Essay on Population Explosion

After the Republic of China, India is the

most populous country in the world.
Presently, India is the second-largest
populated country in the world that
occupies 2.4% of the world’s land area
and represents 17.5% of the world’s
population. This means that one out of
six people on this planet is an Indian.
It is estimated by the United Nations
that India with 1.3 billion inhabitants
would surpass China’s population of
1.4 billion by 2024 to become the
world’s most populous country.
Population Explosion is considered as a
threat and burden on the Earth.

What is Population Explosion?

Population Explosion refers to the
rapid increase in the number of people
in an area. It is a situation where the
economy of the country cannot cope
up with the rapid growth of the
population. Furthermore, in simpler
words, it is a situation where the
economy cannot provide proper
facilities to its people.
 
Evidently, the largest contributing
countries to population explosion are
the poorer nations and are termed as
developing countries. In India, the
state of Uttar Pradesh is the most
populated state and Lakshadweep is
the least populated. Hence we can say
that population explosion is inversely
related to the development of that
area.
Population Explosion has become the
mother of evils in our country because
too much population is trapping
people in a web of poverty and
illiteracy that further escalates the
problem. Any time of the day, whether
it is a metro station, airport, railway
platforms, road, highway bus stop,
shopping mall, market, or even a social
or religious gathering, there is always a
swelling crowd of people in India.

Causes of Population Explosion:

The major cause of this population

explosion is the difference between
the birth rate. The birth rate is the
number of individuals born in a
population in a given amount of time.
The human birth rate is the number of
individuals born per year per 1000 in
the population. For example, if 35
births occur per year per 1000
individuals, the birth rate is 35).

The death rate is the ratio between

deaths and individuals in a particular
population during a particular period.
In simple words, the incidence of
deaths in a given population during a
defined time (such as one year) is
expressed per 1000 individuals).

Apart from these, some other factors

are partially responsible for population
explosion, such as:

 A decrease in infant mortality

rate (Mortality rate refers to the
number of deaths of infants below
the age of 6 months.), 
 The increase in life expentancy (An
 estimate of the average number of
additional years that a person of a
given age can expect to live).

Earlier the life expectancy of people

was around 55-60 years. Now the
average age of a person has increased
to 70-75 years.) but due to better and
improved medical facilities, we can
now increase the life expectancy of
people. 

Earlier, there was a balance between

the birth and death rate due to limited
medical facilities, people dying in wars,
and other calamities. According to the
2011 census, the birth rate has actually
come down but then the death rate
has also declined due to the medical
advancements. 
Illiteracy is another cause of an
increase in population. Low literacy
rate leads to traditional, superstitious,
and ignorant people. For example,
Kerala has a very high literacy rate and
it constitutes only 2.76% of India’s
population as compared to Uttar
Pradesh having maximum illiteracy
rate and forms 16.49% of the
population. Educated people are well
aware of birth control methods. 

Family planning, welfare programs,

and policies have not fetched the
desired result. The increase in
population is putting tremendous
pressure on the limited infrastructure
and negating India’s progress.

The superstitious people mainly from

rural places think that having a male
child would give them prosperity and
so there is a considerable pressure on
the parents to produce children till a
male child is born. This leads to a
population explosion. 

Poverty is another main reason for

this. Poor people believe that the more
people in the family, the more will be
the number of persons to earn bread.
Hence it contributes to the increase in
population. 

Continuous illegal migration of people

from neighbouring countries like
Nepal, Bangladesh is leading to a rise in
the population density in India. 

Religion sentiment is another cause of

the population explosion. Some
orthodox communities believe that any
mandate or statutory method of
prohibition is sacrilegious. It is difficult
for India to exercise a check on the
religious grounds for its secularism.

Impact Due to Population Explosion:

The growth of the population has a

major impact on the living standards of
people. That is why, despite our
incredible progress in the agricultural
and industrial spheres, our capita
income has not risen appreciably.

Hence given below are some of the

major problems which are just because
of the population explosion:
 Natural Resources of that
particular region: Natural resources
are materials from the Earth used
to support life and meet people’s
needs. Hence if there are many
people, then there is a high
requirement for Natural Resources.
 Unemployment: When a country
becomes overpopulated, it gives
rise to unemployment as fewer jobs
support many people. The rise in
unemployment gives rise to crime,
such as theft, as people want to
feed their families and provide
them with basic amenities of life.
 High Cost of Living: As the
difference between demand and
supply continues to expand due to
population explosion, it raises the
prices of various essential
commodities, including food,
 shelter, and healthcare. It means
that people have to pay more to
survive and feed their families.
 Poverty: Another major issue of
population explosion is the increase
in poverty as people are
unemployed due to a lack of job
opportunities and an abundant
workforce. 
 Illiteracy: Because of
unemployment, they cannot
provide better education to the
coming generation, giving us back
population explosion.
 Starvation: When resources are
scarce, starvation, ill health, and
diseases caused by diet deficiency
such as rickets become eminent

Some Major Effects of the High

Population are as Follows:
1. The rapidly growing population
in India has led to the problem of
food scarcity and heavy pressure on
land. Even though 60% of its
population is engaged in
agriculture, yet people do not get
even the barely necessary amount
of food. 
2. Generating employment
opportunities for such a huge
population in India is very difficult.
Therefore, illiteracy is growing
rapidly every year. 
3. Development of infrastructural
facilities is not able to cope up with
the pace of growing population. So
facilities like transportation,
communication, housing,
education, and healthcare are
becoming inadequate to provide
provision to the people.
 4. The increasing population leads
to unequal distribution of income
and inequalities among the people
widened.
5. Unmanageable population size
may lead to the failure of the
government to provide the basic
facilities to the people. 
6. Economic development is slow
in a country where the population
is growing at a very fast rate. This
also leads to low capital formation. 
7. Ignorance, illiteracy, unhygienic
living conditions, and lack of
recreation have always been the
cause of population problems in
India.
8.  Rapid growth in population is
also an indication of the wastage of
natural resources.
Preventive Measures:

To tackle this problem, the

government needs to take corrective
measures. The entire development of
the country depends on how
effectively the population explosion is
stemmed.

The government and various NGOs

should raise awareness about family
planning and welfare. Hoardings with
slogans like “Hum do, humare do” and
“Chota Parivar, Sukhi Parivar” should
be put up in hospitals and other public
places. These slogans mean that a
small family is a happy family and two
children for two parents. The
awareness about the use of
contraceptive pills and family planning
methods should be generated.
The health care centres should help
the poor people with the free
distribution of contraceptives and
encourage the control of the number
of children.

The government should come forward

to empower women and improve the
status of women and girls. People in
rural places should be educated and
modern amenities should be provided
for recreation.

Conclusion:

So we can summarise the topic by

stating that population explosion is a
term used to state the rapid growth of
people in a particular area.
It is because of lack of education,
illiteracy, lack of proper knowledge of
sex education, rituals, and superstition
in the country’s most populated
area. Overpopulation results in a lack
of development and exploitation of
resources, whereas India’s strength in
the global world in various fields
cannot be ignored. By raising public
awareness and enlisting strict
population control norms, India will be
able to tackle this issue.

 It doesn’t mean that will happen very

quickly and without any effort. It will
take time because India constitutes
one of the huge countries of about 138
Crore (2020) people. Proper, effective,
and steady steps will lead India to a
greater good.
It helps the country control the
population explosion and also helps to
provide good results in several other
things like the good environment,
abundant natural resources, proper
employment, proper literacy rate with
high growth in development, etc. 

All this could be possible if we take

some measures and be good citizens of
this country. So that is how we can
overcome this issue of population
explosion.