The human population has increase dramaticaly over the past few decades

Group 9: Lê Ngọc Anh
Nguyễn Hồng Phú
Lê Kim Tuyến
Class : 16E19NN
Topic: Overpopulation of urban areas has led to numerous problems. Identify one
or two serious problems and suggest ways that governments and individuals can
tackle these problems.
The human population has increased dramatically over the past few decades,
leading to an international pressing issue – Overpopulation. This urgent problem
has destructive effects not only on the environment but the human being itselfs.
The incessantly rising population in urban areas is responsible for a variety
of consequences for the environment. The most obvious one is species extinction.
By an annual absorption of 42% of the Earth’s terrestrial net primary productivity,
50% of its fresh water, 50% of its land mass being transformed, human has been
dominating planetary physical, chemical, and biological conditions. As a result,
nearly a third of 64.837 species examined worldwide are at risk according to the
2012 IUNC Red List of Threatened Species (Effects of Human Overpopulation
published on 20th November 2013). Another effect is the serious depletion of
natural resources. In other words, limited natural resources such as fossil
fuels, coral reefs and frontier forests, continue to plunge, which is both
placing competitive stress on the basic life sustaining resources and leading to a
diminished life quality. The Global Footprint Network reported that turning
resources into waste faster than waste can be turned back into resources puts
people in global ecological overshoot.
Not only does the explosion of population in big cities adversely affect the
environment but it also has detrimental impacts on human being. In the first place,
it is attributed to the lack of job availability. As mentioned in Human
Overpopulation: Causes and Effects in developing countries, Hana Maryil
indicated that the increasing number of people entering the workforce, together
with the declining number of workers leaving to make room for new employees, is
attributed to the paudity of job availabilities to support enough of the working

population. According to the article Employment- Population Ratio posted on
Business Insider, employment growth picked up enough to grow faster than the
population. However, it began to stall in March 2016, with the ratio at 59.9% then
dropped to 39.7%. In the second place, population overgrowth is considered as a


serious cause leading to health problems. A report named The risks of rapid
urbanization in developing countries by John Scott mentioned that 63% of the
urban population in sub-Saharan Africa and and 42% of dwellers in big cities in
south-central Asia live in slums and have to face a highly unwanted levels of risk
to illnesses, worm infections, cholera and diarrhea.
In terms of solutions, the government should be responsible to raise public
awareness of how overpopulation affects human lives. As reported by the
Everythingconnects, nearly 40% of pregnancies are unintended, which equates to
about 80 million unintended pregnancies each years. If people are thoroughly
educated about overpopulation and family planning, they will acknowledge how
their actions affect to the country’s population. Moreover, not only the adults but
the children should be educated in school about this worldwide issue as well.
Therefore, they could comprehend the economic and environmental impacts of
overpopulation; and hopefully the next generations will be more practical to deal
with this problem.
Another feasible way to counter this question is to implement the one-child
policy. This had shown to be effective in China, which has prevented 400 million
births by applying this solution. However, this policy has both advantages and
disadvantages itself. The policy has resulted to positive effects; girls,who
traditionally has lower status in households, are now given more opportunities for
education. On the other hand, it causes an increase in abortion rates due to the
traditional preference for sons, especially in Asian countries. Subsequently, it will
lead to gender imbalance between men and women, which is an alarming situation
in China currently.

In conclusion, overpopulation in big cities has negative impacts on both
environment and human beings. As a result, enacting new policies and raising
awareness about overpopulation are two possible ways that should be taken into
consideration to lessen the influence of overcrowding.