Population growth, economic development, and environmental impacts

opulation Growth, Economic Development and Environmental Regulation Population growth shares an inversely proportional relationship with economic development in most instance, though there are exceptions such as the higher tendency toward longer life expectancy in developed nations. However, population growth generally occurs at a faster rate in developing nations, where education or accessibility of contraception is low and where culture dictates higher birth rate tendencies. This creates a great strain on many of such nations. This is foretold in an article by Easterlin (1967) which invoked the concern of population experts of the time regarding such proliferating trends. Easterlin denotes that "some theoretical analyses argue that high population growth creates pressures on limited natural resources, reduces private and public capital formation, and diverts additions to capital resources to maintaining rather than increasing the stock of capital per worker." (Easterlin, 98) To this perception, there is a distinct threat to already existing environmental problems in developing nations where low public resource results in improper waste disposal, private degrading of natural ecosystems and high population density in slum-like conditions. A United Nations convention on the subject in 1993 would predict some of the patterns of globalization, noting that the contradictory relationship between certain health indicator. The convention "drew on growing concern about the acceleration of population growth in developing countries (that resulted from rapid decline in mortality while fertility remained high), occurring at a time when these countries were also beginning efforts to raise living standards." (POPIN, 2) To this extent, there is a need to control or slow population growth to allow national resources, environmental regulations and infrastructural stability to catch up to population needs.