There are several problems that affect the world today: war, crime, pollution, and several others. Overpopulation is a serious dilemma that is growing every year, every minute, and every second. It is the root of most, if not all, of the world's problems1. It is the greatest global crisis facing humanity in the twenty-first century.
Overpopulation is the major global problem because of several reasons. Most of the problems we have today, such as ocean depletion, food shortages, water shortages, air pollution, water pollution, and global warming are the effects of overpopulation2. The more people there are, the more resources consumed and the more waste created. A child born today in the United States for instance will produce fifty-two tons of garbage and consume 11 million gallons of water by the age of seventy-five3. Freshwater, drinkable water, is the most critical natural resource to humans. As time goes by, the world's population expands more rapidly, but there is no more freshwater on the Earth than there was two thousand years ago, when the population was three percent of its current size4. Overpopulation has also increased industrial development, which contributes to massive urbanization and rising of living standards5. The increase in industry shrinks the amount of freshwater available because they are constantly being polluted. The rising in living standards causes people to consume more which creates more waste and raises life expectancy, which causes more people to live at the same time6. Another problem that arises from overpopulation is the changing of the climate. Mankind is increasing the greenhouse gas levels by burning fossil fuels and deforesting the earth7. As the population increases, atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases rise rapidly which affect the ability of the outgoing energy to pass through the atmosphere, [which] effectively heats the Earth8.