Ineffective population control

Unmanaged human population

Nature

Population policies and programmes in many of the Third World countries are failing because of lack of participation of the majority in their respective communities. This has rendered ineffective the information campaigns mounted on family planning and on the variety of contraceptives that are available to citizens. A revision of governmental population policies to include community participation as a vital component is therefore necessary, as is the involvement of local leaders in the implementation of programmes at the local level, since they are in a better position to allay fears concerning fertility. This raises a further concern that, while most community leaders assume positive attitudes, some are opposed on moral grounds; and also certain socio-economic factors serve as deterrents.

Claim

Governments, educators, and the media, as well as individuals, must become motivated in addressing both problems of overpopulation and the mental and physical problems that need to be overcome before measures can be successfully implemented.

Counter-claim

Among reasons against population control given in developing countries are that: an increased population is all that is needed to spark off rapid development; a complex web of traditional customs makes large families essential (a new baby is viewed as an asset to the entire community, a child is often named after both departed and living relatives, thus assuring that the relatives' presence will survive); extra hands are needed for work; family planning is a plot by Western governments to hamper Third World growth and development; people will be forced to have fewer children; there is great paternal pride in having numerous offspring; and a man's standing in the community is enhanced by the number of children of which he can boast.

Parental preferences rather than medical technologies are the main factor in determining average family size. The availability of modern methods of contraception is neither a necessary nor a sufficient condition for keeping population growth under control. Fertility in Europe decreased substantially in the 1800's, before modern contraceptives were available. Further, availability of modern methods does not always translate into use; less than 10% of the couples surveyed in Pakistan in the 1970's were using modern contraceptives, although family planning services have been strongly promoted there. In Bulgaria and Pakistan the contraceptive usage rates were the same, but the number of live births per woman was 6 in Pakistan and 2.2 in Bulgaria.

Population control is totally unnecessary in light of the trend of the human species having grown from a few hundred thousands in wretched poverty to 5 billion in relative wealth all the while living longer.