Overpopulation Causing Hunger Worldwide?

Have you ever thought our World would come to the point where we would result in a population crash? Or have so many people that not everyone is being fed? Thomas Malthus's An Essay on the Principle of Population, is one of the most controversial works known to man about population. The basic overview of An Essay on the Principle of Population is that population growth continues to grow until it hits social limits, which is poverty and hunger. 

We tend to think of the overpopulated areas of the world are countries that are high in poverty and low levels of human development. Out of these 29 countries that struggle with poverty and low levels of human development, about a dozen of them are growing at three percent or more. For example: 

"Niger, currently the world's fastest growing country, has 15.9 million people as of 2010 but is growing at 3.66 percent a year, which if unchecked would give it a population of 617.9 million in 2110 -twice as large as the United States today."

The picture of the left compares how big Niger is to the United States. After reading the quote in Chapter 4 of Bell (above). It makes me wonder how much more poverty and human development would be prominent? "The WFP says 3.6 million of Niger's 11.5 million people face food shortages, while 2.5 million are on the brink of starvation." Obviously, starvation and food shortages is a huge problem for our World and not a lot is being done about it. America, as one of the leading countries in the world should put their foot down and do something about this. We have so much leftover food we just put to waste, whether it is at home, at the school cafeteria, or at a well-known restaurant, food is being put to waste. Instead of putting all of this food to waste, I think we and other countries should create a solution to the starvation and hunger across the world. If there enough food to feed everyone, then why are there millions of starving people today? Thomas Malthus makes a great point when it comes to population, but is population really the problem? Developed countries need to do a better job when it comes to helping the starving people. 

Sources:


https://www.wfp.org/countries/niger

http://www.ifitweremyhome.com/compare/US/NE

 http://www.paulchefurka.ca/Overpopulation.jpg

Bell, Michael. "Chapter 4." An Invitation to Environmental Sociology. Thousand Oaks: Pine Forge, 1998. N. pag. Print.