Overpopulation and World Hunger

Overpopulation and world hunger have been discussed as interrelating factors since the 1950s, when concern about the exploding "baby boom," particularly in developing countries, was considered in light of the growing international trade market following World War II. The purpose of this paper will be to analyze this relationship today, the truths and myths surrounding it and how elements such as food supply, technology, birth rates and birth control figure into the equation.

The world's population in 1950 was about 2.5 billion; some time in the late 1980s it passed five billion (Keyfitz, 1989, p. 119). This increase in the last forty years equals the total population growth over the millions of years from when man first emerged as a species. Further, the population is increasing by 80 million a year and it is expected that by the year 2025 the human race will total 8.5 billion (Keyfitz, 1989, p. 119). Of that number, the United Nations estimates that over ninety percent will be born in Third World countries (p. 119). In addition, many predict that it won't be until the mid-21st century before the absolute number of births will come down even to the high levels of today (p. 119).

The question is, how does this exponential growth of population impact the World's food supply and the problem of hunger?

According to Patrick O'Brian, with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), there is reason to be optimistic and pessimistic at the time. He and others believe that t

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e such increases become a reality. However, there have never been more hungry people in the world than there are today. In 1960, the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization estimated that about 200 million people were going hungry. Now the estimates are around half a billion. World researchers believe there may be 300-500 million people who are malnourished and 1.5 billion people suffering from a milder form of malnutrition (O'Brian, 1984, pp. 87-88). Further, the land's resources have never been under as much pressure. Land and water management is becoming a very serious problem. In addition, agriculture is facing the difficult challenge of making the transition from being a renewable industry based on land, water and labor to a largely non-renewable one based on land, water and labor in conjunction with non-renewable resources such as fertilizers, fuels and a whole list of considerations outside of farm interests that are subject to the supply and demand of the rest of the economy and our limited resources (O'Brian, 1984, p. 88). As a result, the causes of hunger today are different from a decade ago. The technology has advanced, thus allowing for production to outpace demand in many regions, but hunger persists becau

Category: Economics - O