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In particular, 76.9% responded that it was very serious.

For reference, Busan's population is 3.3 million, or 5 million in the metropolitan area.

There’s already not enough water for the amount of people and as extreme weather intensifies, this problem will only get worse. All these ppl who moved to the deserts of Arizona and other drought likely areas are getting hit hard. It’s not only in less developed countries (many of which have huge populations) where there’s drought. The US is gong to start to feel this more and more. The more the pop grows and the more ppl we let in, the worse it will be for everyone. We need desalinization and depopulating but the scope of what we need means that relief isn’t coming in a big way.

How do I suggest my brilliant idea to legislators?

What's on your mind? You can chat here if you don't want to make a new post. Or drop in and see what others are talking about.

India's rapid population growth has profound environmental implications, affecting natural resources, biodiversity, and contributing to climate change. With a population exceeding 1.4 billion, the strain on India's environment is becoming increasingly evident.

Resource Depletion

Overpopulation accelerates the depletion of natural resources. The demand for water, energy, and land for agriculture and urban development leads to over-extraction and degradation of these resources. For instance, over-extraction of groundwater for agriculture and urban use is depleting reserves faster than they can be replenished, leading to water scarcity in many regions.

Loss of Biodiversity

The expansion of agricultural land and urban areas to accommodate the growing population results in deforestation and habitat destruction, leading to a loss of biodiversity. This not only threatens wildlife but also disrupts ecosystems that are vital for environmental balance.

Climate Change Acceleration

Overpopulation contributes to increased greenhouse gas emissions due to higher energy consumption, vehicular emissions, and industrial activities. This exacerbates climate change, leading to more frequent and severe weather events, such as floods and droughts, which disproportionately affect vulnerable populations.

Waste Management Challenges

The growing population generates more waste, including plastic, industrial, and electronic waste. Inadequate waste management infrastructure leads to pollution of air, water, and soil, posing health risks and environmental degradation.

Policy Recommendations

To mitigate environmental impacts, India should:

• Promote Sustainable Resource Use: Encourage efficient use of resources and the adoption of renewable energy sources to reduce environmental degradation.
• Enhance Conservation Efforts: Implement policies to protect natural habitats and biodiversity, including the establishment of protected areas and wildlife corridors.
• Improve Waste Management: Develop and enforce waste management policies to reduce pollution and promote recycling and waste-to-energy technologies.

Addressing the environmental consequences of overpopulation is essential for India's sustainable development and the health of its ecosystems.

India's burgeoning population, projected to surpass China's by 2024, presents significant challenges to its healthcare system. With only 2.4% of the world's land area, India must support 14% of the global population, leading to resource constraints and increased pressure on healthcare services.

Strain on Healthcare Infrastructure

The rapid population growth has overwhelmed India's healthcare infrastructure. Many public health centers, especially in rural areas, lack essential facilities and staff. This shortage results in overcrowded hospitals, long waiting times, and inadequate patient care. The disparity between urban and rural healthcare access exacerbates the situation, with rural areas often facing severe shortages of medical professionals and resources.

Increased Disease Burden

Overpopulation contributes to the spread of both communicable and non-communicable diseases. High population density facilitates the transmission of infectious diseases like tuberculosis and malaria. Simultaneously, lifestyle changes associated with urbanization have led to a rise in non-communicable diseases such as diabetes and heart disease, further burdening the healthcare system.

Mental Health Challenges

The pressures of overpopulation also affect mental health. In densely populated areas, competition for resources like water, land, and jobs can lead to heightened stress and anxiety. This environment contributes to mental health issues, which are often overlooked in the broader healthcare discourse.

Policy Recommendations

To address these challenges, India needs to:

• Invest in Healthcare Infrastructure: Enhance facilities, especially in rural areas, to ensure equitable access to quality healthcare.
• Promote Preventive Healthcare: Implement programs focusing on disease prevention and health education to reduce the burden of both communicable and non-communicable diseases.
• Strengthen Mental Health Services: Develop and integrate mental health services into the primary healthcare system to address the psychological impacts of overpopulation.

Addressing overpopulation's impact on healthcare is crucial for India's sustainable development and the well-being of its citizens.

Taking all scientific and technological advancements into account.

Type in "overpopulation" in YouTube search and you get a bunch of pro-natalist propaganda proclaiming that there is no problem and we need to have more children.

You can find a few videos discussing overpopulation in earnest, but these are older videos (5+ years old).

Is there some big censorship going on?

The following are overpopulation myths and faults guided by me (Restoration Ecologist) into Chat GPT. Some of these bullets can (and should) be expanded upon for context/nuance reasons, but I think they are all pretty good. I think it covers most levels of education on the topic.

Myth 1: Overpopulation is a Myth

• Faults:
  • Often based on claims that population growth has slowed or stabilized in some regions. While this is true for parts of the world, global population continues to grow, particularly in developing countries.
  • It ignores the uneven distribution of resources and the strain caused by dense urban populations in specific regions.
  • Overlooks the compounding effects of high population numbers on climate change, biodiversity loss, and resource depletion.

Myth 2: Technology Will Save Us

• Faults:
  • Assumes that technological innovation can infinitely outpace population growth and resource consumption, which is not guaranteed.
  • Ignores diminishing returns in efficiency gains and the unintended consequences of technologies (e.g., fossil fuels initially improved productivity but led to climate change).
  • Overreliance on unproven technologies like geoengineering or lab-grown food as "silver bullets."

Myth 3: The World Has Plenty of Space

• Faults:
  • Misinterprets "space" as merely physical landmass, ignoring that most land is unsuitable for human habitation (e.g., deserts, mountains).
  • Overlooks the ecological "space" required for biodiversity, agriculture, and carbon sequestration.
  • Ignores infrastructure limits like water, food production, and waste management.

Myth 4: Overpopulation is Only a Problem in Poor Countries

• Faults:
  • Fails to account for the disproportionate resource consumption and environmental impact of wealthy, developed nations.
  • Overlooks global interdependence; consumption in developed countries often drives unsustainable practices in poorer regions.
  • Population growth in developing nations intensifies pressures already exacerbated by global inequities.

Myth 5: Population Growth Always Boosts the Economy

• Faults:
  • Oversimplifies the relationship between population growth and economic growth, ignoring how diminishing resources and infrastructure strain reduce productivity.
  • Does not account for overpopulation-induced costs like healthcare, education, and unemployment.
  • Fails to factor in the negative effects of environmental degradation on economies.

Myth 6: Family Planning and Birth Control Are Enough to Solve Overpopulation

• Faults:
  • While crucial, these measures alone cannot address overpopulation's existing pressures or systemic issues like poverty and resource inequities.
  • Often met with cultural, political, or religious resistance in certain areas, limiting their effectiveness.
  • Cannot retroactively fix decades of high growth rates and their accumulated impact.

Myth 7: Declining Birth Rates Mean the Problem is Solved

• Faults:
  • Population momentum: even with declining birth rates, population numbers can continue to grow for decades due to younger age structures.
  • Ignores regional disparities; some areas have stabilized populations while others still experience high growth.
  • Fails to address existing resource depletion and environmental damage caused by current population levels.

Myth 8: Nature Will Naturally Regulate Overpopulation

• Faults:
  • Assumes that famine, disease, or conflict will reduce population to sustainable levels, which ignores the ethical and humanitarian catastrophes these involve.
  • Environmental collapse or mass die-offs don’t solve underlying systemic issues and may worsen societal inequities.
  • Overlooks the long-term degradation of ecosystems and carrying capacities, which can make recovery more difficult.

Myth 9: Overpopulation is a Recent Problem

• Faults:
  • Historical examples like Easter Island, St. Matthew Island's deer population, and other localized collapses show that overpopulation has been a recurring issue throughout history.
  • Modern global connectivity and industrialization have simply scaled the problem to a planetary level.
  • This view ignores long-standing warnings, such as those by Thomas Malthus or Paul Ehrlich, which remain relevant in principle.

Myth 10: Reducing Consumption Alone is Enough

• Faults:
  • While reducing consumption is vital, it does not address how population numbers exacerbate resource use, even at modest per-capita levels.
  • Assumes equitable reductions in consumption globally, which is politically and socially challenging to achieve.
  • Ignores the tipping points caused by overpopulation in fragile ecosystems and resource-limited regions.

Myth 11: Overpopulation is a Problem for Future Generations

• Faults:
  • Misunderstands the urgency of the issue; many overpopulation-related problems (e.g., resource depletion, environmental degradation, food scarcity) are already evident today.
  • Ignores cumulative impacts: the longer overpopulation persists, the harder it is to mitigate its effects.
  • Neglects how current population growth exacerbates climate change and biodiversity loss, which will disproportionately affect future generations.

Myth 12: Immigration Will Solve Low Birth Rates in Developed Countries

• Faults:
  • While immigration can offset declining populations in some regions, it doesn’t address the global overpopulation problem—population growth is simply redistributed.
  • Can lead to political and social tensions in host countries, creating resistance to sustainable solutions.
  • Fails to consider whether the carrying capacity of developed countries can handle significant population increases without exacerbating environmental pressures.

Myth 13: Economic Development Reduces Population Growth Automatically

• Faults:
  • While economic development often correlates with lower birth rates, it doesn’t happen uniformly or quickly enough to address urgent overpopulation issues.
  • Economic growth can increase resource consumption, often worsening ecological impacts.
  • Cultural, political, and societal factors can override economic trends, delaying or preventing reductions in population growth.

Myth 14: Population Growth is Necessary to Support Aging Populations

• Faults:
  • Short-term thinking: increasing the younger population to support aging demographics only delays the problem and creates a larger aging population in the future.
  • Ignores alternative solutions like technological advancements, improved productivity, and adjustments to retirement and labor policies.
  • Places unsustainable demands on resources and ecosystems to sustain larger populations.

Myth 15: Overpopulation Can Be Solved Without Addressing Inequality

• Faults:
  • Overlooks how poverty and inequality drive high birth rates in many regions due to lack of access to education, healthcare, and family planning.
  • Ignores the role of wealthier nations in consuming a disproportionate share of global resources, exacerbating the impacts of overpopulation.
  • Sustainable solutions require equitable resource distribution and empowerment of vulnerable populations, not just a numbers-based approach.

Myth 16: Urbanization Solves Overpopulation

• Faults:
  • While urbanization can concentrate populations and reduce per-capita resource use, it often leads to overcrowding, poor living conditions, and strain on urban infrastructure.
  • Urban sprawl caused by expanding cities consumes arable land and disrupts ecosystems.
  • Cities depend on rural areas for food, water, and other resources, so urbanization doesn’t eliminate the pressures of overpopulation—it redistributes them.

Myth 17: Education Alone Will Solve Overpopulation

• Faults:
  • While education, particularly for women, is a powerful tool, it must be combined with accessible healthcare, family planning, and economic opportunities to be effective.
  • Systemic barriers (e.g., cultural norms, political resistance) often hinder the implementation of educational programs in regions with high birth rates.
  • Education takes time to affect population trends, making it insufficient as a standalone solution for urgent crises.

Myth 18: Climate Change is a Bigger Issue Than Overpopulation

• Faults:
  • Frames the two issues as separate, when in reality, overpopulation significantly contributes to climate change through increased emissions, deforestation, and resource consumption.
  • Solutions to climate change (e.g., renewable energy) become harder to implement effectively with an ever-growing global population.
  • Reducing population pressures can amplify climate change mitigation efforts, making them complementary issues rather than competing priorities.

Myth 19: Overpopulation is Too Controversial to Address

• Faults:
  • While sensitive, avoiding the topic worsens its impacts and delays necessary action.
  • Solutions like voluntary family planning, education, and sustainable policies can address the issue without violating human rights.
  • Framing overpopulation as an environmental and quality-of-life issue rather than solely a demographic one can make it less polarizing and more actionable.

I think we need to understand that the current situation we are where the world lacks the resources to provide for so many people and where nobody can afford housing, healthcare and food as we used to before calls for some massive changes. We can’t afford pensions for old people anymore, and we can’t keep growing in numbers just to make everyone have worse jobs and less life quality than the previous generations. Those who want to keep the population growing know they won’t be the ones most affected by the downsides of it, even on contrary they might be benefiting from it, like pensionists or rich people who need cheaper and desperate working force.

I'm sick and tired when I see on reddit - people being contented with the fact that India's fertility rate is below the Replacement rate of 2.1. I'll be contented when your population actually starts declining.

I'm so frustrated that people just look at one statistic on India's fertility rate without looking at the entire picture. Having lower fertility rate doesn't always mean declining population. India's population will still grow until atleast 2060s and maybe even 2070s and will reach the threshold of around 1.6B - 1.8B which means atleast 200M - 400M more people than what we have now. Can you imagine this?

I live in this country - in the most polluted city on planet Earth right now - New Delhi. It's a rat race every day in this country. Every day you're fighting a war in this country. War against pollution and fighting for clean air, war against unimaginable traffic congestion and chaos, war against 1000s of people applying for just 10 job positions, war against skyrocketing inflation and real estate prices, war against billionaires who pay you $3,000 a year (not month) but a year who say that young people of this country are lazy bums for not wanting to work atleast 80hrs/week for $3,000/yr pay, war against horny people who breed like rabbits and use those children as begging scammers and retirement pension schemes, war against people who want to chop down entire forests and destroy habitats for their own financial motives, war for your own personal space, war for a below average (not good) but just a below average standard of living etc. Imagine living in this modern day shithole and you're telling me to be optimistic about the fact that fertility rate is down and below the replacement rate. Absolutely NO.

Nobody respects us Indians. We are just slaves who build infrastructure in middle East and then die building that infrastructure in extreme heat. You ask why - because these rich middle East nations have shit tons of oil but very less people. Less people and more resources means better quality of life for everyone. More people who just can't stop breeding with very scarce resources and space - and you end up like a country which is India.

How often have you seen Americans or Canadians or people from rich countries trying to come to India for better opportunities. Very less or never? It is always the other way around. Indians flock in massive numbers and immigrate to these rich countries in the millions in hope for a better quality of life. Is escaping India the way forward or solving your horny problem to control overpopulation is the solution. I believe the latter one is.

Our government allows people to breed like rabbits because they could then export this labour to foreign countries where they'll be heavily exploited for a shit pay that they'll send to their families in the form of remittances which is the one of the main sources of income for countries like India. And that's why our corrupt and incompetent government doesn't stop people from nonstop breeding.

The answer is plain and simple. Earth has limited amount of resources. Less people means better resource distribution and higher quality of life for all people. More people and you end up like India where people fight a war every single day for survival.

Scandinavian countries are perfect examples of this. You got these tiny countries with high amount of resources that have a population size of less than or equal to ten million and with that you end up with an incredibly rich and prosperous nation with highly educated people, unparalleled social benifits and the highest quality of life you could find on the entire planet.

So, let me finish this by saying - Nobody gives or should give a shit about the falling fertility rate of India. I'll become optimistic when population actually starts declining and I hope it declines at a rapid pace...

Meanwhile, politicians and the wealthy elites get richer with our labor and taxes. The motive is clear. Don't believe their BS. End of my short rant.