[INFORMATIVE] What is Earth’s Maximum Carrying Capacity?
What is Earth’s Maximum Carrying Capacity?
By: Pary Kholmi
Overpopulation occurs when the species’ population exceeds the amount of resources and the carrying capacity of its environment. It often results in scarcity and demand for the environment’s resources, causing inflation. Overpopulation also happens when there is an increase in birth rates and a decline in death rates. Over the years, this issue has worsened as new technology and better healthcare led to increased life spans worldwide; people nowadays are living 10 years longer than the average person did in 1990. Overall, the life expectancy has risen from 72.8 years in 2019 to 77.2 years in 2050. Additionally, another reason for the increased birth rates is early marriages and the lack of reproductive education, mainly in teenagers. This eventually leads to unexpected and unwanted pregnancies among young women. In other areas of the world, especially countries where young children aren’t likely to survive, parents tend to have more children. Finally, not being able to have access to education can contribute to women becoming mothers, as women who need to focus on school and their careers can make them extremely busy without any time to take care of children.
Why is overpopulation a problem?
Overpopulation is a massive issue, as it is a threat to human health and the environment. One of the various ways in which overpopulation harms the environment is that it causes waste, pollution, increased deforestation, and a significant amount of climate change due to greenhouse gas emissions. Due to the enormous population, not many people have access to basic necessities such as food, medical care, resources, and housing, leaving a good chunk of the population in horrible living conditions. As a result, prices continue to increase due to the higher demand for these essential requirements. Although prices get higher, the number of jobs available doesn’t, which leaves many people unemployed and in the absence of a solid income. In such areas where overpopulation occurs, there is also a higher risk of pandemics and other obstacles that affect sustainability.
What are birth rates and death rates, and what is the importance of them?
A birth rate refers to the number of births that take place in a year per thousand of the total population. As for death rates, similarly, a death rate refers to the number of deaths that take place in a year per thousand of the total population. Birth rates and death rates are helpful when it comes to calculating population growth. It is essential to have a balance between birth rates and death rates. If the birth rate remains constant or increases as the death rate decreases, it will result in overpopulation. Whereas if the death rate remains constant or increases as the birth rate decreases, it will result in underpopulation.
Expected World Populations by Year
Only a century ago, there were 2 billion people worldwide. Ever since, the population has grown to over eight billion people globally. Additionally, today’s population makes up 6.5% of the total number of people ever born. As of now, it is known that there is a population of 8 billion people. Eventually, it is expected for the population to reach 9 billion by 2037 and 10 billion by 2061. By the year 2100, it is expected for 10.4 billion people to inhabit the Earth.
What is the Maximum Amount of People the Earth Can Support?
Many scientists believe that Earth has a maximum carrying capacity of around 9 billion to 10 billion people, while others think that the Earth can support 13.4 billion people. Some even think that 10 billion people is the maximum population limit where food is concerned. However, none of these predictions are 100% certain. This is because the carrying capacity is dependent on the amount of resources and space each person takes up and their consumption habits. According to previous studies and its prehistoric technologies, scientists believed that the Earth’s carrying capacity was much lower than 8 billion people, even though we made it this far nowadays.
Conclusion
Overpopulation can cause many negative impacts among communities. However, birth and death rates allow us to become more aware of the population’s growth and decline around the world. Even though predictions of the Earth’s maximum carrying capacity aren’t very accurate, they still allow us to see the generations' expectations of future population sizes based on the technology available and the amount of consumption of resources at the time.
Works Cited
Bish, Joseph. “Overpopulation: Cause and Effect.” Population Media Center, Population Media Center, 25 June 2020, www.populationmedia.org/the-latest/overpopulation-cause-and-effect.
“Define the Terms a Birth Rate and B Death Rate.” Byjus.com, byjus.com/question-answer/define-the-terms-a-birth-rate-and-b-death-rate/.
Kolkowska, Natalia. “How Does Overpopulation Affect Sustainability? Challenges and Solutions.” Earth.org, 15 May 2023, earth.org/overpopulation-sustainability/#:~:text=With%20more%20people%20comes%20more.
“Overpopulation.” Dictionary.cambridge.org, dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/overpopulation.
“Overpopulation: Causes, Effects, FAQs and Other Important Notes!” Testbook, testbook.com/ias-preparation/overpopulation#:~:text=What%20are%20the%20causes%20of.
Ritchie, Hannah, et al. “Population Growth.” Our World in Data, 11 July 2023, ourworldindata.org/population-growth#:~:text=It%20was%20only%20a%20century.
“Study Session 2 Population Growth: View as Single Page.” Www.open.edu, www.open.edu/openlearncreate/mod/oucontent/view.php?id=79927&printable=1#:~:text=Population%20change%20is%20governed%20by.
United Nations. “Global Issues: Population.” United Nations, United Nations, www.un.org/en/global-issues/population.
Wolchover, Natalie. “How Many People Can Earth Support?” NBC News, 11 Oct. 2011, www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna44860924.
“World Population Projections - Worldometer.” Www.worldometers.info, www.worldometers.info/world-population/world-population-projections/#google_vignette.
Comments
Post a Comment