November 15, 2022, consider this moment the first time in history that we’ve reached 8 billion humans on the planet. And this milestone has only been accomplished due to unsustainable levels of overproduction, consumption, and disposal. From 1990 to 2010 alone, we added one billion new people to Earth – and now another billion, just twelve years later. This rapid growth of population is not sustainable or healthy for our planet, which already faces many challenges like deforestation, global warming, and resource depletion at an alarming rate – all consequences of human activity. All these factors lead to an increase in demand for goods. Coupled with a diminished supply of resources, this will cause slow economic growth and therefore, a lower quality of life.

A substantial global concern is climate change, and it is exacerbated by the rise in consumption, which is associated with the increasing population. “No doubt human population growth is a major contributor to global warming, given that humans use fossil fuels to power their increasingly mechanized lifestyles,” says the Scientific American (SA). A larger population increases the burning of fossil fuels, raising the concentration of greenhouse gasses (a major factor in global warming). This endangers human health by causing droughts, insufficient food supplies, poverty, violence, as well as extreme weather conditions and contaminated air.

Rapid population growth not only leads to global warming but also to political uprisings. Population pressure exerts a burden on democratic structures and imposes a demand on amenities that place a nation in peril. According to PubMed, “Urban areas are the arena for clashes of cultures, competition for scarce housing and jobs, the breakdown of traditional family and social structures, and juxtapositions of extreme wealth next to extreme poverty.” Countries of lower income will find it more challenging to pay the rise in social funding for every individual that is required to achieve sustainable development goals, end food insecurity, and guarantee everyone has access to medical services, youth development, etc.

“Overpopulation would just be another issue added on top of the already chaotic world,” a junior at Keppel claims. “It’d definitely be harder to sustain enough resources for everyone and harder to maintain stability if the population continues to increase, ” Keppel sophomore Calieigh Mar added. “This could also affect our school since if more students enroll and attend, the school would need bigger classrooms, more teachers, and more resources for each student. Adjustments are needed for this large population.”

The population growth of large nations like China, which once stood the highest population in the world, has slowed down since 2020. China’s population increased by only 0.07% between 2020 and 2022, but smaller countries had tremendous population expansion and are now experiencing difficulties. A good illustration of this is Nigeria. “More than 15 million people in Lagos compete for everything from electricity to light their homes to spots on crowded buses, often for two-hour commutes each way in this sprawling megacity. Some Nigerian children set off for school as early as 5 a.m,” says the AP News. This demonstrates that population expansion is neither inevitably good nor definitely detrimental. We only gain from it when it is expanding in the nation that requires it. Nigeria has reached its carrying capacity and is suffering from resource exploitation, whereas China is lacking the people needed to increase its income.

The years of hurdles that have been revolving around us, we still achieved a population of eight billion. In another 15 years, the population is projected to exceed nine billion, though the rate of population growth is gradually decelerating. This works in our favor as we address issues that 8 billion inhabitants confront. The issue is not population expansion, rather, it is the rise in demand for commodities and increased spending that each and every one of us is responsible for. We must alter our consumption behavior and reduce our negative environmental effects to improve our quality of life if we are to support such a large population.