Economics and Overpopulation.

THERE is a pet fear indulged perhaps unwittingly, but I think undoubtedly, for the sake of bolstering a damaging status quo of heedless economic immigrating into very small geographic regions with advanced economies, where the native birthrate has been in an extraordinary decline. To disguise this decline and the economic consequences which are claimed to follow them, as night the day, large numbers of people from less developed countries of far greater geographic size, have been encouraged to settle in places like England, Germany, France, and Italy, for they tend to have a much higher birthrate, and they supply the appetites of vast business which seem to have outgrown their home nations. I do not suggest that this pet fear, much dandled and indulged by economists of a certain political persuasion, is entirely unfounded. It seems to be quite logical that as populations age and decline their capacities for pure labour (if that is the only valuable thing of which we think this life consists) decreases, 'and with the economic decline, all other forms of decline, real and imagined, will descend on us like unending hail storms to batter us into an agonised unconsciousness, while more prosperous nations chortle!' It may be this is true, but I can think of one very clear example where it has not been.

   Southern Ireland, called The Republic of, has a smaller population now than it had in the year 1845, and not by a very little but by a quarter, and yet this has consistently been one of the best performing economies in the world by proportional rate of growth. It is astonishing to observe how the Southern Irish economy has flourished and grown though the country itself seems situated in such an unpromising geographical location, though its population has between times shrunk to alarming levels and seemed more than once on the point of jeopardy. What I mean to suggest by this observation is that I think economic growth is not a direct effect of population growth, but that it seems to be a very complicated matter highly dependent on education and acumen. For this reason the most populous country in the world has at present an economy less valuable than Japan's and Germany's, for this reason Indonesia, Pakistan, Nigeria, Brazil, and Bangladesh, the fourth to the eighth most populous countries in the world are only the 16th, the 39th, the 9th, and the 33rd, largest economies in the world respectively. This will doubtless change in time, but it will change because of factors other than population growth.

   Now population growth is, in my view, the single greatest cause at present of the ills which face the earth, and I mean this regardless of race. A single human being demands and deserves a tremendous amount in life in the way of space, sustenance, familiarity, energy, and comfort. I believe the present human population of the earth is already too large. It was six billion strong when I was born twenty-six years ago, now it is eight billion strong and seems primed to reach practically ten billion by 2050. I personally think that, although the earth and its societies can probably sustain about 12 billion human beings to the minimum level of living standards, it is extremely undesirable for everyone concerned that the world population should pass beyond six or seven billion human beings. I happen to live in one of the most densely populated nations on earth, and also in its most densely populated region, and so I feel this very particularly. Every car journey is longer than it might be, every visit involves anxiety about crowds and space availability, every minute presents me with vehicles and human activities, and this in the countryside. I know there are many concerned with the care of elderly people who contend that we advanced nations really must have immigrant populations to look after them (and what about the elderly in those nations?) but I think this is a distraction. The problem involves the entire world, in matters of pollution, water supplies, medicine supplies, civil unrest, and general weal, clearly overpopulation is extremely damaging. As for economic growth, surely everyone is aware that it is due to alterations in practice rather than in breeding? The Southern Irish economy is radically different to that which existed in 1845, with a population twenty-five per cent stronger. Care for the elderly may well be a more automated matter in times to come, with the advent of technological communications, but I happen to feel very strongly on this matter. We in England do not look after our own families enough but, on the contrary, are too inclined to pass them off as encumbrances to pleasure-seeking and shallow holiday-making. My family looked after our beloved matriarch, who reached the grand age of ninety-one, through all illnesses (of which there were many), to the very end with minimal professional medical assistance (and this all according to the matriarch's deepest wishes). There are other debates to be had regarding the elderly and economics.

   Above all, I believe the native populations of Europe are about proportional to their geographic size, and if they are shrinking so much the better, or perhaps an effort might be made to maintain them at present levels. The trouble is elsewhere, amongst much larger nations with far greater populations, where birthrates are spiralling radically out of control, to the detriment of their own average life quality and expectancy. Clearly the effect of widespread contraception, of general education, and economic advancement, is to cause this tempering of birthrates, and therefore those should continue to be the means utilised.

 

A Complete List of the Nations of the World in Order of Size (by Area).

 

I have put two asterisks ** on the countries with a Higher Population than the United Kingdom and one asterisk * on the countries with a Higher Population than England, of which there are 21 and 24 respectively.

 

Please realise, all the others without asterisks have fewer people living in them than our own fair but vastly overcrowded little land.

 

In square brackets [] are the positions of each country by nominal G.D.P., these rankings include dependencies, hence their higher total numbers. I have also put in bold countries of particular significance to the argument.

001. Russia.** [11.]

002. Canada. [10.]

003. China.** [2.]

004. United States.** [1.]

005. Brazil.** [9.]

006. Australia. [14.]

007. India.** [5.]

008. Argentina. [24.]

009. Kazakhstan. [52.]

010. Algeria. [56.]

011. Democratic Republic of the Congo.** [90.] (The country with the Third Highest Birthrate in the world (5.56).)

012. Saudi Arabia. [19.]

013. Mexico.** [12.]

014. Indonesia.** [16.]

015. Sudan. [117.]

016. Libya. [101.]

017. Iran.**  [42.]

018. Mongolia. [131.]

019. Peru. [51.]

020. Chad. [150.]

021. Niger. [134.] (The country with the Highest Birthrate in the world (6.73).)

022. Angola.  [71.] (The country with the Second Highest Birthrate in the world (5.76).)

023. Mali. [122.]

024. South Africa.* [41.]

025. Colombia. [43.]

026. Ethiopia.** [60.]

027. Bolivia. [95.]

028. Mauritania. [154.]

029. Egypt.** [38.]

030. Tanzania.* [76.]

031. Nigeria.** [39.]

032. Venezuela. [72.]

033. Pakistan.** [46.]

034. Namibia. [149.]

035. Mozambique. [121.]

036. Turkey.** [17.]

037. Chile. [45.]

038. Zambia. [113.]

039. Myanmar. [86.]

040. Afghanistan. [141.]

041. South Sudan. [163.]

042. France.** [7.]

043. Somalia. [152.]

044. Central African Republic. [178.]

045. Ukraine. [58.]

046. Madagascar. [139.]

047. Botswana. [125.]

048. Kenya. [67.]

049. Yemen. [123.]

050. Thailand.* [30.]

051. Spain. [15.]

052. Turkmenistan. [78.]

053. Cameroon. [94.]

054. Papua New Guinea. [108.]

055. Uzbekistan.[73.]

056. Sweden. [25.]

057. Morocco. [61.]

058. Iraq. [49.]

059. Paraguay. [98.]

060. Zimbabwe. [106.]

061. Norway. [27.]

062. Japan.** [4.]

063. Germany.** [3.]

064. Congo. [143.]

065. Finland. [48.]

066. Vietnam.** [35.]

067. Malaysia. [36.]

068. Ivory Coast. [80.]

069. Poland. [21.]

070. Oman. [68.]

071. Italy.* [8.]

072. Philippines.** [34.]

073. Ecuador. [65.]

074. Burkina Faso. [124.]

075. New Zealand. [53.]

076. Gabon. [129.]

077. Guinea. [119.]

   078. United Kingdom [6.] (But 83% or so of the Entire Population Lives in England Alone).

079. Uganda. [91.]

080. Ghana. [83.]

081. Romania. [44.]

082. Laos. [144.]

083. Guyana. [136.]

084. Belarus. [88.]

085. Kyrgyzstan. [148.]

086. Senegal. [109.]

087. Syria. [128.]

088. Cambodia. [110.]

089. Uruguay. [84.]

090. Suriname. [173.]

091. Tunisia. [92.]

   092. England. [Alone, it would be 8th.]

093. Bangladesh.* [33.] (The only country with a Higher Population and a Smaller Land Mass than England).

094. Nepal. [100.]

095. Tajikistan. [151.]

096. Greece. [54.]

097. Nicaragua. [133.]

098. North Korea. [135.]

099. Malawi. [147.]

100. Eritrea. [185.]

101. Benin. [127.]

102. Honduras. [105.]

103. Liberia. [169.]

104. Bulgaria. [69.]

105. Cuba. [63.]

106. Guatemala. [70.]

107. Iceland. [111.]

108. South Korea. [13.]

109. Hungary. [57.]

110. Portugal. [50.] (The fact that Portugal is a good deal larger than Scotland shows how deceptive maps can be).

111. Jordan. [93.]

112. Serbia. [85.]

113. Azerbaijan. [82.]

114. Austria. [28.]

115. United Arab Emirates. [31.]

116. Czech Republic. [47.]

   117. Scotland. [Alone, it would be 50th.]

118. Panama. [77.]

119. Sierra Leone. [174.]

   120. The Republic of Ireland. [26.]

121. Georgia. [112.]

122. Sri Lanka. [87.]

123. Lithuania. [81.]

124. Latvia. [96.]

125. Togo. [157.]

126. Croatia. [79.]

127. Bosnia and Herzegovina. [115.]

128. Costa Rica. [75.]

129. Slovakia. [62.]

130. Dominican Republic. [64.]

131. Estonia. [99.]

132. Denmark. [37.]

133. Netherlands. [18 (An extraordinarily high position for its size and awkward geography, I think proving my thesis).]

134. Switzerland. [20 (The same again).]

135. Bhutan. [180.]

136. Taiwan. [22.]

137. Guinea-Bissau. [190.]

138. Moldova. [137.]

139. Belgium. [23.]

140. Lesotho. [184.]

141. Armenia. [118.]

142. Solomon Islands. [192.]

143. Albania. [120.]

144. Equatorial Guinea. [156.]

145. Burundi. [177.]

146. Haiti. [116.]

147. Rwanda. [145.]

148. North Macedonia. [138.]

149. Djibouti. [170.]

150. Belize. [176.]

151. Israel. [29.]

(The Combined Population of Every Nation Below This Point (Excluding Wales and Northern Ireland) is Approximately 48,166,621 People, or About 8 or 9 Million People Less Than the Population of England Alone.

152. El Salvadaor. [104.]

   153. Wales. [Alone, it would be 68th.]

154. Slovenia. [89.]

155. Fiji. [167.]

156. Kuwait. [59.]

157. Eswatini. [168.]

158. East Timor. [188.]

   159. Northern Ireland. [Alone, it would be 90th.]

(The Combined Population of Every Nation Below This Point (up to Vatican City) is 31,016,425, Around 16 Million Less Than England Alone.)

160. Bahamas. [146.]

161. Montenegro. [160.]

162. Vanuatu. [197.]

163. Qatar. [55.]

164. Gambia. [183.]

165. Jamaica. [132.]

166. Lebanon. [103.]

167. Cyprus. [107.]

168. Brunei. [140.]

169. Trinidad and Tobago. [114.]

170. Cape Verde. [181.]

171. Samoa. [201.]

172. Luxembourg. [74.]

173. Mauritius. [142.]

(Every Country Below This Point (up to Vatican City) Added Together Equates to a Slightly Lower Population Than the Rest of the United Kingdom (Excluding England) Combined (Approximately 10,962,378). Singapore, Bahrain, and Comoros, are the Outliers, Excluding Which the Total Population Would Be Approximately 2,709,403.)

174. Comoros. [195.]

175. Sao Tome and Principe. [203.]

176. Kiribati. [210.]

177. Bahrain. [97.] (Population of 1,577,059).

178. Dominica. [202.]

179. Tonga. [204.]

180. Singapore. [32 (an extraordinary ranking for its size).] (Population of 5,917,600).

181. Micronesia. [205.]

182. Saint Lucia. [182.]

(Every Country Below This Point is Smaller than the Isle of Man, and the Total Population of Them All Put Together is: 1,922,016 (About the Same as the County of Hampshire)).

183. Andorra. [172.]

184. Palau. [209.]

185. Seychelles. [186.]

186. Antigua and Barbuda. [191.]

187. Barbados. [164.]

188. Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. [200.]

189. Grenada. [196.]

190. Malta. [126.]

191. Maldives. [161.]

192. Saint Kitts and Nevis. [199.]

193. Marshall Islands. [108.]

194. Liechtenstein. [162.]

195. San Marino. [189.]

196. Tuvalu. [213.]

197. Nauru. [211.]

198. Monaco. [158.]

199. Vatican City. [Null.]