Effects of Overpopulation essay sample

The world population has increased tremendously in the last century; according to Jakab, (2008) the estimates for the global population stands at 10 billion by the year 2040. Overpopulation can be described as the inability of the world’s resources to sustain the population. This increase has come with its challenges given the limited natural resources on the planet. This paper covers the effects of overpopulation in the world today.
The major negative effect of population can be described to be the limited and scarce natural resources; these include water, land and energy among others. Populations have become so large that they strain the resources where there is no adequate supply of needs for all. As a consequence, this has led to depletion of resources, and most of all extinction of species (Leakey, & Lewin, 1996). The population has also encroached on forest lands to access settlements; which have in turn caused deforestations since they cut down trees to acquire the land.
The clearing of trees leads to loss of ecosystems and increased greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere. Overpopulation also leads to pollution since the set systems such as sewages are over stretched leading to low efficiency and effectiveness; this means that wastes are damped in the environment and hence pollution. This will aggravate global warming and climate change which will in turn affect the agriculture that supplies food to the masses. This may expose the society to starvation and malnutrition especially in developing and third world countries (Leakey, & Lewin, 1996).
The rate of crime is also likely to increase given that the rate of poverty will rise since the economy cannot sustain the existing population. Social dynamics also change especially when poverty increases leading to collapse of the social structure (Jakab, 2008). There will also be low life expectancy since there are very many factors in the society that negatively affect the population.
In conclusion, though there are positive impacts of overpopulation such as cheap labor, the negative impacts are more disastrous and every country should aim at stabilizing its population so as to assure a great future to the generation.