The ever increasing population in our world is something we would prefer to take for granted, or ignore blissfully. But the one thing we couldn't quite ignore, however, is the amount of influence population can have over our individual lives, not just society alone.
The good...
Economists and policy makers attribute high levels of productivity and the neck-breaking speed of innovation to the vast pool of intellects and visionaries thanks to the high population that makes these rare geniuses exist. This may come as a self-reinforcing positive loop, because think about it, the more babies were born the bigger the chance you get a smart one. And more smart people equals more productivity and creativity to fuel innovation and breakthroughs. It's kinda funny that without a booming population growth in the late 20th century Elon Musk, Bill Gates and Vitalik Buterin wouldn't have come to existence.
A YouTube channel called Economics Explained actually explained this very well in a video theorizing what happens in a world where half of the population is wiped from the face of the Earth by one Thanos snap. Property would immediately go down in price and the cost of living would decrease as well, but we are doomed to see less change and innovations will be few and far between.
The bad...
If you had by any chance read my article about economic degrowth, you would've learned no matter how we resist the idea of artificial economic stagnation and the apocalyptical degrowth policies, nothing can grow exponentially in a sustainable fashion. Soaring GDP growth can damage our livelihood like how cancer does to our health.
Economics have shown that heavily crowded cities like Tokyo and New York have higher GDP figures than smaller cities, partly explained by the fact that more people living in proximity facilitate provision of service and exchange of goods, not to mention the speed that money changes hands. While population artificially raises the figures to desirable levels, I don't think everyone will enjoy the fair share of the prosperity.
The tendency for rural citizens to settle in major cities mean that the city will sprawl uncontrollably and incessantly. And this comes as a stress test for cities that are not timely equipped and prepared to deal with the sudden influx of people. People would be forced to live in tiny and squalid apartments, gridlock traffic would become the norm, and hospitals would be overcrowded and chaotic. As human waste and carbon emissions gets to levels beyond management, the living environment would be so polluted that it is hostile to humans. If it weren't for the call of money and fame more people would've left cities by now. As a city dweller myself I sometimes doubt if cities are actually sustainable at all.
This whole commotion actually shines the core question in the discipline of economics, which is to fulfill our unlimited human needs with limited resources. In spite of the declining birth rate and rapid urbanization observed across the globe partially due to innovation and higher standard of living, resources required to maintain societies have been fewer than ever before ( i.e fewer classrooms, hospital beds, unaffordable housing, etc. ) and this places an anvil on our ecological system. Population growth sort of follows a logistical curve: it does benefit societies to some extent, but once the bar is reached everything starts to go downhill. Unless we find a better alternative to consumerism and changing public opinion on economic growth, we are doomed to live with the same set of problems for many generations on repeat.
And the ugly of overpopulation
Intuitively and theoretically more people equal more socializing, but ironically this creates more barriers because we tend to connect less with big groups of people. According to my lived experience, people rather spend more time and engage more with their tight-knit group of friends than their 100 virtual friends on Facebook. There is nothing wrong with our psychology, but more people around really undermines altruism and collective responsibility. We feel less obligated to help someone as we imagine other people will swoop in and take care of that person on your behalf. This also has an impact how we treat societies as well. Big headlines such as corporate malfeasance and terrorism are the derivative product of collective ignorance and indifference towards society.
There's a silver lining to this, though it may be hard to notice and detect. More people around may protect you from dangerous groups of people ( and animals ), and there will be more people left in the world who cares about you, even though you haven't seen or met them ever. As a matter of fact, breakups and divorces will not be as devastating as before, because the saying goes: "There are plenty of fish in the sea".
[ to be continued .... ]
