Overpopulation, the situation of having large numbers of people with too few resources and too littlespace, is closely associated with poverty. It can result from high population density, or from low amounts ofresources, or from both. Excessively high population densities put stress on available resources. Only a certainnumber of people can be supported on a given area of land, and that number depends on how much foodand other resources the land can provide. In countries where people live primarily by means of simplefarming, gardening, herding, hunting, and gathering, even large areas of land can support only small numbersof people because these labor-intensive subsistence activities produce only small amounts of food.In developed countries such as the United States, Japan, and the countries of Western Europe,overpopulation generally is not considered a major cause of poverty. These countries produce large quantitiesof food through mechanized farming, which depends on commercial fertilizers, large-scale irrigation, andagricultural machinery. This form of production provides enough food to support the high densities of peoplein metropolitan areas.A country’s level of poverty can depend greatly on its mix of population density and agriculturalproductivity. Bangladesh, for example, has one of the world’s highest population densities, with 1,147 personsper sq km. A large majority of the people of Bangladesh engage in low-productivity manual farming, whichcontributes to the country’s extremely high level of poverty. Some of the smaller countries in Western Europe,such as the Netherlands and Belgium, have high population densities as well. These countries practicemechanized farming and are involved in high-tech industries, however, and therefore have high standards ofliving.At the other end of the spectrum, many countries in sub-Saharan Africa have population densities of lessthan 30 persons per sq km. Many people in these countries practice manual subsistence farming; thesecountries also have infertile land, and lack the economic resources and technology to boost productivity. As aconsequence, these nations are very poor. The United States has both relatively low population density andhigh agricultural productivity; it is one of the world’s wealthiest nations.High birth rates contribute to overpopulation in many developing countries. Children are assets to manypoor families because they provide labor, usually for farming. Cultural norms in traditionally rural societiescommonly sanction the value of large families. Also, the governments of developing countries often providelittle or no support, financial or political, for family planning; even people who wish to keep their families smallhave difficulty doing so. For all these reasons, developing countries tend to have high rates of populationgrowth.
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