Overpopulation

Every second, five babies are born and two people die in this world. That's an increase of three humans every second. Think about it, three hundred babies are born in just one minute. After a full twenty-four hour day, approximately four hundred and thirty-two thousand babies are jam-packed into this world. A recent survey from the World Population Awareness states, "By 2050, world population is projected to reach nine billion, a 38% jump from today's 6.5 billion, and more than five times the 1.6 billion people believed to have existed in 1900" (Why Population Matters). This is a catastrophe waiting to happen. A problem like this would cause the world to uncontrollably overflow with human life, reduce the already scarce resources hardly available to us, and most importantly, would deny our future parents the chance to have an unlimited amount of children. Of all the major issues facing the world today, overpopulation is one of most damaging, both for economic stability, family well-being, and the environment. Therefore, in order to prevent this catastrophe from occurring, we must promote and actively exercise the use of contraceptives globally.

It is very unfortunate that some of the people in this world are not informed on the importance of population control. Most people are too consumed with other problems, including what family car to purchase, which neighbor would be the best babysitter, or they're questioning who's taking steroids in baseball, rather than the problem of overpopulation. However, are these same people overlooking a major issue that could eventually affect the lives of their children in a larger way?

Everyone must face reality and understand eventually our environmental resources will diminish. It's not a matter of if, but a matter of when. For instance, according to Life Watch Group, "Top scientists predict that at the present population growth, the environment will become uninhabitable in about 100 years as it will irreparably strip the world of its replenishable supplies". This increase for the needs of common resources will eventually cause our resources to be insufficient in maintaining our population's necessities. Overall, as the people in our world multiply, our necessities will undoubtedly become scarcer. For instance, people will lack the availability of fresh water, food, as well as other demanded resources. As global population continues to rise, this problem will approach sooner than we've expected. Therefore, we must control the population now before this problem is out of our own hands.

How would the people in this world go about controlling the global population? First and foremost, we should make birth control information and devices easily accessible for married couples and single people alike. These contraceptives must be taken into consideration because they are one of the only ways to overcome this upcoming catastrophe. As Dr George Crawford, the chairman of the Population Problems Department, states, "It could be that development of a simple, safe, inexpensive, effective and widely acceptable contraceptive would be the greatest contribution we could make to the under-developed nations".

Fortunately, new technology has led to new forms of birth control, many being more effective than its predecessor. However, these contraceptives have not been exposed to the people in our world as effectively as intended. Our world is producing children at a rapid rate and sadly, a large percentage of these births are unwanted. According to the Planned Parenthood, the world annual report for 1970 reported that "700,000 children born each year are unwanted by parents at the time of their conception". A beautiful newborn baby should never be forcefully brought into this world and more importantly never considered "unwanted". Not only is this morally wrong, but this result will have a negative effect on our future world. This extreme number has certainly increased throughout the years and has contributed to the inflammation of our population. Therefore, in order for our population to decrease, we must educate people everywhere in the world about the importance of contraceptives before it is too late.

Contraceptives have been effective in the modern society; however, many countries are still uninformed with these options. Today, most underdeveloped countries are not making their own decisions on what is needed to be done. For instance, the densely populated country of India is currently undergoing the pressures of over population.

Meanwhile its birth rate is well over doubled that in Western Europe, and shows no signs of dropping. If the death rate is cut to the extent that the ministry of Health expects, and if the birth rate remains at its present level, within a few years India's annual increase of population will be some eight million, equivalent to adding a new London each year!

As a result of the effects of mass population, India is also experiencing losses in their necessary resources. India's population is on the verge of starvation; it must increase its production of food by a drastic amount in order to achieve the lowest minimum of consumption. Sadly, at least two-thirds of India's 380 million people are undernourished. Although the option of contraception has been supplied in India, it is obvious the solution has not been taken seriously. Some of the starving inhabitants of India are