Is the world over populated? How many people can the Earth support? Should countries try to limit their population? These are serious questions that governments, international organizations, and individuals must think about.The population of the world has been increasing faster and faster. In 10,000 B.C., there were probably only 10 million people. In A.D. 1, there were 300 million. It took 1750 years for the population to reach 625 million, a little more than double the A.D.1 figure. In 1850, only 100 years later, the population had nearly doubled again, with a figure of 1130 million. In 1950, the figure had more than doubled to reach 2510 million. In 1990, there were 5300 million people. By the year 2000, the world’s population is expected to be over 6 billion, and 2050, 10 billion.In addition, most of these people will live in the poor areas of big cities. Now, 95 percent of the world’s population lives in poorer countries. This means that most people on the Earth are poor. World population is growing fastest in cities. In 1950, only the Third World city had a population of 5 million. By the year 200, there will be 46 so most of the world’s people will live in cities.Does the earth have enough natural resources to support this many people? Different scientists give different answers to this question. Some say that there are enough resources to support more than 6 billion people. However, the richest countries, will a small percentage of the world’s population, use most of the resources. If these resources could be distributed more equally around the world, there would be enough for everyone.Other scientists say that we must limit population growth because our resources are limited. Only 10 percent of the earth’s land can be used for farming and another 20 percent for raising animals. It is possible to increase the amount of farmland, but only a little. Some land in developed countries can be more productive if people start using modern farming methods, but this will not increase worldwide production very much.We all know that there is a limited amount of petroleum. There are also limits to the amounts of Iron (Fe), silver (Ag), gold (Au), and other metals. There is a limit to water we can use-most of the earth’s water is salt water, and most of the fresh water is frozen at the North and South poles.Even some of the world’s “natural” disasters are partly caused by overpopulation. We all know about the terrible famine, with thousands of people dying of hunger, in Ethiopia in the 1980s. The famine area of Ethiopia used to be forested. Forests hold water in the ground, but in Ethiopia too many people cut down trees for firewood. In only twenty years, the forests were gone. At the same time, there were several years without rain, and farmland became desert. There was no food, and people died of hunger.
đang được dịch, vui lòng đợi..