The world population has been growing at an accelerated pace for the last two decades. It took hundreds of thousands of years for the world population to grow to 1 billion—then in just another 200 years or so, it grew sevenfold. In 2011, the global population reached 7 billion, which has now crossed 8 billion by this year 2023.
This drastic growth in the world population is extremely worrisome for both developed and developing countries. It is posing and laying bare a spate of threats to the global community in the shape of unprecedented rainfall, climate change, and unfathomable global warming that are further perpetuating insurmountable ramifications on the world community. The burgeoning world population affects economic development, employment, income distribution, poverty, and social protection.
The recent past has seen enormous changes in fertility rates and life expectancy. These are the very drivers that are perceived to be contributing significantly to the world population. In the late 1960s, the fertility rate in less developed regions started falling. The world fertility rate dropped from almost 5 to around 2.5 children per woman in the present world. According to the latest report of the UN, which forecasts that this downward trend will continue and that over the course of this century, the world total fertility rate will continue to fall from 2.5 to just over 2. Furthermore, life expectancy is a driver of leviathan population. Global average life expectancy has increased by 5 years between 2000 and 2015, the fastest increase since the 1960s. The increase in life expectancy is the result of advances in modern medicines and improvements in living standards. These have significantly abated infant child and maternal mortality.
Shedding light on the world’s most populous continent, it is Asia. Asia is the largest and the most populous continent in the world, with some leading countries contributing to the world’s population rate. China, India, and Pakistan are the leading contributors to the global population. It is estimated that these trends would ramp up with the passage of time. Reportedly, India’s population would be enhanced with the addition of 24.4% by 2030, whereas, China would stand with the addition of 3.9% population to her current population.
There are multiple reasons that are driving rapid growth in the world’s population, inter alia include, lack of consensus of women in giving birth to a child, no family planning, depriving women of education, and patriarchal mentality is causing the world to bear the brunt of mammoth population. These factors have indelible repercussions on the earth.
The fact can’t be put aside that the region is under the felonious and scathing condition. Global warming, erratic change in nature, snowfall, melting of glaciers are deteriorating the condition of the region miserably. To illustrate the point, China is the biggest industrialist country. The Chinese Government is burning its midnight oil to satiate the rapacious appetite of the masses and maintain its economy. In result, they manufacture goods and materials in an abundant amount which ultimately perturbs the natural order. China is the largest contributor to carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Its aftermath can be underlined seeing and scrutinising the gigantic and destructive flood in Pakistan. Pakistan lies next to China. Pakistan doesn’t emit enough gas, yet she is under the disastrous consequences of global warming. Similarly, India also received an unfathomable flood in 2022. Seeing such humongous destruction, Asian countries have not taken any practical measures rather than paying lip service to such devastation.
NASRULLAH KHADIM,
Kandhkot.
