The Population issue and how it concerns us in the near term

Based on the estimates by the experts that study and analyze population and based on current technology the Earth’s resources have the ability to “sustain” somewhere between 3 & 5 billion people. What this means, with a population exceeding 7 billion we are using up our resources at an alarming rate. Current projections show that the world’s population will be just short of 10 billion in 2050!

In the past, we have believed that one significant measure of a country’s success is growth in the economy. When we examine this view along with population growth it becomes evident that this belief is not sustainable without creating conflict among countries. As resources dwindle countries will become more protective of the resources they have and they will be much less willing to share. Competition for resources will eventually lead to a significant increase in armed conflicts!

Currently, in the US the death rate is slightly higher than the birth rate which I view as positive. The downside is that there are fewer persons working to support the retirement funds that seniors rely on, especially when the numbers in the senior group continue to increase. You might think that the seniors have paid into Social Security and they are merely getting what they put in returned. Unfortunately, that is not the case, but that is a topic for yet another post to this blog.

Fortunately, we do have a modest growth rate in workforce availability via immigration. Looking forward we must come up with more feasible measures of success that do not rely on depleting resources. I would suggest that both productivity and quality of life are worth considering.