Personally, I don’t believe overpopulation is a concept that has a lot of explanatory value, but many people believe that rights violations such as poverty, famine and war are caused primarily if not exclusively by overpopulation. And not just regional overpopulation in certain pockets of the earth where water and food are scarce, but overpopulation as a planetary problem. There are supposed to be too many people in the world for peaceful coexistence and sustainable food production, perhaps even for the survival of humanity. The areas of the world which are inhabitable and usable for agriculture are said to be too small compared to the number of people living in them.
I won’t repeat my arguments against these claims (if you want you can read them here). I’ll just use the occasion to post a few maps showing the world’s population. I know, this is no proof for or against overpopulation theories, but the maps are simply too beautiful to miss. For those who think we’re running out of space:
(source, click image to enlarge)
The same message can be conveyed by the following maps:
Obviously, not all the non-dotted areas are inhabitable, but still, the open space is vast. Another way to present this:
(source)
The following map shows areas in the world where there are at least 15 people per square kilometer:
(source)
These may also be interesting:
(source)
More human rights maps are here (most of those are more intimately connected to human rights than the ones above).
- Top 10: the world’s most overpopulated countries (newstatesman.com)
- John Lennon: Overpopulation is a Myth (cherylcline.wordpress.com)
- “Man obsessed with overpopulation terrorizes Discovery Channel” and related posts (americanfreethought.com)
