Human Population Control Is it Right or Wrong? by Wailes Rangsa

Population Control Right or Wrong!

“Human population control is the practice of artificially altering the rate of growth of a human population”.[1] In other word, the idea mean birth rate must be decrease or the death rate must be increase.[2] Human population control worldwide became active throughout the 1960s and 1970s by the Governments’ mandate as a response to the factors of increasing level of poverty, environmental concerns, religious reasons, and overpopulation.[3] But in 1980s Human population control faced challenges because of women’s reproductive rights as a part of a human rights.[4] Growing opposition to the narrow population control focus led to a significant change in population control policies in the early 1990s.[5]

Though worldwide the governments implements several policies to control human population growth, “according to the United Nations, world population reached 7 Billion on October 31, 2011”.[6] And if the current world birthrate 1.14% per year, continues the United Nations estimated that by 2024 the world population will reach about 8 billion.[7]

The birth rate is higher in the development countries like in Bangladesh, the birth rate according the report of Population Reference Bureau, Washington in 1965-1975 was 3 percent[8] but recently the birth rate estimated 2.45.[9] Though the birth rate decrease, the population still increasing because of the medical facilities and health awareness death rate become decrease also.[10] Moreover, for me, several factors are making impact in increasing population in Bangladesh. First, the people think the idea of population control is foreign policy that is why people should not corporate with this movement. Second, God has created human that is why we should not worry about reproducing the generations. Third, people think man is power, more man more power. Finally, people think it is not good sign to not have a baby for a couple.

As I do research on population control, I have found there are many advantages stated and explained in favor of population control (e.g., prevent from starvation, civil violence and war, political stability, and good life).[11]  In addition, the numerous books and articles’ title like, the Population Bomb, Population, Over Population, The War Against Population[12]and The 9 Lives of Population Control[13] are also see the growing population as a problem.

On the other hand, the Roman Catholic Church is always protests all the policies and practices (e.g., abortion, sterilization, and contraception as a general practice) of Population Control because its break the natural and divine law.[14] Because of extreme (one child policy, and no child policy) Human Population Control in some countries people are decreasing dramatically. I have heard from one of my friends that in their country because of one child policy, now the elderly people is more than the young generations, this situation signifies that after few years there will be huge generation gap, and the population will decrease dramatically.

Moreover, in the Bible God said, in Genesis 1:28, “God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground." In this passage God clearly blessed people to increase in number that is why when we talk about Population Control, does it contradict with the passage? Or when God said this did He have a certain number which is already excesses? Or when we say over population than what is the ideal population number for this current world? The bottom line Population Control is right or wrong?

Bibliography

Cromartie, Michael. The 9 Lives of Population Control. William B. Erdmans Publishing Company: Grand Rapid, MI,1995.

Kasun, Jacqueline. The War Against Population: The Economics and Ideology of World Population Control, Revised and Updated Ed., Ignatius Press: San Francisco, 1999. 

http://www.princeton.edu/~achaney/tmve/wiki100k/docs/Population_control.html (Accessed by, July 19, 2014). 

http://www.princeton.edu/~achaney/tmve/wiki100k/docs/Population_control.html (Accessed by, July 19, 2014).  

http://www.worldometers.info/world-population/

http://www.geoba.se/population.php?pc=world&type=10&year=2014&st=rank&asde=&page=1 (Accessed by, July 20, 2014).

http://www.nirapad.org/admin/soft_archive/1308552592_Population%20Policy-%20Bangladesh.pdf (Accessed by July, 19, 2014).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Population_control#Opposition_to_population_control (Accessed by, July 20, 2014).

World Population Growth and Response, 1965-1975. a decade of global action, Population Reference Bureau, Inc, 1754 N Street, N. W. Washington D.C. 20036, April 1976.

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[1] http://www.princeton.edu/~achaney/tmve/wiki100k/docs/Population_control.html (Accessed by, July 19, 2014). 

[2] Jacqueline, Kasun, The War Against Population: The Economics and Ideology of World Population Control, Revised and Updated Ed., Ignatius Press: San Francisco, 1999), 25. 

[3] http://www.princeton.edu/~achaney/tmve/wiki100k/docs/Population_control.html (Accessed by, July 19, 2014).  

[4] Ibid.

[5] Ibid.

[6] http://www.worldometers.info/world-population/

[7] Ibid.

[8] World Population Growth and Response, 1965-1975. a decade of global action, Population Reference Bureau, Inc, 1754 N Street, N. W. Washington D.C. 20036, April 1976. Pp 70-71.

[9] http://www.geoba.se/population.php?pc=world&type=10&year=2014&st=rank&asde=&page=1 (Accessed by, July 20, 2014).

[10] http://www.nirapad.org/admin/soft_archive/1308552592_Population%20Policy-%20Bangladesh.pdf (Accessed by July, 19, 2014).

[11] Kasun, The war Against Population, 1999.

[12] Ibid.

[13] Cromartie, 1995.

[14] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Population_control#Opposition_to_population_control (Accessed by, July 20, 2014).