Ancaja, Jameir Russ Karsten M.
MT2A
What is demography?
According to Principles of Demography and Demographic Indicators,
Demography is the statistical description and analysis of population data. Population in
turn is a group of individuals of the same species living in the same geographic area at
the same time. Demography is determined by the population changes such as the
population size, growth or decline, processes, characteristics, and structure.
Demography also studies the basic concepts of Immigration, which is the movement of
people into a society, and Emigration, which is the movement of people outside a
society.
What are the advantages and disadvantages of overpopulation?
Overpopulation is one of the major world problems of today and inevitably in the
future. There is an abundance of factors that play in population density and the growth
and decline of population. Facing reality, there are actually advantages and
disadvantages in overpopulation. Starting with the former, overpopulation is an
opportunity. Opportunity for more manpower and employment which means agriculture,
medical, and economical endeavors will have more forces to undertake jobs, tasks, and
means of serving the people and the country. Additionally, because of overpopulation
there will be an increase in the growth of the economy in which the superfluousness of
people will greatly impact the movement of economy towards a higher scale.
However, the bad outweighs the good. Overpopulation has much more
disadvantages than its advantages. One is the shortage of supply. Demands of
overpopulated countries will be higher than expected and the supply to be able to meet
those needs will be insufficient. For example, in Africa, thousands or even millions are
starving because of their lack of food supply, their country is overpopulated and the
demands and needs of their people can not be met. Another is their property, homeless
individuals are scattered throughout the premise of Africa, they couldn’t provide
households to which families can use. Reports have been saying that there are actually
more people living in the streets of Africa than people living in houses of their own.
Secondly, overpopulation will destroy the environment and make global warming
worse than it is. More people means more consumers, more consumers means more
production of products and the use of the environment for production. Yes there are
environmentally friendly materials now but not everything is. There will always be an
increase of damage to the environment because of labor and its production of products.
And more demands of overpopulation will result in more usage of resources of the
environment.
Third, the aging dependency will increase. As the growth rate rises and life
expectancy increases, aging dependency will be affected. Economically speaking, the
ratio of persons in dependent age to those economically productive ages in the
population will begin to increase and the economy will alter. Alter in a way where there
is no development and will have a declining rate.
These are not the only problems of overpopulation. There is a lot and statistics
show this will only increase. Methods and solutions don’t work in these kinds of
situations, what the world needs now is compassion, benevolence, and unity for the
world to understand what it really means to save a deteriorating earth.
As a student, what specific action can you do to help lessen the ever increasing
number of population in the Philippines?
A student can’t really do much because there are actually a lot of students that
don't understand because of lack of experience and knowledge. In the area of
demography, there are a lot to consider and the factors pertaining to help lessen the
ever increasing number of population will be limited to how one views the problem of
overpopulation.
Although, a student can learn, read, and comprehend the needed knowledge to
understand the real problem. Once the student has a full grasp of the situation, he can
spread awareness by using the media, mediums of information, and research to deliver
factual information to different audiences. Hosting a webinar, writing about the problems
of overpopulation, and of course education about the current situation of the country.
A student, with his lack of experience, will not be able to do much by just telling
people what to do. The only gallant move a student can do is the use of his knowledge
to understand the problem. With that, 80% of the solution is now made.
