The 4 Causes of Overpopulation in South Africa The South African population, like many other countries, keeps on growing. While the population keeps on increasing, the supply of resources is constantly falling behind the demand. On this page, we explore the main causes of overpopulation in South Africa. It is important to note that the causes of overpopulation in South Africa are not that different from the causes all over the world.
How many people live in South Africa?
According to Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) 2019, the South African population is seating on 58,78 million and more. Approximately 51,2% (approximately 30 million) of the population is female. The black African population is in the majority (47,4 million) and constitutes approximately 81% of the total South African population.
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The 4 main Causes of Overpopulation in South Africa
Below are some of the main causes of overpopulation in South Africa:
- Poverty – in South Africa, some of the poorest of the poor view social grants for kids as a great motivation to continue having kids.
- Less mortality rate – due to the great medical advances, the mortality rate continues to drop all over the world, including in South Africa. South Africa in particular, has seen a significant mortality drop in the groups of people who are infected with HIV since 2007 until now.
- Not using contraceptives – many females in South Africa still need to be educated about the proper use of contraceptives to prevent unwanted pregnancies.
- Urbanisation – Urbanisation in South Africa is one of the main causes of overpopulation in urban areas such as Johannesburg, Durban, Cape Town, and Pretoria.
Apart from the listed four causes of overpopulation in South Africa, Immigration is a huge problem in South Africa. Many immigrants from foreign countries came to South Africa illegally and are not willing to go back to their countries. They come to South Africa to seek better employment opportunities.
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The Effects of Overpopulation
It is only logical that an increase in the world’s population will cause additional strains on resources. More people means an increased demand for food, water, housing, energy, healthcare, transportation, and more. And all that consumption contributes to ecological degradation, increased conflicts, and a higher risk of large-scale disasters like pandemics.
Ecological Degradation
An increase in population will inevitably create pressures leading to more deforestation, decreased biodiversity, and spikes in pollution and emissions, which will exacerbate climate change. Ultimately, unless we take action to help minimize further population growth heading into the remainder of this century, many scientists believe the additional stress on the planet will lead to ecological disruption and collapse so severe it threatens the viability of life on Earth as we know it.
Each spike in the global population has a measurable impact on the planet’s health. According to estimates in a study by Wynes and Nicholas (2017), a family having one fewer child could reduce emissions by 58.6 tonnes CO2-equivalent per year in developed countries.
Increased Conflicts
The scarcity brought about by environmental disruption and overpopulation has the potential to trigger an increase in violence and political unrest. We’re already seeing wars fought over water, land, and energy resources in the Middle East and other regions, and the turmoil is likely to increase as the global population grows even larger.
Higher Risk of Disasters and Pandemics
Many of the recent novel pathogens that have devastated humans around the world, including COVID-19, Zika virus, Ebola, and West Nile virus, originated in animals or insects before passing to humans. Part of the reason the world is entering “a period of increased outbreak activity” is because humans are destroying wildlife habitats and coming into contact with wild animals on a more regular basis. Now that we’re in the midst of a pandemic, it has become clear how difficult it is to social distance in a world occupied by nearly 8 billion people.