{"id":124112,"date":"2021-08-06T20:31:59","date_gmt":"2021-08-06T15:01:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/?p=124112"},"modified":"2021-08-11T15:59:02","modified_gmt":"2021-08-11T10:29:02","slug":"the-power-of-population-for-economies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/the-power-of-population-for-economies\/","title":{"rendered":"The Power of Population for Economies"},"content":{"rendered":"

Source:<\/strong> Live Mint<\/a><\/p>\n

Relevance:<\/strong> Population control has been debated much. However, there are other aspects that require attention.<\/p>\n

Synopsis<\/strong>: Governments, globally, are focussing on population control policies. However, political failure is doing more harm compared to population increase.<\/p>\n

Introduction\u00a0<\/strong><\/h5>\n

Reverend Thomas Robert Malthus<\/strong> wrote in his\u00a0Essay on Population\u2014<\/i>\u201cThe power of population is indefinitely greater than the power in the Earth to produce subsistence for man.\u201d<\/strong> Since then, this theory has influenced plenty of scientists.<\/p>\n

There are pessimists (usually biologists) and optimists (usually economists). Pessimists believe that the human population is increasing so rapidly that we will end in catastrophe. Whereas, optimists believe that humanity is capable of solving its population problems.<\/p>\n

The debate on the Total Fertility Rate (TFR) is also one of the aspects of this debate. Recently, Uttar Pradesh also proposed a draft Population (Control, Stabilisation, and Welfare) Bill<\/a> aimed at controlling TFR by introducing penalties for couples who have more than two children.<\/p>\n

However, the effectiveness of these TFR related measures is still not clear.<\/p>\n

TFR and Malthus prediction\u00a0<\/strong><\/h5>\n

At present, the TFR rate is decreasing very rapidly. Very soon, TFR figures the world over will be the lowest in history. China\u2019s TFR (about 1.69) is well below the replacement level, and that of India was 2.22 in 2018. Even UP\u2019s TFR was 2.7 in 2016.<\/p>\n

However, since 1968, the Earth has added over 4 billion more people. This huge increase will have implications for the earth and humanity itself. But these implications will not include the disaster as predicted by Malthus.<\/p>\n

This disaster will arrive as a result of, as Mann described: \u201cthe human race\u2019s perennial inability to run its political affairs wisely.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Example of sub-Saharan Africa<\/strong><\/h5>\n

It is a general belief that overpopulation has caused terrible damage to the land in sub-Saharan Africa. However, the findings of Michael Mortimore of Cambridge University are in contrast to this belief.<\/p>\n

For generations, Nigerian farmers would simply move on when resources were exhausted. But with population pressure, the land grew ever more expensive. This forced farmers to take better care of what they owned because moving on was no longer viable.<\/p>\n

This resulted in a record increase in grain production levels. The country\u2019s steadily increasing population had actually increased the productivity of its land.<\/p>\n

Thus instead of population increase, the failure of the political system i.e. government has increased their suffering.<\/p>\n