Many countries of the world are currently experiencing problems caused by rapidly growing populations in urban areas. Overpopulation can lead to poverty and a poor quality of living, crime, and strains on resources. Overpopulation can lead to overcrowding and poor quality housing in many large cities. In fact, poverty is both the cause and the effect of rapid growth of population. It is estimated that about 40% of people still live below the poverty line. They are ill fed, ill clothed and ill housed.
Being malnourished, not clothed properly, and crowded in tight living areas can cause serious health issues. There will also be low life expectancy since there are very many factors in the society that negatively affect the population. Poverty and crime go hand in hand. A serious consequence of overcrowding is a rising crime rate as poor living conditions may lead young people in particular to take desperate measures and turn to crime or drugs. 60% of crimes are committed in areas of poverty, or BY people in poverty.
The rate of crime is also likely to increase given that the rate of poverty will rise since the economy cannot sustain the existing population. Social dynamics also change especially when poverty increases leading to collapse of the social structure. Another major negative effect of population is the limited and scarce natural resources; these include water, land and energy among others. Populations have become so large that they strain the resources where there is no adequate supply of needs for all.
The Essay on Does Poverty Cause Crime?
What causes crime? Does poverty cause crime? Or does crime cause poverty? Some feel that poverty causes crime. Others though, feel that crime rates have nothing to do with poverty and that crime may actually cause poverty. If poverty causes crime than why are crime rates lower in poor third world countries than in wealthy super powers? Robert Rector feels that it is not poverty that causes crime ...
As a consequence, this has led to depletion of resources, and most of all extinction of species. The population has also encroached on forest lands to access settlements; which have in turn caused deforestations since they cut down trees to acquire the land. The clearing of trees leads to loss of ecosystems and increased greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere. Overpopulation also leads to pollution since the set systems such as sewages are over stretched leading to low efficiency and effectiveness; this means that wastes are damped in the environment and hence pollution.
This will aggravate global warming and climate change which will in turn affect the agriculture that supplies food to the masses. This may expose the society to starvation and malnutrition especially in developing and third world countries. The population that the world is faced with is dangerous and is only getting worse. It causes poverty, health issues, crime, and is putting the environment in danger. The negative impacts are disastrous and every country should aim at stabilizing its population so as to assure a great future to the generation.
