8.1.1. Problems of Over-population

♤ Rapid population growth: Large populations increase rapidly especially in the absence of family planning practices. This leads to a large population of young people who are dependent on relatively small section of working population. At the same time the large number of young people put extra strain on social services.

♤ Unemployment: In many underdeveloped countries industry is not well established and there are few employment opportunities for unskilled workers. Unemployment is therefore high. On the other hand there is a shortage of skilled workers because there are few facilities for training. In overpopulated rural areas unemployment or underemployment is also a major problem; people migrate to towns where it is often even more difficult to find work. Moreover, the towns become overcrowded, making living conditions poor.

♤ Poor standards of living: Standards of health and hygiene and housing are low which leads to health problems and malnutrition and the spread of diseases. Ignorance of people and lack of financial resources further add to the problem.

♤ Under-utilization of Agricultural resources: Traditional methods of agriculture, outdated or inadequate equipments. Lack of financial resources for improving farms, nonuse or misuse of marginal agricultural land, such as highlands, may all help to keep agricultural production much lower than its potential. Difficulties of rationalizing farming techniques and reforming land tenure to give larger, more economic farms are aggravated by lack of capita and by traditional attitudes of farmers who are often slow to adopt new ideas.

♤ Slow growth of industry: Apart from lack of capital which makes the actual exploitation of resources difficult, the population factors are important. The labour force though large in number is unskilled and has no background of industrial employment. Similarly, though a large population should provide a good market for the finished goods, the majority of people are poor and cannot afford to buy the products. To produce good cheaply for a small market mechanized manufacture is most economical but this employs very few workers and does not help the unemployment situation.

♤ Traditional attitudes militating against change: Traditional or religious attitudes may militate against change or may make conditions worse. Birth-control is forbidden by Catholic Church, for instance, and caste restrictions on occupations in India also help to slow down development. Less important is the conservatism of rural people regarding farming methods and the introduction of new crops (e.g. genetically modified crops). The latter attitude can be modified by education but it is often hard to modify the religious attitudes.