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Asked by to Anna, Elaine, Fiona, Kevin, Darren on 19 Jun 2014. This question was also asked by .
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Anna Bramwell-Dicks answered on 19 Jun 2014:
This is a really interesting question! And I’m really not sure that there is a single approach that would deal with the problem. I certainly strongly disagree with China’s One Child policy, though I can understand why they implemented it.
For me, I think that there are a few issues on a social level that we could address which may have a positive impact on the risk of overpopulation. Firstly, sex education needs to be improved. If we manage to reduce the accidental pregnancies, especially those that are unwanted, then that’s a good start.
Further, contraception needs to be freely and readily available to anyone who wants it. I think we do that well in the UK (well done the NHS!) but it is not a policy in many countries – in the USA, for example, contraception is not free, which, I think is pretty unbelievable!
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Kevin O'Dell answered on 19 Jun 2014:
Unfortunately I think overpopulation will resolve itself by some human-induced catastrophe, such as famine or war, or by an extreme infectious event.
I have little or no confidence in politicians resolving things for us, though they could make a good start by following many of the things Anna has suggested, especially better education, and encouraging and supporting people to have smaller families. To a certain extent this is happenning as the time it took to get from 6 to 7 billion people (13 years) was slightly longer than from 5 to 6 billion (12 years). So the rate of growth is slowing down (good) but the human population is still growing incredibly quickly (bad).
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Fiona McLean answered on 22 Jun 2014:
Ah this is a tricky one to solve! This is an issue that is becoming more and more of a problem because a lot actually depends on what type of population is increasing. For example, in the UK we have an increasing older population as people are living for longer. So this older population isn’t working cause they are retired and need more health care which is costing the government lots. So we actually need lots more younger people so they can work and look after the older people. The other solution is to make people age healthier so they can look after themselves more.
I suppose in terms of space there is lots of space up in the Highlands of Scotland (where I’m near to). Maybe we could just shift everybody there? As long as they don’t mind the wild deer, beavers and haggis.
Comments
becky01 commented on :
just kick people outta the country if there isnt enough places because it is not fair on people to live on the streets when they used to have a stable home and it is not fair when people have to beg for money just to get food so they can live. i really think that people either need to build more houses or just simply just tell them to go back from where they come from simply because there is not any space in the country that they either .want to go on holiday to or just to emmigrate o. there is not enough space in the country