What are the main drawbacks of a large population? [5 MARKS]

Each Point: 1 Mark

Any five:
Drawbacks of large population.
(i) Food: Population grows by geometric progression while food production increases by arithmetic progression. This results in inadequate food supply which leads to undernourishment, malnutrition, starvation and famines.
(ii) Land: In order to produce food, more and more land is brought under cultivation. This reduces the availability of usable land.
(iii) Forests: Forests are our most important natural resource. Apart from providing commercially valuable products like timber, pulp and medicine, trees help maintain the ecological balance and stabilize climate. The indiscriminate cutting of trees to make land available for cultivation is one of the serious consequences of overpopulation.
(iv) Water: When the population becomes very large, it becomes increasingly difficult to maintain proper hygiene and sanitary conditions due to inadequate space and housing facilities. Under such circumstances, rivers, ponds, lakes, etc., easily become polluted. It puts pressure on the availability of clean and pure drinking water leading to an adverse effect on health.
(v) Energy: Fossil fuels like coal and petroleum once exhausted, cannot be replenished or renewed. As the population increases, the consumption of energy also increases since energy is the basic requirement for running a home, factory or for transport. It is estimated that at the current rate of consumption, the petroleum reserves may be over within 150 years, while coal may last a little longer.
(vi) Minerals: The mineral wealth of a country is also exhaustible. Minerals like copper, iron, aluminium, tin, magnesium, gold and silver have very wide applications in industry. Increase in population means a greater utilization of these minerals.