POPULATION: THE GREAT TABOO

Race

One reason many people are uncomfortable talking about population growth is that they are uncomfortable saying or reading things which might be thought to be critical of non-white, or less affluent people.

Most people in America do not want to feel that they are prejudiced against people of another race. We like to feel that we are open to accepting people for what they are, and giving each person the chance to succeed on their own merits

So when we read that people of European descent have stabilized their birthrate, but that various groups of African, Hispanic or Asian populations have not, we feel reluctant to say things about that.

However, it is not racist to lament the build-up of suburbs where once was good farmland, and the rush of developers to cover our hillsides with malls and houses. The color or race of the inhabitants is not the issue; the crowding, the shortage of resources and the loss of space are.

Most people, given the choice, would prefer to have a planet that is not over-crowded: where food, resources, and open space are abundant. Both wood-gathering tribes people and SUV-driving suburbanites would all be better off if there were fewer of us trying to get enough energy, whether wood or gasoline, for our needs.

The birthrates of different ethnic groups appears to have little to do with race, but a great deal to do with prosperity, health, and economic opportunities for women. Europe's birthrate was just as high as any other region, until the medical, social and economic changes of the 19th and 20th centuries.

It is useful and admirable for people to take note of the injustices of our society, and to strive to be aware of racism in their own lives. We are all better off for that. But our population surplus is now causing very real problems that will be far worse with 3 billion more people on the planet. We all need to work on solutions. Finding ways to stop population growth will make life better for all the people on the planet.

Racism and Immigration

Nowhere is the issue of race more of a flashpoint than when discussing immigration. But since most population growth in the U.S. comes from immigration and the large families of first generation immigrants, no serious discussion can avoid this topic.

When we discuss emigration and immigration, we are not talking about the population in just one country, but about global population. And there are more people on the planet now than we can sustain at a comfortable American lifestyle. So most obviously, it is not helping the global overpopulation problem to encourage people to move out of densely populated regions to more sparsely populated ones. It is simply allowing the densely populated regions to avoid having to deal with their own social and economic issues directly.

But is it fair?

The first thing many people are going to say is that it is not fair for the U.S., with its relatively plentiful resources, to bar people from overpopulated regions (i.e., where local resources can not support the population) from coming here.

But the question of fairness can be asked both ways. You might also ask if it is fair for other countries to export their excess population to us. Many people in the U.S. have decided to have fewer children and we ought to be benefiting from a lower population with lower housing costs, more available jobs, more open space and less traffic. If there were fewer of us, we could be living good lives and not using unsustainable amounts of the world's resources.

The U.S. is already overcrowded. The resources for a good life are already in scarce supply. Increasing population makes resources scarcer and lowers standards of living. And that neither helps us, nor helps the immigrants.

Does emigration to the U.S. help people in the U.S.?

Currently approx. 1.5 million people immigrate to the U.S. every year. That is the highest number in U.S. history, and that accounts for 44 percent of the U.S. growth rate. If immigration were lowered to pre-1965 standards - levels seen for most of U.S. history - the U.S.’s growth rate would reflect its low birth rate. And that would be a good thing for our economic health - and for the world’s. (Read more in Economics.)

Does emigration to the U.S. help reduce global poverty?

The short answer: No, it does not. The more than 1.2 billion people who are hungry or who live on less than $2 per day could never dream of raising the funds necessary to emigrate to the U.S. The three countries sending the most people to the U.S. are Mexico, China, and The Philippines - countries with relatively low birthrates (in some cases, lower than the U.S.). The world’s poorest countries with the highest birthrates in the world: 9 of 10 of which are located in Sub-Saharan Africa - contribute less than 1 percent of U.S. immigrants. Further, according to the UN, Brain Drain from emigration has detrimental effects to the countries sending immigrants. It is usually the most educated and ambitious people who leave their native countries. While the remittances emigrants send back to their native countries do have some economic impact, they do not even come close to the economic gains those countries could make if their emigrants stayed home.

Does emigration to the U.S. help reduce global overpopulation?

The fact is, the world does not need more Americans. Americans comprise 6 percent of the world’s population but consume a whopping 24 percent of its resources. It would take 240 Haitians to equal the amount of resources consumed by one American.

Further overcrowding America will not reduce its consumption of the world’s resources. But it will drop standards of living for all.

Next: Birth Control