to some extent. However, safe and hygienic ways must be ensured.
Women need to be encouraged on gaining higher education and becoming more career oriented, which would delay their marriage and hence reduce their fertility period. This would give them a chance to think more about themselves than their domestic lives.
As pointed out earlier, overpopulation is an effect of granting the right to immigration to people. The U.S. has seen an increase in its population mainly due to this reason. Therefore, the immigration policies need to be altered in order to avoid future problems.
Certain governmental policies may also be incorporated into the system in order to free the stress of overpopulated nations. The one child policy in China seems to work well for them. Similar steps should be taken by other countries. Certain measures should also be taken place in order to correct the consequences of overpopulated nations.
Farmers need support in order to enhance their food production. This can be done by giving them subsidized fertilizers and seed or even free of cost if possible in areas where food insecurity persists. U.S. and Europe have known to be doing this.
Food aid should be provided by stable developed countries in order to ease the problem of starvation in developing nations. Some organizations have played a very vital role in helping countries relieve from starvation problems. Agencies that provide direct help to individuals in the developing nations have proven to be beneficial. Some political organizations have also put a pressure on government in order to come up with policies that will reduce the starvation levels.
Developing environmental friendly technologies that would aid in production of food, yet not causing harm to the environment. Rewards may also be given out to companies incorporating environmental practices in their operations.
Education on self control is also extremely important. Awareness programs dealing with these issues, where the benefits of a lesser population are highlighted, should be encouraged all around the world.
A check needs to be put on animal overpopulation which gives some contribution to mass starvation of humans. Continuous hunting of these animals in order to satisfy food requirements may ultimately result in extinction of the animals. Whales came to a near extinction a few years back due to this reason. Animal overpopulation may also cause inconvenience in other aspects such as stray and dangerous dogs let lose on the streets, ill treatment of animals arising as a result of overpopulation. Controlled breeding, sterilization and neutering are a few steps to ensure safety and protection of the environment.
Better and efficient utilization of resources should take place. The resources of the Earth are limited as it is. They should under no circumstances go to waste.
Conclusion
Low population, no doubt, proves to be beneficial to the health of the society. A highly populated society leads to a very dangerous issue, that is, the problem of mass starvation. It is extremely difficult to take initiatives towards curbing population. However, change has become a necessity or else everyone in the world would suffer the problems of starvation.
The positive effects of population control methods if incorporated today would actually be observed in the next hundred years or so. Therefore, the plans must be put into action now or the world will face terrible consequences of mass starvation due to unchecked population growth as suggested by Thomas Malthus.
References
Jean Ziegler (2001). The Right to Food: Report by the Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food. Commission on Human Rights Resolution. United Nations. Pg. 5.
Kerry P. Browne, Priscilla W. Laws (2003). Exploring the greenhouse effect though physics-oriented activities. IOP Electronic Journals. Physics Education.
Michael G. Hanauer (1998). Overpopulation and Overconsumption: Where Should We Focus?. NPG Forum Series. Pg. 3.
Stephen Hawking (2007). Too Close for Comfort: Overpopulation. Jane Genovese. Chapter 4 pg. 38.
The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (2009). Contraception. Fact Sheet: Tool Kit for Teen Care. Second Edition, pg. 2.
The article “The Prevalence of Paraphilic Interests and Behaviors in the General Population: A Provincial Survey” examines an issue that past scholars have ignored. Joyal and Carpentier (2017) begin by identifying paraphilic sexual desires as anomalous and unusual. Most of the people affected by this issue will tend to experience intense sexual feelings or arousal to objectives, individuals, situations, and fantasies that are abnormal. Unfortunately, very few studies have succeeded in examining the occurrence and prevalence of paraphilic tendencies in nonclinical settings. The authors of this study wanted to examine the experience and desire for paraphilic tendencies in men and women. They also wanted to consider how individuals could describe their experiences when interviewed via landline telephone and online platforms.
The selected 1,040 individuals presented divergent views that shed more light of the targeted topic. For instance, around 50 percent of these respondents revealed that they were interested in different paraphilic activities (Joyal & Carpentier, 2017). Additionally, around one-third of such individuals had engaged in such a practice at least once in their lives (Joyal & Carpentier, 2017). Some of the outlined paraphilic categories included masochism, fetishism, voyeurism, and frotteurism (Joyal & Carpentier, 2017). The researchers also observed that both men and women were engaged in different paraphilic acts.
The recorded gains and observations were unusual and unexpected. For instance, the scholars revealed that the selected issue affected around 15.9 percent of the sample population (Joyal & Carpentier, 2017). Such an outcome could describe the nature of the selected practice and how it affected the experiences of many individuals. The findings also indicated that men and women were involved in masochism and fetishism (Joyal & Carpentier, 2017). The completed analysis also indicated that masochism was a paraphilic sexual interest capable of delivering the highest level of satisfaction.
The article has revealed that a significant percentage of members of the society engage in paraphilic interests. Such a practice emerged because most of the individuals were willing to be part of the process. This initiative also resonated with the sexual life and experience of the individuals (Joyal & Carpentier, 2017). These findings shed more light on what ought to become the acceptable form of sexual behavior. Professionals can utilize such ideas to empower most of the affected individuals and take them closer to their goals.
The next observation made from the completed study was that the respondents recruited for the online survey offered honest views. These individuals generated noticeable acknowledgement regarding personal paraphilic interests and experiences. On the other hand, those interviewed via telephones were unwilling to provide honest responses and answers (Joyal & Carpentier, 2017). Consequently, the researchers supported the use of online-based studies and researches to collect timely and meaningful information.
The completed study revealed that there was a thin line between what could be identified as normophilic and anomalous sexual behavior. A detailed analysis of the recorded differences can encourage community members to appreciate the nature of this issue (Joyal & Carpentier, 2017). The acquired information is also applicable in different settings to guide counselors, parents, and scholars to place this topic within its proper context. The collected information and discussions can also guide different people to arrive at a consensus and be able to draw a line between what ought to be paraphilic behavior and usual sexual interest.
Uninsured and underinsured children population have great negative impact on health and the economic productivity in any given state. In a health care organization dealing with pandemic childhood disease, increased rates of uninsured children population has negative impacts. Children insurance health care programs are very important in any state that wants to experience increased health and economic productivity. Insured children population especially on employer based plans or based on community support services have several benefits hence contribute in the development of state’s economy productivity especially in health sector.
However, the implementation of community support services and proper communication with the stakeholders; the community and the government, can help the organization in overcoming risks associated with increased uninsured and underinsured children population (Henry & Hogan, 2007).
Health care insurance provides increased safety in the health care. With the current economic turndown, most families are cutting down expenses on Medicare expenses, by not enrolling their children in any health care insurance program hence resulting to the increased number of uninsured or underinsured children in the community. However, failure to have uninsured children population poses higher health risk to both their parents and the government and organizations. The economic strain hitting the state has resulted to 2.5% increase of uninsured children population.
Most of the children population that are at a higher risk of being uninsured include; children from minority ethnic or racial groups, and children form families with low income (Lubkin, 2002). Several procedures can be used in reducing the negative impacts resulting due to increased uninsured children population to health care organizations especially dealing with pediatric activities. Some of these procedures include development of community support services, explaining to the community on the impact the uninsured population can have on the state’s healthy and economic development and even to this organization.
How to overcome the risks
Development of community support services
Since most of the uninsured children population are from minor racial and ethnic groups and families with low family income, development of community support services can be one of the possible ways of reducing negative impacts uninsured children population have on health and the state’s economy (Frances, 2005). The community support services employed should ensure they have lowered the eligibility limits to a point where most of the interested families with low income can comfortably join.
Communication with stakeholders
To reduce the negative impacts of uninsured healthcare population it’s important that the organization discusses the condition with the affect group of people. The organization should show the affected population the importance of insuring children rather than avoiding insuring them as a way of cutting down expenses. Uninsured children population has negative health implications especially during a disease outbreak. Since this organization health care objective is to regulate the spread of pandemic diseases, it will be hard for it to achieve this objective unless the issue of uninsured children population is discussed.
Financial Impact of the uninsured and underinsured children population on this organization
The organization has incurred huge losses in trying to regulate pandemic disease in a population with over 70% of uninsured children population and 12% of underinsured children population. In most cases, the organization incurs huge losses after offering their health care services to children from low income families who end up being unable to pay for the expenses. Development of community support services has however had positive financial impact to this health care organization since this support services are able to cater for the expenses which the child’s family can not afford.
Risk to the organization if uninsured /underinsured rates continue to rise at 2-3% over the next five years
If Uninsured and underinsured children population continue to raise by 2-3% over the next five years, the health care organization will be faced with are risk of becoming bankrupt. However if the community health support services are developed and catch up well, the organization will be assured of secured finances (Charles, & Giammona, 2009). Hence, instead of being impacted negative by the increased rates of uninsured children population it will act as a heaven for more families seeking an alternative for ensuring quality health care.
Initiatives for building the organization strength to meet these risks
For the health care organization to be able to overcome risks resulting due to 2-3% increase of the uninsured children population, they need to ensure there are strong communities healthy support services in place that can help its members in paying for the expenses (Smith, 2000). In addition, the organization should ensure they have explained to all stakeholders on the importance of having health care insurance for children especially on regulating pandemic childhood diseases.
Ability of the organization to respond to risks
With the current leadership and management style, an organization’s ability to respond to risks associated with increased rates of uninsured and underinsured children population is not effective (Smith, 2000). This is because the organization uses closed leadership style in managing its activities hence it will be difficult to organization members to be fully committed in ensuring the organization overcomes such barriers.
Conclusion
Analytical summary
Uninsured children population has numerous negative impacts on an organization’s objectives of reducing pandemic childhood diseases hence for an organization to be successful it should device new ways of overcoming possible risks.
However, with the implementation of proper community support services and proper communication with the stakeholders; the community and the government, can help the organizations in overcoming the risks associated with increased uninsured and underinsured children population.
References list
Charles, D. & Giammona, M. (2009). A model for improving uninsured children access to health insurance. US: Health care management press.
Frances, A. (2005). Health for families and populations. Elsevier Health sciences.
Henry, J. & Hogan, A. (2007). Improving access to health care: What can the states do? Michigan: W.E. Upjohn employment research institute press.
Lubkin, I. (2002). Chronic illness: Impact and interventions. Jones & Bartlett publishers.
Smith, C. (2000). Community Health nursing. University of Michigan: Saunders publishers.
The underinsured are those individuals that have access to health benefits that are not capable of taking care of all their medical expenses. Under normal circumstances these individuals do not realize that they are underinsured until they are hit by an illness that demands costly medical expenses that can not be met by their benefits. Underinsurance is a situation that often develops from the following situations: a case where an individual is covered by an employer insurance plan as their personal benefits are insufficient; where individuals have purchased coverage plans that cover only specific medical needs; where individuals purchase policies that come along with substantial deductions or co-expenses; or in the case where individuals buy policies that cover them for only a given period of time. (Collins, Kriss, Doty & Rustgi, 2008)
Body
According to health records the number of underinsured people is on the rise covering people on the middle and lower income classes; within the age group 19 and 64; spending above 10% and 5% of their earnings on out of pocket medical expenses for the middle and low-class earners respectively; often low-income adults; the sick and aged who are not eligible for Medicare. It is also worth noting that the amount of premiums individuals pay is based on their demographic characteristic traits like age; gender and health status except only in 18 states. (Gabel & McDevitt, 2009)
Among the needs and health practices of the underinsured and the uninsured include: avoiding going to the doctor or signing for prescriptions for the fear of not affording the expenses; encounter by health related debts among other substantial financial problems and can only purchase time limited insurance plans. Another distinctive need of the underemployed and the unemployed is that they are individuals that need special medical attention like the aged and the sickly. (Doty, Collins, Rustgi & Kriss, 2008)
The organizations that will be directly affected by the uninsured and underinsured population include: the insurers who will be required by legislation to set insurance repayments on the minimum so as to cover all economic groups; the law enforcers who will have to enforce the new health regulations on the insurers; employers who will have to pay for policy coverage of employees by the law, and Medicaid institutions who will be required by law to take care of the disabled and poor; (Doty, Collins, Rustgi & Kriss , 2008)
Medi-cal as an organization is directly affected by the uninsured and underinsured; has the mission of providing deserving individuals and families that are short of resources and low-earners with healthcare. Medi-cal is funded by the central government and divisions of the California state, but is managed by the federal government. The community position of Medi-cal is serving citizens and resident foreigners who constitute low-earning adults and their families as well as individuals with definite disabilities. Medi-cal often covers medical expenses of aging and nursing homes and operates as a health care support program using the title XIX of the social security act. (Collins, Kriss, Doty & Rustgi, 2008)
Medi-cal made a partnership for long-term care with the help of the “Robert Wood Johnson Foundation” to protect the people of California from spending all their savings on long-term care. In July 2009 medi-cal as a measure to avoid over-dependence on its health plan; cancelled dental insurance for people above the age of 21. (Gabel & McDevitt, 2009)
Conclusion
Underinsurance as the inability of individuals to fund their medical expenses is a problem on the increase and is a situation that not only demands the intervention of government authorities; but also the involvement of other institutions and key players in the insurance and health provision sectors.
Reference list
Collins, S., Kriss, J., Doty, M. and Rustgi, S. (2008) Losing Ground: How the Loss of Adequate Health Insurance Is Burdening Working Families: Findings from the Commonwealth Fund Biennial Health Insurance Surveys, 2001–2007, The Commonwealth Fund.
Doty, M., Collins, S., Rustgi, D. and Kriss, J. (2008).Seeing Red: The Growing Burden of Medical Bills and Debt Faced by U.S. Families, The Commonwealth Fund.
Gabel, J. and McDevitt, R. (2009) “Trends in Underinsurance and the Affordability of Employer Coverage, 2004–2007″. Health Affairs.
Uninsured refers to the state whereby people do not take into account health insurance for their families or even themselves. Based on studies which have been carried out it is clear that the rate of uninsured among the rural population has continued to increase day by day. This is not only realized in rural population there are also cases of lack of health insurance covers in urban areas though the percentage is not very high. The number of uninsured people among rural population has continued to increase globally and the increase has negative impacts to different sectors and organizations in the society. (Ziller et al, 2008)
The sector and organizations that are highly affected by the increased rate are related to health care and the providers of health insurance, most of the investors in these organizations are affected greatly by the increased rates. Basically the continued increase in the rate of uninsured among the rural population has continued to raise high concerns in the society and especially to the sectors and organizations that are directly affected. (Ziller et al, 2008)
Uninsured group and demographics
The rural population is the group under discussion for this study, what has highly triggered the study is the continued increase of the percentage of the population in rural areas that does not have health insurance covers. Though not each and every person in the rural population who does not have health insurance the largest percentage almost 90 percent of the population is not insured. The large rural population that is not insured and the continued increase over the time is what has continued to raise concerns to the general public, policy makers as well as service providers. (Ziller et al, 2008)
Since the cases of uninsured are not only for rural population there are certain common characteristics that are associated with most of the people who are uninsured. Whether rural or urban the people who are highly affected are predominantly the low- income working Americans and their families. The reason as to why this group of people is highly affected is because most of them do not get insurance cover from work place. The main reason for this is that most of the low-income employers do not provide the cover and at the same time many of them can not afford the insurance cover.
Based on surveys and research conducted in United States it is clear that percentage or the number of the uninsured people in United States has continued to increase year after year in rural areas. According to population survey which was carried out in September 2002 the uninsured population was 43.7 million Americans, when the figure is compared to 2001 survey which showed 41.2 million the difference between the two figures is 2.5 million which reflects an increase of 14.6 percent. This reflects great increase in a span of one year. From these two surveys it is clear that the rate continues to increase year after year hence increasing concern of the affected sectors and organizations in this particular business sector. (Ziller et al, 2008)
Impact on rural health care providers
Growth limitation
The increased lack of insurance cover on rural population has great impact in different sectors in the society together with the different organizations under those sectors. Among the sectors is health care whereby the rural health care providers are affected negatively by this increase. First and foremost the potential and health insurance status of the population determines the number of health care providers that can be found in a given area. When the number is minimal it means that the service providers will also be minimal since the number of patients to serve is minimal. When the case is the other way round it is possible to find many health care service providers within the same area. This is one of the negative impacts in health care service providers since it limits growth in provision of its services. (Gresenz et al, 2007)
Health insurance status of the population is the determinant of whether and how many and how much health care providers are paid for their services. When the health care providers provide high amounts of uncompensated care they continue to endanger the ability for continued service provision. This is the reason you find that in most rural areas there are heath care providers who set up health care services but in a short period of time they are closed down. (Gresenz et al, 2007)
Low profits
Most of the health care providers that are located in rural areas whereby there is large uninsured population earn low profits. The reason for this is that in most cases they provide these services uncompensated hence what they gain is minimal. The low profits in one way or the other they affect the quality of services provided to the patients. (Gresenz et al, 2007)
Mission and structure
The main mission of health care providers is to provide health care services to the society at affordable cost. This is because good health is essential to the people in the society since it increases productivity. However the mission has been highly affected by the increased cost of products as well as deteriorating economy. (Gresenz et al, 2007)
In order to achieve its mission health care service sector is divided in different sections that provide services for different health issues. However the mission is the same regardless of the services provided. (Gresenz et al, 2007)
Recommendations
In order to avoid the negative impacts facing different sectors and organizations affected by health insurance and at the same time minimize the increasing rates of the uninsured rural population there are things government, policy makers and organizations should do. (Xirasagar et al, 2005)
Sensitize the rural population
Most of the people in the rural areas not that they have no sufficient income to cater for health insurance, the major issue is that most of them do not know the importance and meaning of having health insurance policy. If they can be sensitized on the importance and where to obtain the policies the number of the insured would increase by a great percentage. (Xirasagar et al, 2005)
Reduce cost of health insurance
The cost of obtaining health insurance covers should be minimized to levels that even the common people in the remote rural areas can afford. This is because most of the people are limited by the income they get. Alternatively the health insurance provides should provide insurance covers that are less costly to cater for the low income earners. (Xirasagar et al, 2005)
Conclusion
Good health is essential for people in the society and for that reason health insurance coverage should be made available to all the people in the society including the large populations in the rural areas that are uninsured. The main reason is that lack of health insurance covers has continued to affect negatively different sectors and organizations in the society.
List of references
Gresenz, C., Rogowski, J. & Escarce, J. (2007, Health care markets, the safety net, and utilization of care among the uninsured. Health Services Research, 42(1 Part 1) 239- 264, 2)
Xirasagar, S., Stoskopf, C., Samuels, M., & Lin, H. (2005), Reducing the Numbers of the Uninsured: Policy Implications from State – Level Data Analysis. Journal of Public Health Management & Practice, 11(1), 72-78. 3)
Ziller, E. Coburn, A. Anderson, N., & Loux, S. (2008). Uninsured rural families, Journal of Rural Health, 24(1), 1-11.4)
The population of the world was on the increase during the centuries before the 20th and 21st centuries. However, the two centuries have witnessed population decrease especially in developed countries. This has been referred to as sub-replacement fertility, that is to say, the rate of fertility in an area failing to replace the population of the given area resulting in a low population. This has been praised as it would counter the imbalance created by immigration. This trend has been reported in over 100m different locations in the world. The main places affected were North America, moving to Western and Eastern Europe then to the former Soviet states and finally East Asia, Japan is the leading in the area.
The other parts of the world are slowly witnessing this trend of sub-replacement fertility. Of the new areas witnessed, Iran is the leading showing that the conservative Arab world is embracing change. North Africa has also been affected. This trend has resulted in an aging population. The trend has mainly been brought by globalization and improvement in technology. People are working around the clock and this has resulted in limited free time for childbearing. Life expectancy in developed economies has gone up and thus children to continue one’s lineage have been seen as not a priority
Gender Imbalance
When gender imbalance has been analyzed, China has represented a good illustration. Naturally, the number of boys born at any given time is higher than that of girls. However, this cannot have been the major cause. It was studied that almost all cultures give preference to boys than girls so there is a tendency in the society to try and sire boys. It was also studied that the illiteracy level of the females affected the gender balance. The imbalance was high in urban areas where women were more educated as opposed to rural areas. The one-child policy in China has seen many sex-selective abortions in a bid to have a baby boy.
In the long-run social problems have occurred where young men have lacked girls to marry. Gender imbalance has also been witnessed in other countries like India and also in Europe like Georgia. This case can be attributed to the fewer wars, in contemporary the world and the preference given to boys. In ancient times boys used to perish due to wars where they were viewed as potential future enemies. In the past, the girl child used to outnumber the boy child.
Mortality
The mortality rate has also affected the population increase. Life expectancy in poor countries has drastically gone down. The living culture has changed and diseases that used to be associated with the rich class have become a common person’s ailment. These are like diabetes and cancer. In Africa, HIV/AIDS has become a major cause of death even at childbirth. In Russia deaths out of drugs have become a common phenomenon. It is reported that two-thirds of men found dead were drunk. Some diseases are known to affect boys under the age of five. Poverty in third-world countries is the main cause of mortality.
America’s Demographic Exceptionalism
The American trend of fertility has not been consistent with the rest of the world especially Europe. Higher births have been recorded in the US than in Europe and the population is projected to be higher by 2050. This has had different reasons, some citing the diverse racial representation other citing births outside wedlock. Others have argued it is the high number of immigrants. However, this could have been due to the US being a cosmopolitan nation actively participating in world affairs. Different states could be seen as representing different fertility patterns this is due to the sub autonomy of states.
Eberstadt Views about the US
Eberstadt’s views apply in the US as the population of the US has not exploded yet the US is among the countries with the best living standards. Population in other parts of the world like in Nigeria has exploded in the last century (Ross, 1982), yet that of the US has remained relatively constant. Gender imbalance and mortality cannot be said to affect the US at a significant level rather the fertility rate is the major cause of sub-replacement fertility. The US being a superpower has been at the forefront in technological advancement and maintenance of world peace. It has initiated globalization through various initiatives like web improvement creation of common market with the dollar as the major international currency.
These endeavors have made the US population be workaholics having limited time for vacation and family upbringing. The population has thus remained down. Change of culture and attitude has also seen people preferring small families as opposed to the traditional times (Bulatao 2001). However, the population of the US has grown as opposed to that of Europe and Japan. The world has been faced with difficult times like an economic crunch. Health care policies must therefore be formulated to guarantee all citizens free medical cover. This will also safeguard people from pandemics. By 2040 it is projected the US will be the third most populous nation in the world and so health care must be streamlined to cater to this.
Reference List
Bulatao, A., & Casterline, B. (2001). Global Fertility Transition. USA: Population Council.
Eberstadt, N. (2001). Population, Public Health, and Globalization. USA: American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research. Web.
Ross, A. (1982). International Encyclopedia Of Population Volume 1. USA: Free Press.