Uganda, 2007
Japan, facing an unprecedented level of declining birth rate and aging population, is pressed to carry out industrial structural reform and accelerate measures for social security.
While in Japan "population issues" are almost equivalent to the issues of declining birth rate and aging population, globally, the population still continues to increase and results in shortage of freshwater resources or farmland and underlying causes of conflict in many parts of the world.
In the finite nature of the earth's resources, population stabilization is a prerequisite for living in a harmonious society and addressing our emerging concerns such as global warming and species extinction.
The following topics are reviewed in the perspective of issues regarding population & development:
The goal of the approach to the population issue is not to reduce population. Rather, the goal is to create a society in which each person can live with dignity under humane conditions.
The global population is currently a massive 6.7 billion with this predicted to increase throughout most of this century. A large population once meant national strength and countries under this notion still exist today. However, population size does not automatically translate to national strength under the present economic climate. This is evident when comparing countries of similar population size with their level of development or affluence such as Japan, Nigeria and Bangladesh. A small country such as Denmark with just 5 million has much more international influence than Nigeria and Bangladesh with populations 30 times larger.
Environmental issues, mass urban migration, the energy crisis and water resource shortages are just a few of the emerging problems on a global scale that relate to population increases. Conflict is the worst consequence of over-population and affects not only the country itself and their immediate neighbours, but there are repercussions for the entire world. In many countries that are affected by war and internal conflict, the underlying reasons come from population pressure and environmental degradation that leads to unsustainable practices and resource depletion, which as a result creates more competition for survival.
Stabilising population growth, reducing unsustainable practises globally and reducing over-consumption in the rich countries can reduce the extent of these problems dramatically. Population has such an overarching influence on many of the world's current concerns that through education on reproductive health and family planning, a solution can be found. Although it is important to address each problem individually, these cannot be solved without analysing populations' role as the underlying cause of these problems.